Inferno Ascended

As expected, Glax had a bad night's sleep at the camp. Even though neither he nor Kal had taken shifts during the vigil, his sleep was filled with nightmares and distressing images.

It was still dark and everyone was asleep, and Glax woke up feeling a weight on his belly. He found a bag made of jute, full of wild berries, salves and elixirs, but he did not see the dryad anywhere.

"Phew!" Glax didn't know how to deal with it, and he thought it best not to try to think about it now. It was good to have been gifted supplies for the mission, though.

He went back to sleep, but woke up to the strange howl that echoed through the region. But now he knew what it was. Even so, it was something that raised the hairs on the body.

Without much ado, they took the path south, towards Stimrena.

Halfway there, when they got close to the most distant houses. It was already possible to see the signs of destruction and death. Abandoned animals tried to survive on their own. Houses sealed with boards and rocks. Burnt grass, animal and people corpses rotting here and there. Soul orbs dotting the landscape.

Luckily, Glax apparently needed to be close enough to attract the orbs.

In the distance, they could see the ominous silhouette of a tower.

"When Meleagor drew that, I knew it was the weapons factory in Stimhena," Kal said. "They deactivated it last year, when the ore ran out. Miners and workers migrated to the south. That factory has once produced sophisticated weapons, but in the end, it only made spearheads, picks and shovels."

"Something happened that changed all of that." Glax shrugged. "Some magic has dominated the forge, and an insane mind is behind it. Our goal is to enter the factory, get to what is causing it, and destroy it. But I am sure that guards as fierce as Meleagor are protecting the city."

"It is all a matter of hitting them before they hit us," Lady Pydna commented nonchalantly as always, "this time we know what we are dealing with. Then they can respawn after some time, if their 'hearts' are not destroyed."

"Basically that. Once they are overthrown, they cannot simply be abandoned. They really need to be destroyed." Glax had already summarized what happened very pragmatically.

They stopped near the village entrance, following the main road.

It was completely deserted. Not even animals were walking around. But he also had no bodies or any visible objects made of metal around. Glax saw wide, narrow marks of wheels and dragged things in the dust.

They couldn't spot the sentries right away. But Glax knew they were out there, collecting what was useful to take to the factory.

They came to a public fountain, with a lion's head. A few meters away, there was a semi-destroyed temple. After examining the location, Glax spoke. "This is going to be our base. The temple has a little higher ground and gives a good view of the surrounding streets. Even if we split up, this is the place we should go back to. First, let's clean up the area. We know that the 'breeder' is at the factory, but it won't leave the nest, nor will he produce new henchmen with speed. So we have to eliminate its small army before we go there - or we will be cornered."

"How do you know that, Lord Glax?" Zotikos asked.

"It recycles material. He must have already consumed all the metal he found, and whatever was possible inside the factory, and then started using humans… From which it consumes some magic power, too. Material and energy are scarce. But the magic, and the pieces… this thing needs to be recycled."

"I don't know if I want to understand." Pydna grunted.

"I believe that there are still civilians in the village." Glax informed. "Try not to shoot anything that moves."

"But ... Why would there still be someone in the village?"

"I don't know. Maybe because they can't get out. Or for other reasons. But there are small, recent footprints near the source. Kids."

"Uh damn," Kal grunted.

"It is time to share your signaling grenades, Zotikos. Lady Pydna, Alexandre and I are going in the back street, the rest will comb out this one."

He had distributed the groups according to the skills of every asset. And of course, he had to keep an eye on Alexander at all times. His young cousin was more of a curse, but he kind of liked the boy.

:::::::::::

The sun was shining, but the day was cold for a change.

The trio left the others and entered the side street, which ended near the port and the factory. They looked closely at the buildings that were covered with siding, as well as those that were dilapidated and abandoned. The place was a war zone.

Glax's attentive ear picked up a strange sound. Discharge of steam.

"Shhh," motioning for his companions not to speak, Glax sought a shelter near an abandoned building. Alexandre and Pydna did the same.

Then they saw. Two machines coming slowly from the corner.

"Boars?" Alexandre asked.

Yes. The machines resembled huge boars, but made entirely of metal, walking on wheels. Smoke from their vapor system was coming out of their nostrils, and their pointed fangs were blackened by blood. Even though the machines were not in the best condition, due to previous battles, the steam metal creatures were clearly prepared as small tanks.

"Are they able to spot us?" Pydna asked. Glax nodded.

"They haven't seen us yet. We will avoid being seen from the front." the lady suggested.

She was right. Now that Glax knew each machine was equipped with a human's reasoning ability, it was easy to understand their lethality.

Unfortunately, the boar-robot model's 'core' was right in the middle of the forehead.

The warrior woman beside him took aim.

"Hey, wait," we prevented her from shooting.

Around the corner, several meters behind the two robot boars, another being appeared. Over three meters tall, Glax at first thought it was a man using a thin-legged vehicle like the Armorion crab.

But then he understood the whole machine at a second glance.

Like Meleagor, that man, or what was left of him, had his own legs permanently attached to two pairs of long articulated legs, positioned as spider legs. Two long tubes ending in triple claws replace his arm from the elbows down. The tubular corrugated arms were loose and almost touched the floor.

Unlike the mecha's elegance in Armorion, these creatures' designs were pure chaos.

That creature was more worrying than the robot boars. Its height allowed ample vision. His long and light limbs granted him extra mobility and advantage over most runners. Its main weakness, its fleshy body, was too high to be reached.

It wore tattered clothes that belonged to the fortress's regiment. But his bare chest practically exhibited a ribcage in skin and bones. He was scrawny and weak, but obedient. There was a problem with the integration.

Was there some kind of rejection, in some cases?

"The tall guy is a problem. Focus on taking him down, I will rip his heart out," he murmured to his colleagues. Looking at Alexander, he saw the rookie was sweating, but prepared to act.

Pydna seemed totally unfazed and just changed the target with her rifle. Glax took the sword.

The boars disappeared from view as the leggy one approached. They were half covered by a narrow porch, but the hideaway could not withstand the proximity.

Pydna fired, and her shot hit the leg joint closest to the monster. A second shot hit almost the same spot. The screech of metal giving in to the weight and the joints bursting were the signal for Glax and Alexandre to come out of hiding, to attack the tall zombie scout.

Alexandre threw himself at action with a shout of joy as his saw rotated in the air, immediately gashing the metal, sparks and filings popping everywhere.

"MWHAHAH! Let's chop!!!"

The valosian warrior planned an attack as sensational as, but it didn't happen. The monster with tentacle arms hit him with a violent slap of its floppy arm, sending his sword flying a few meters away.

Glax almost lost his balance, but he clung to the tentacular limb and was swept away by it, grazing his back on the ground. Soon after, he was lifted when the monster raised his arm to throw him away.

A shot zoomed past him towards the zombified body that made up the creature, but missed the target. Alexandre continued to sever the monster's legs with his saw. Everything was shaking.

But for a little window of time, Glax would be at the ideal place to shoot.

When the monster tilted to the side, Glax pulled out his pistol and shot into the monster's bald head.

Dark blood and antichor spurted from the other side of the head.

Glax fell awkwardly, and pushed Alexander away, while the monster stumbled, out of control. Both rolled under the monster before its legs collapsed. The creature fell across the street, partially onto a house, knocking over some tiles.

Alexander exulted.

"Did you see it?" Did you see what I did, Master?! I kicked its ass!!! HAHAHA, I mean, you helped too."

"Yeah, I lost my hand. And you rocked." He didn't know if they had seen the orb jump from the monster at him.

"Ugh, stop buttering each other, for Hyperion! We still have those boys over there!" The Damastios warrior aimed the rifle at the end of the street.

The robot boars sped towards them.