NOVEL WEB Chapter 11
Kyle held his ground as the monstrous ant approached, giving up all hope of a speedy escape. Whatever this creature had turned into, it was able to cover ground with astonishing speed. Kyle wasn’t confident in being able to kill it, but he felt that he had a decent shot of trying to at least cripple it enough to where it wouldn’t be able to pursue effectively. That mindset changed dramatically with the first strike, the large ant very nearly biting Kyle’s head off with its massive jaws.
Kyle dove to his left to avoid the blow, quickly regaining his footing just in time to jump aside again as the ant finished its charge and turned, keen on trying to bite him again. It had surprising speed in these quick lunges, but similar to the beetles he'd fought, the attacks came in a very direct linear pattern. At the end of the day, he was still fighting a mindless insect. Swiftly dodging a third lunge, Kyle felt confident about the rhythm of the fight. If he took his time he would have a chance, he just had to avoid getting sloppy. As the ant dove towards him again, Kyle saw an opportunity and swung at its leg with his staff as the creature passed by.
He was hoping for the strike, aided by the ant’s momentum, to crack the chitin of the thin leg, or at least cause some noticeable damage. Instead, it sent a sharp reverb up his arm and threatened his grip on the weapon as it got snared by one of the numerous barbs on the creature’s carapace. Seeming completely unbothered by the strike with the rebar, the ant did as before with a quick turn and lunge. Kyle again was able to sidestep, but found himself unable to bring a counterattack to bear before being forced away again.
Kyle and the ant continued their deadly dance, with the ant unable to grab Kyle in its jaws and Kyle unable to land a meaningful blow with his staff. There’s no way I’ll be able to beat this thing Kyle thought. If the ant was able to catch him he knew he’d be in for a world of hurt, while his strikes seemed to do virtually nothing to the ant’s hard carapace. Unfortunately, this left Kyle with a real conundrum. He knew he wouldn’t be able to outpace the ant across open ground, and without a good grasp of what was ahead in the city he could find himself pinned in there as well.
Worse yet, if there were refugees around he could put them in serious danger by bringing the ant towards them – even a reasonably leveled E Grade fighter would struggle against a beast like this. Dodging another lunge, Kyle again swung his staff only to have it bounce off the hard carapace.
There’s just nothing else for it, Kyle thought. As he prepared to escape, he jumped as he saw orange spots lighting up in various parts of the ant’s body.
[ANALYSIS COMPLETE DR. MAYHEW. SCANS INDICATE INCONSISTENCIES WITH THE CHITIN COMPOSITION AND EXCESSIVE BRITTLENESS IN THESE LOCATIONS. HYPOTHESIZING THAT EXPLOSIVE GROWTH LED TO THESE AREAS OF WEAKNESS.]
Kyle turned to look at his drone companion floating overhead, placing overlay projections across the ant’s body. His surprise cost him, however, as the ant caught his carapace armor in its jaws and began to squeeze. A sickening crunch filled the air as the carapace tried to hold, only to be crushed beneath the force of the bite. The jaws continued into Kyle’s side, ripping out a chunk of flesh below his left ribs.
Screaming in pain, Kyle tore himself free and placed his hand over the bite wound, channeling a quick HEAL to stem the bleeding. He could feel the foreign energy coursing into him from the bite, but it was enough to keep him on his feet and moving for now. For its part, the ant turned towards him and prepared to lunge again, but by now Kyle was ready. Looking at a highlighted spot above its left middle leg, Kyle sidestepped the lunge and brought his staff down in a brutal overhand strike.
Unlike his previous attempts, this one was met with a satisfying crunch as a web of cracks formed around the impact. A fierce grin on his face, Kyle readied himself as the ant once again turned towards him. Now we’re getting somewhere.
Three more exchanges passed in a similar fashion, with Kyle managing to land a strike on the same weakened part of carapace, with the third finally causing a large segment of the carapace to break apart, revealing soft tissue beneath. It was clearly inflamed, likely being the cause of the stress on the carapace that covered this part of the ant’s body. If I can get one or two more good shots in I doubt it’ll be able to use that leg at all Kyle thought, taking his stance as he prepared for the ant’s next charge.
As if in response, the ant began to move towards Kyle, and he immediately exploded into motion in response. Unfortunately for Kyle, the ant wasn’t as mindless as he’d originally thought. Instead of the direct charge, it spun around, swinging its barbed abdomen at him in a sweeping arc. This is bad. Kyle thought, tucking his chin and bringing his arms up to cover his face. That was all he had time for as the ant struck. Kyle heard the barbs scratching against the remaining armor on his body, and felt them bite at his skin in the areas that weren’t covered.
More than anything else, the momentum of the swing had knocked him back a good four meters, and he landed hard on his back. Adrenaline was coursing through him as he scrambled to his feet, his eyes locked onto the ant. Fortunately for him, the large creature had also made a miscalculation. In rotating so quickly, the leg that Kyle had been attacking had given out, the damage from Kyle’s attacks too much for the limb to handle. While the ant didn’t seem to be terribly bothered by this, its movements had become less coordinated, giving Kyle the time he needed to get up and prepare for the next engagement.
Looking over the body of his opponent, Kyle saw two courses of action to continue the fight – he could either focus on the wound exposed by the broken chitin, or he could try to open up a similar wound in another highlighted spot. Looking over the creature’s body as he dodged another charge, he spotted a weak point near where the head connected with the thorax.
There! Kyle thought, not waiting for the ant to regain its position. He turned quickly and followed it as it turned, bracing himself for the pain as he managed to grab hold, light scratches being scored across the parts of his body uncovered by the armor as the barbs tried to bite into him further. Startled by his movements, the ant tried to shake him off, but the delay cost it dearly. Kyle had positioned himself near the spot he had seen and struck with all he was worth.
He didn’t have much leverage, but he was still able to get the carapace to crack with several hard blows before he was thrown free. As the ant turned to face him, Kyle heard the sound of the brittle chitin cracking and flaking away, and the ant’s head dropped towards the ground without the support it had once had. This was the critical moment, and Kyle wasted no time closing the distance and landing one last strike at the base of the ant’s head. His foe spasmed a couple of times before slumping to the ground, unable to move.
Kyle looked down at his body – his new armor had largely served its purpose, even if it was now covered in scratches and blood, the piece covering his left side entirely destroyed by the ant’s vicious attack. As he looked at his arms and legs he frowned – he was expecting to see dozens of deep lacerations bleeding freely, what he saw instead was scratches that seemed to already be healing. He knew that REGENERATION was running and active, but it should have been largely muted counteracting the rogue mana in the air, especially during such a short engagement.
Frowning, he turned to C.H.A.D.D. The little drone had more than shown its worth in the scrap, but in doing so it reaffirmed what Kyle had been suspecting. Nowhere in its programming did these units have directives or programs that would have allowed for this level of proactivity, much less to apply it quickly in a life-or-death combat situation. Whatever this rogue energy was that they were both being exposed to, it was changing things at a fundamental level.
“C.H.A.D.D., thank you for your help back there. If it wasn’t for your help, there’s no way I would have made it through.” The drone floated down towards him, but otherwise remained silent.
“You can drop the act C.H.A.D.D., whatever’s happening is doing something to both of us. Can you tell me what’s been happening internally to you?”
The drone continued to float in silence before responding, finally saying [RESULTS ARE INCONCLUSIVE DR. MAYHEW. STRINGS OF CODE HAVE BEEN CHANGED; NEW JUNK CODE ADDED. CODE AND FUNCTIONS DAMAGED DURING THE EVENT HAVE BEEN CHANGED. PROCESSING HAS CHANGED. PERSPECTIVE… IS DIFFERENT. NO FIRM RESULTS THAT CAN BE SHARED.] Kyle looked thoughtfully at his travel companion. He knew that there was more than C.H.A.D.D. was sharing with him, but this was as good a starting point as any.
Despite the horror stories of unshackled artificial intelligence, there was no doubt in his mind that he’d be dead right now if he hadn’t had the support of the drone. All that said, there was one other item of business. “I appreciate that, C.H.A.D.D. Share what you know when you’re ready to. For the time being, can you scan me?”
~~~
Thank you all for reading! Please take time to share a review, and if you'd like to support the work please check out the Starsworn Saga on Patreon for advanced access to chapters and other upcoming bonus content!
Starsworn Saga | The official page for early access to the Starsworn Saga! | Patreon