The group ducked behind a low wall at the plaza edge, watching spider mechs slice through metal with cutting tools. They pulled parts from the other fallen spider mechs.

“Hold position,” Ollie raised his hand. “We can probably take two of them, but look at what they’re doing. They’re dismantling the dead ones.”

Gale crouched beside him. One mech opened a side compartment and dropped in what looked like a central processor unit that looked more complicated than what he’d seen in a PC. “What do you think they’re doing?”

“Probably something we don’t wanna know,” Rachel said.

“Doesn’t matter. Rule number one of Rift Running: avoid unnecessary fights,” Ollie said.

Kyle snorted. “Since when do you follow rules, Ollie? Last time I checked, you were the one who said ‘rules are for people who can’t handle the consequences.'”

“That was before Quebec,” Ollie muttered.

Clyde elbowed his brother. “You missed the memo. Ollie’s a company man now. All about protocol and proper channels. Straight tie, straight hair, straight suit. Don’t forget the crooked personality of suits.”

“I think our squad lead is just scared of the big bad tachikomis,” Kyle grinned as he whispered.

“I’m not scared,” Ollie whispered. “I’m smart. Those things have laser cannons that can cut through thick metal plates. And I’d rather we reach that tower in one piece. Getting killed in a pointless fight doesn’t help anyone.”

“We could circle around,” Rachel pointed to a narrow alley to their right. “Take the long way.”

“Too risky. I checked three blocks that way. Buildings collapsed, streets blocked. This plaza is our best route,” Lily said.

“So we wait,” Ollie said. “Let them finish their business and move on.”

The group settled behind the wall, watching the spider mechs do their job. Minutes stretched into an hour. Gale noticed the spider mech deliberately taking different pieces apart and ignoring the other parts as if it considered each piece it took up. If it was a robot, would it not have been programmed to take certain parts without needing to examine it piece by piece?

There was something going on with those spider mechs. If he remembered correctly, Origin Extraction was reserved for live beings.

“They’re almost done,” Lily whispered. “Maybe another fifteen minutes and we can cross.”

The mechanical duo had stripped six fallen mechs. Processor units, weapons, and power cores sat stored in their compartments. Only empty shells remained, legs splayed across the metal floor.

The ground vibrated. Small tremors ran through the metal street. Something heavy approached from across the plaza.

“Company,” Kyle whispered.

A much larger spider mech emerged between two buildings. The workers stood fifteen feet tall while this one towered at thirty. Six massive legs supported a bulky frame with extra armour plating. Hot weapons lined its body, from missile racks to heavy laser cannons to what looked like gatling guns.

A green holographic scan swept through the plaza. The two worker spider mechs stopped harvesting and turned towards it.

The large mech made patternistic sounds of clicks, whirs, and frequency tones, and that didn’t sound like any random noise either.

“What the hell is that?” Kyle whispered.

“They’re communicating,” Ollie said. “Those tones have patterns.”

The smaller mechs responded with similar sounds. One raised a limb, pointing to a specific fallen machine. The large mech approached it and extended a mechanical arm to extract something from the remains.

The six-legged spider mech stored the part in a specialized compartment, then turned its attention to the plaza. Then, it moved across the plaza, each step sending rumbles across the floor. It moved closer to their position until it towered over them.

Gale’s muscles tensed. Even when he did get stronger, fighting all three machines would be tough, and he hasn’t fought anything that large and smart. That thing could probably level an entire block by itself and kill its smaller spider mech with it.

The green holographic sensor beam passed over their hiding spot, then returned. It lingered on the wall hiding them. The mech made sharp, rapid tones.

“It’s suspicious. I need to draw it away,” Lily whispered. Before anyone could stop her, she slipped into shadow, moving along the wall’s edge.

The large mech stepped toward their position. The two smaller mechs stopped harvesting and turned to face the same direction. All three machines focused on the wall.

More electronic sounds came from the six-legged one. Longer and more complex patterns added different types of clicks. The smaller mech spread out to flank at the wall.

“Get ready to move on my signal,” Ollie whispered.

Lily reached the corner of a building twenty metres to the right. She paused, watching the mechs move.

The large mech took another step toward the wall. The next second, a high-pitched whine of electrical circuitry could be heard.

Then, the main cannon barrel suddenly snapped right, directly at where Lily was. The mech made a single loud tone, and all hell broke loose as the smaller spider mechs changed direction, sprinting at Lily’s position.

“Move!” Gale shouted.

A red beam shot from the mech, cutting through the metal walls of the building. Lily leapt away, the laser barely missing as it melted through metal.

Ollie drew his M4. “Combat positions, now!”

The group broke cover and moved into formation. The two smaller mechs spun toward them, weapons activating.

Gale dashed directly at the large mech, Weber materializing into his right hand. The thirty-foot spider turned toward him, weapons locking onto his position. Red targeting lasers swept across the floor, tracking his movement.

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“Everyone, focus on the smaller ones!” Ollie shouted, backing away. “Let Gale handle the big bastard!”

One smaller mech pivoted sharply, tracking Lily as she dashed between buildings. Its legs clicked against metal as it chased her. Missile compartments opened along its sides. The first volley launched, four projectiles curving through the air as Lily ducked between obstacles.

The second smaller mech charged at Gale, cutting off his path to the larger one. Its front legs rose to crush him. Gale shifted direction, but the mech anticipated his move. A laser cannon on its underside powered up.

The beam fired straight at Gale’s chest.

Gale blocked with Weber to catch the beam. The laser hit the flat side, heating up the metal. The force pushed him back several feet, boots skidding across the plaza.

“Hold position!” Clyde called from behind a fallen statue, long gun at his shoulder. He sighted down the scope at the smaller mech attacking Gale.

The long gun barked, sound bouncing off walls. The round hit the mech’s main head, cracking the red lenses that looked to be spider eyes and staggering it back.

Across the plaza, Lily ducked as missiles exploded against a wall behind her. The pursuing mech crawled up a building, gaining height for a better attack angle.

Ollie floated above to a low rise, dashing through it and floating to the roof of another. He raised his rifle, firing controlled bursts at the mech chasing Lily.

“Lily, break right! Get behind Rachel and Kyle!” Ollie shouted between shots. “Stay there until it repositions!”

Lily changed direction, sprinting towards Rachel and Kyle at a collapsed fountain. The mech tracking her adjusted course, scuttling along buildings to maintain sight.

The large mech stomped forward towards Gale. Satin metal floor plates dented under the weight.

“Gale, don’t hold back!” Ollie shouted. “If you can take the big one alone, do it fast! We’ll handle these smaller ones!”

Gale nodded, taking in a deep breath as he let in the familiar warmth of Breath of the Void into him. Intricate shapes, patterns and complex lines bloomed across his face. His vision inverted, reds became teals, shadows turned into highlights. The pitch black Weber in his hand appeared white with swirling galaxies inside the circuitry.

The six-legged mech shifted its head towards him, suddenly stopping its advance on the others. Tones rapidly beeped and clicked. Twenty small missiles launched from its body, and all its gatling guns fired at Gale.

Weber Balista materialized in Gale’s hand from the space storage. Weber blade in right hand, gun in left. He dashed towards it as the bullets waterfalled into his position, blade deflecting bullets while aiming the Balista at the oncoming missiles.

Each pull of the trigger exploded a missile mid air, scattering explosions along the plaza and causing even more chaos. The pistol in his hand recoiled at every shot, causing Gale’s body to slightly displace, but that movement worked well with Dainv Combat Arts.

The barrage ended and the smoke slowly faded. Gale stood untouched. A glowing red hot metal surrounded him. He raised the Balista at the mech’s centre mass. The gun charged with a whine, then fired a concentrated dark green beam.

Thwip.

The beam struck and refracted against a hexagonal forcefield around the mech’s body. The beam dispersed harmlessly.

“Guide, what the hell?!” Gale shouted.

[Weber X1 Balista currently set to Phase type essence. Change settings to set to physical type.]

“And how do I do that?!”

[Host has not learned essence type switching methodologies.]

Goddamn this useless Guide. Melee it is then. Weber Balista X1 dematerialized back into the storage.

Across the plaza, one smaller spider mech crawled up to Ollie’s position. Its legs clawed at the roof edge as it pulled itself higher.

Rachel dropped from above, flaming hands lighting up the whole vicinity. She landed on the mech’s back, slamming both palms against the metal. On contact, her hands exploded with force, blasting armour plating apart.

The mech buckled but didn’t fall. It twisted, throwing Rachel off as it reoriented. A laser barrel swivelled toward her as she rolled across the roof.

The beam cut through the air where she’d been a moment before. Rachel pushed off with one hand, flipping away from the attack. The laser carved a trench in the roof.

Meanwhile, Lily reached the backline, with the second smaller mech still chasing. It scuttled towards them at high speed, weapons charging.

“Now,” Kyle flipped his dagger and threw it into a joint where the mech’s leg connected to its body.

Kyle blinked in a flash of blue, teleporting to the dagger’s location with his hand on the handle. Pistol appeared next in his other hand, firing repeatedly at the mech’s body.

Red lenses shattered under the barrage. The spider mech spun wildly, trying to throw Kyle off. He held on, shooting until his magazine emptied.

The six-legged large mech turned back to Gale. One massive leg swung horizontally like a baseball bat.

Gale ducked under the attack. Weber extended upwards as the leg rushed past him, Phase Touch along its edge cutting through the metal with ease. The severed piece hit the ground with a clang.

Jumping onto its metal leg, Gale ran up the still connected leg while his Phase Touched blade dragged along the leg. It tried to twist him off, but Dainv Combat Mastery had fully deleted the concept of ‘balance’. There was no shaking him off even if he was on two legs running up the machine.

He reached the joint where the leg connected to the body. Gale thrust the blade deep into the connection point. Metal squealed as the weapon penetrated armour.

It shook violently, bucking upwards, but all Gale did was twist the blade deeper.

Hydraulic fluid sprayed across Gale’s face as he pushed further. The mech bucked wildly. Two more appendages swung toward him. Keeping low and close to the mech’s body, the appendages couldn’t reach him as he kept hacking away, now lengthening the Weber into a spear.

Across the plaza, Clyde dropped to one knee. He pulled a black glyphed magazine from his belt, its bullet casings etched with intricate patterns that glowed a subtle blue. He tamped it into the magwell and aimed down the sight.

“One shot,” he muttered, sighting down the scope at the six-legged giant.

The long gun’s barrel pulsed blue, charging up. Electricity crackled along the weapon, sparks rising from the chambered round. Trigger squeezed.

The long gun bucked hard, upwards, almost causing Clyde to let go. The bullet left the barrel surrounded by electricity, a shockwave trailing the air behind it. It streaked toward the massive mech’s body.

The six-legged mech twisted sharply. The electrified round missed its centre mass, hitting a gatling gun on its shoulder instead. The weapon exploded in a shower of sparks and metal.

The large mech froze briefly as electricity coursed through its body. It made rapid electronic tones. Both smaller mechs immediately abandoned their targets.

One threw Kyle against a building wall before scuttling away. Kyle hit the concrete with a grunt, sliding across the ground.

The smaller mechs charged toward Gale, focused on removing him from the large mech. They moved, coordinating on where to flank him as he weaved in and out of the debris and buildings.

The first smaller mech slammed against Gale, trying to knock him off. Its metal arms held onto his back, with another arm using a railing to pull him away from the large one’s body.

Gale kept his grip on the Weber blade, still embedded in the joint. It wasn’t that easy, though. He’d been in tougher wrestling matches against bears when he was literally just 7 years old.

The second smaller mech climbed the large one’s body. It reached Gale’s position and opened compartments along its flank. Missiles launched point-blank, exploding against both Gale and the first smaller mech.

The blast knocked Gale loose, sending him tumbling across the large mech’s back with the smaller machine still clinging to him. They rolled together, tangled in limbs and metal legs.

Gale pushed against the smaller mech, trying to break free. His hands pressed against metal, muscles straining. Shit, they’re stalling. No choice. Phase Touch activated on his whole body, letting him freely get out of the hold.

Across the plaza, Kyle laid dazed against a spire’s wall. One of the six-legged mech’s legs smashed onto where Kyle was, stopped only by the walls of the building behind him, but still pinning him down. He tried reaching for his pistol, but only the tips of his fingers could touch it.

A high-pitched whine grew as the large mech’s laser weapons charged. Its main body swivelled, targeting systems locking onto Ollie on the rooftop.

Ollie noticed the targeting beam too late. He tried to dive behind a ventilation unit, but the mech predicted his movement. The laser tracked him perfectly.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep