Shattered super-soldier

[Trauma nanite pattern 1-4 deployed, complete tissue regeneration in 18 minutes]

Matthew caught his breath as he sat on the ground, while the injuries he had sustained were significant only 2 were bone deep, and he had suffered no internal injuries or complete fractures, all things considered he had gotten off pretty light given the last 15 minutes of combat, the burns on his right arm, shoulder and check weren’t that bad either

‘...At most medium rare, heh’

A grin was planted on his face as he looked at the carnage that was revealed as the dust from Alina’s attack settled, around 130 cow sized ants had been annihilated in this fight, to Matthew these carcasses were well worth their weight in gold

“How many industrial capacitors do you think you can make with that amount of materials Aea?

[Given the state of the carcasses, at most 5]

Matthew’s grin widened with the power storage and almost wasteless transfer of power these industrial capacitors would be enough to kick-start an industrial complex as well as provide power for a few low clever rail guns

“Are, are you okay, Matthew”

Matthew nodded and showed reassured Alina that was sitting next to him looking concerned at his injuries

“Yeah, I just need a breather… Still your timing was excellent, you really saved my ass Alina”

Alina nodded and carefully took Matthew’s hand and gave it a careful squeeze, which he returned while he reached above his head and placed the capacitor on top of the thermal generator when he looked over at Alina he saw she was looking at the capacitor that was around the size of 33cl soda can, and spoke

“It, it does seem useful after that”

Matthew nodded and asked Alina

“Do you want to learn how to shoot too?”

Alina quickly nodded and spoke

“I, I will do my best to learn quickly”

-

Around 5 days travel east of Matthew and Alina’s location, another battle was playing out, a tall stone fortress was under siege by the same white furred ants which Matthew and Alina had just fought off, however due to the lack of advanced weaponry this battle was rather costly for both sides, on top of the stone walls people operated cannons and ballistas that fired on the approaching white furred ants while being bombarded by acid attacks which a smaller number of mystics did their best to defend against, this was one of the many border outposts the Willmir empire had set up on the Western fringes among the crescendo of battle a voice boomed out

“HOLD STEADY MEN, WE ARE THE DEFENDERS OF WILLMIR AND WE WILL NOT BREAK TODAY!”

The rousing voice breathed new life into the soldiers that responded with an unified roar as they redoubled their efforts to fight back the white furred ants while the casualties continued to rise until the critical moment arrived and the same voice boomed out again

“WITH ME, TO THE FIELD!”

At this a group of around 20 leaped off the top of the wall, each a fighter in heavy armor moving with the speed of cavalry smashed into the tide of the oncoming white furred ants and after a few minutes of brutal fighting helped by support from the top of the wall they managed to drive back the horde of white furred ants who swiftly retreated, one of the figures that had leapt from the walls that wielded a large halberd was about to give chase when a hand landed on his shoulder holding them back as the same voice that had boomed to inspire the soldiers spoke out in a lighthearted tone

“Easy my dear, I know you hunger for the prestige and honor of battle but giving chase will only lead to an early death”

The young metal clad soldier remained silent for a few moments before she squeezed out a soft voice filled with frustration

“Yes, grandfather”

The old soldier that removed his metal helmet and revealed a face of silver hair and numerous battle scars let out a hearty laugh before he clapped his granddaughter on the shoulder a few times as he spoke

“You did well today Klara, you can feel plenty proud of your growth over the last half a year”

The young soldier didn’t answer, instead she brushed off her grandfather's hand before silently returning towards the fortress, the old man let out a sigh and complained to another metal clad soldier that had followed close behind him the entire fight covering his back the entire time

“She is a little too eager for battle…”

The soldier spoke after a brief silence

“With all due respect, Duke Adam… That is your fault”

The old Duke, previous emperor and father of the current emperor of the Willmir empire Erik Willmir the 3rd, showed a bitter look on his face for a few moments before he let out a sigh, Duke Adam had before he relinquished the throne to his 4th son established an inheritance law which awarded the crown to the most capable direct descendant of the current emperor no more than 30 years after their crowning, this ensured that the Willmir wouldn’t get stuck in the past and always have a young brilliant emperor or empress leading it

But it also meant that Duke Adam now had to watch his dear grandchildren fight for the throne with their lives on the line, the old man muttered softly as he watched the back of his dear granddaughter disappear into the fortress

“...I suppose old age have made me soft”

“To think the day would come when I would see the muscle head emperor Adam Willmir the 1st complaining about his age”

Duke Adam visibly recoiled from the ruthless stab at his shortsightedness, yet offered no rebuttal, instead he grumbled

“It’s not like you are young yourself, Sara”

The soldier let out a menacing chuckle before she removed her helmet, which revealed her charcoal black skin and long vibrant red hair which she shook free of its knot before she grabbed the scuff of the Duke’s neck to cut off his imminent escape as she asked with in a frosty tone

“Which part of me looks old?”

Sara, or Saratheen the wise as she was known in historical records was not mortal, her current humanoid form was one she had assumed after the birth of the blue comet and ever since she had helped the Willmir empire grow its borders, military and political might, over the almost 200 years she had taken 4 wise emperors under her personal tutelage and guided them, Adam being her latest student, which why no one dared reprimand her for the treatment of Duke Adam nor respond to his pleading look for help

“Y-You look as lovely a-as the day I first laid eyes on you, Sara”’

Saratheen let out a sigh after a few moments and let go of Duke Adam, a few moments of silence followed before Saratheen spoke

“Still… This is a rather large group of Banshee knight ants out of nowhere”

Duke Adam nodded, the white furred Banshee ants had a hive further to the northwest of the fortress, normally they wouldn’t attack unless something had disturbed them first, but now that they had repealed the first group a 2nd was sure to follow and possible a 3rd as the Banshee ants was well known for their violent outbursts if a member of their hive was killed

“For now we can only weather the storm, would you mind sending a request for support, Sara?”

Saratheen nodded with a smile before she undignified Duke Adam by ruffling his hair like he was a child before she spoke

“No problem, hold down the fort until I return in a weeks time”

Duke Adam silently fixed his messed up hair as he watched Saratheen fold out her large wings and take to the sky before rapidly accelerating and heading East…

-

Over the 5 days since Matthew and Alina had established their basecamp a lot of changes had taken place, the original small clearing had been significantly expanded out, the most recent addition was an Olympic swimming pool sized ditch had been dug out which was filled with the remains of the 3rd white furred ant attack that had attacked them, another changes was a solar array that consisted of 8 carbon solar collector panels

The underground bunker had also been expanded significantly and now housed 5 industrial capacitors which feed power to the 3 manufactures which manufactured solar collectors to expand out the power grid

‘Things are starting to pick up speed… Once the Forge nanites finish, I need to harvest the remaining ant carcasses, there should be enough materials for a medium caliber rail gun turret for base defense…’

Matthew had been chopping down trees the last 5 days in between the brief breaks of fighting off the white furred ants which were starting to become routine, the worker androids grabbed each and every tree and dragged them to the middle of the basecamp where it was dropped down a shaft to be feed into the manufacturer below

‘...As long as nothing catastrophic over the next weeks time we should be unstoppable’

Matthew’s confidence came from the familiar weight of the coil gun that was magnetically locked to his back and the considerable stock of ammunition that had been manufactured so far