Chương 77: Forsaken Garrison, Pt 4
You're left in a haze of psionic silence after defeating your first Phantom. It feels as though there's a kind of void in the air around you - that something is missing, suddenly. The room feels somewhat colder as a result.
And you're certainly not the only one who feels this void.
Judging from the wild pulses of psionic static around you, it's clear that all the other Phantoms in the facility feel this void as well. In fact, if they're Networked in any way, then they can feel this absence with much more acuity than you can.
Likely, their loss is a visceral one - you've taken something away that was part of them for their entire existence. You hope that it's enough to give them pause and keep their distance from you. It would really be for the best if you all simply stayed out of each others' way. But even as you think that, a part of you knows that isn't true.
"Yeah, they'll definitely be gunning for me now," you tell yourself. "If I lived here and someone took out one of my friends, I'd go after them with a passion."
As you recover a bit of your stamina and your energy, you think a bit more deeply on the nature of the Phantoms. They seemingly don't exist - not in the same way you exist. And it's not just because they're incorporeal.
In fact, it seems to you that they only exist in the moment when they coalesce into some specific purpose - to attack or to move, and so on. They're otherwise simply random thoughts and emotions simply floating about in this facility, at least as far as you can tell.
You could maybe take advantage of this, though you're not exactly sure how. Not yet, anyway.
Once you feel you've recovered enough, you gather yourself back together and head back down to the area you were just exploring. You move around or step over the corpses as you walk past, determined to get back on task.
Although it takes a minute or so, the other Phantoms eventually begin to react to you once again. You sense them move when you move, and stop when you stop. It seems that they too have recovered from your attack, and also their loss.
…If these things even feel loss in the first place. You certainly don't sense any kind of sadness or melancholy in the static pulses they emit. What you sense from them feels more like a need to correct a problem.
They almost seem to be behaving in a very rational way. Or at least, in a very organized, collective way.
Not only do they react to your every action, but some seem more reactive than others. Particularly, the Phantoms closest to you move faster and more decisively than those furthest away. It almost seems to you that they are strategically aligning themselves against you, perhaps in anticipation of your next move.
You sense them shift in ways where they begin to group up as they approach. Almost as though they are attempting to ambush you in some way, perhaps pincer you in a specific room from multiple directions. Since they're still a good distance from you, you can't really tell what they're planning.
Though it dawns on you that they know what this facility is like and how it's laid out, considering they move very specifically from room to room, seemingly on the advance.
All this certainly solidifies your theory that these Phantoms are the remnants of those who lived and died down here. They're logical, strategic, and analytic. It stands to reason that they're also experimental and iterative.
Which means they will likely continue to attempt to outmaneuver and outflank and outgun you all throughout your crawl here.
A part of you wonders if you should take the fight to them right now, to keep them off balance and on the defensive. The rest of you agrees that's the best course of action, but the question is how? You could simply launch towards the largest cluster of them as fast as you can and attack them, but it doesn't mean they'll defend against you. For all you know, they would simply fall back and reposition themselves in response to your aggression.
Or, they might beat you down due to their higher numbers. Fighting and killing one of them isn't the same as fighting multiple of them at the same time. You've no idea how they fight as a team, and how much deadlier they'll become as a result.
Being outnumbered is almost always detrimental to survival.
Still, there are merits to doing that. For one thing, they won't expect it. You suppose you have to do some tactical experiments of your own, if you're going to win against the Phantoms. And you determine that the best thing for you to do is charge - no matter how they react, it will shake up whatever strategy they've got cooking.
And so you charge up as high as you can in a show of aggression, then charge into the next hallway past the offices. There's a heavier security station here, as well as thick double doors. But you pay no attention to any of these things and run past them aggressively.
But you stop in your tracks once you actually get through to the next room, mostly out of awe.
Not only have the Phantoms disappeared from your senses, but the room itself fascinates you greatly.
And since none have charged you, or attacked you yet, you decide to lower your aggression and study the room instead.
This one is rather large, much larger than all the ones prior. As you move further down towards its center, you get a sense of just how large it is - you practically lose your bearings once the room's edge vanishes from your senses.
It's more than that though: the ground is marked off between zones, such as for storage or taxiing or directing traffic towards the "runway". Littered around here are various crates and boxes, though all seem superficial, as though they're set dressings. Also scattered here and there are a handful of exosuits with varying degrees of weights or armor plates affixed to them.
You get closer to them in an attempt to further observe them, and find them quite fascinating - the stripped down exosuit showing only its exoskeleton. This seems like a much friendlier version of your actual skeleton, minus the skull. It's made with numerous interconnected metal rods and plates, which are padded heavily on the inside for comfort.
There are straps attached to them, no doubt meant to keep anyone wearing the exosuit nice and snug inside.
Curious, you take hold of one of its arms and move it slowly. Despite the fact that it doesn't have a power source, the suit's arms move and rotate and unfold just like your arm would. This level of design utterly fascinates you, even though you don't understand its intricacies.
It occurs to you that you're in the middle of what seems to be a mock hangar bay, and that this is some kind of testing zone for the exosuits.
You're interrupted when a trio of psionic energies bursts into the room. Their static pulses assault you, this time with slightly higher energies than the first. These feel much more pointed and deadly, though they're still no match for your standard defenses.
The trio moves into the room and fills the space around you almost instantly. At the same time that they do this, you sense pulses of psionic energy moving away from your position, further away. But you don't sense fear from them - only more malevolent intent.
Clearly, they're maneuvering for a future assault, which means that this trio is likely a defensive move - a delay tactic perhaps. True to their natures, these dead soldiers are far more tactically-minded than you, even in death.
The three in front of you give you no time to figure out the next best course of action. Just as they finish spreading out in an attempt to outflank you, they fling Telekinetic scythes at you from three different directions. Each one comes right after the other, and with such force that you can feel the air shift around you.
For the most part you allow your Ultrasense to practically guide your body as you duck forward and leap into a roll. But even as you do, the three counteract your movements and fling a second wave of scythes at you - or rather at the spot where you're about to stop.
You're immediately hit with panic, fearful of being sliced to pieces by the incoming scythes. But you step into a sliver of your Foresight, and with a heavy burst of Temperance leap out of the way.
Mostly.
Though two of the scythes slice into the thick concrete below you, the third just barely hits you on the shoulder. Though your TK armor dulls its edge and keeps it from slicing into you, the strength of the blow still flips you around and knocks you a couple steps away. Not only that, but you're struck with sharp pain from the impact. The sting reverberates down your arm, causing you to instinctively yelp out.
You sense your TK armor's energies weaken to some degree, as it absorbs the energies of the Phantom's scythe.
You tumble down to the ground, but quickly roll back up onto your feet as fast as you can. Just in time too, as the trio of Phantoms further widen out and fling another round of scythe attacks at you. This time you briefly power up your Temperance as high as you can take it, then evade each of them in quick succession. You hop to the side, then leap over the next, then roll out of the way of the third.
All the while, the grin on your face widens and your heart thumps heavier and heavier. Fear and excitement runs through your blood, as you once again find yourself fighting for your life. There's something about this thrill that draws you in and holds your attention… it's incredibly addictive.
Strong psionic energies pulse out of you in waves as you continue to evade and dance around your opponents. As before, you decide to lay down a trap for them and Surge outward with anger and aggression.
And in doing so, you hope to bait them into a Devour to end them.
The emotions of your Surge sweeps through the Phantoms, breaking their defenses and infusing them thoroughly. As with the first, you sense anger and aggression seep into their beings and scatter all throughout, albeit dulled from their defenses.
But to your absolute shock, instead of dissipating those raw emotions into their formless bodies, this trio instead compartmentalizes them. You feel their anger locked away and compressed somewhere within their minds.
Far more astonishing is the fact that they seemingly process the stored anger, and convert it back down to raw psionic energy. Energy which they then turn around and re-weave into yet another Telekinetic scythe.
You curse to yourself as they speed up their attacks, empowered by your Surge. They slam into the concrete or the empty crates or exosuits standing all around, cutting deeply into everything. It gets to a point where their attacks come streaming at you from every direction, leaving you no choice but to remain on the defensive - indefinitely.
Sweat beads up on your forehead and you pant heavily from exertion. They too know what your weakness is and are doing their best to exploit it. Tiring you out is the best way to beat you after all. It shouldn't take a genius-level tactician to figure that out.
Your heart thumps as your concentration slips - just for a moment. As a result, you stumble slightly as you attempt to side-step a scythe. Since it comes too late, the scythe clips you in the side.
Though your armor easily absorbs the hit, you're immediately spun around from the impact. You're dizzied for a brief moment afterwards, which fills you instantly with fear. Then the next scythe smashes against you, throwing you a meter away from where you're standing.
You feel your armor weaken and wane, even as you land roughly on the cold, hard cement floor. In alarm, you push off and roll to the side just as another scythe smashes into the ground, right where your neck just was.
But then another scythe smashes into you, even as you're in the middle of rolling out of the way. You feel its heavy impact against your body, shattering your Telekinetic armor at the same time as flinging you across the floor.
This one knocks the breath out of you, and dazes you to some degree. Enough to cause your Ultrasense to flicker and your Fortify to wane.
Alarm bells ring in your head as your Ultrasense attempts to warn you of impending doom and danger. You try to pull yourself back together quickly, but find that you're lacking a great degree. All you can do against the next incoming scythe is to raise your arm defensively.
Which of course, does nothing.
A guttural, primal scream escapes from deep within out and fills the room - pain sweeps through you as your right forearm is sliced right off you.
Everything else around you may as well not exist - the pain is so acute that you can hardly focus on anything else. It's almost as though your entire arm is on fire, and is being chewed on at the same time. You find it excruciating and relentless, and most of you wants to simply keel over and give in, to fall unconscious and allow everything to end.
It would be the easiest way to rid yourself of this torment.
Instead, you pour everything you've got into a massive Surge, one that's filled with the raw agony that you're experiencing. Multiplied. And then let it wash out of you in deep, heavy waves all around.
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