[Rank 1 Hive]

  [Objectives (Grade 2): Destroy Hatcheries (0/25), Defeat Praetorians (0/3), Defeat Queen (0/1)]

  [Bonus Objective: Retrieve Data Caches (0/4)]

  [Monster Level: 120]

  [Monster Type: Demons]

  [Rewards (Squad): 10 Augment Crates & 7 Gear Crates]

  “Wait, it's a demon hive? Perhaps we should rethink this.” Liv backs away from the barrier with a frown on her face. On the other side is a large empty space, with a large ruined military compound in the background.

  I slap her hard on the back. “Oh come on, they aren't that bad. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Plus they aren't waiting for us right at the border this time.”

  She turns around and pokes me in the chest very matter-of-factly. “So says the one that can simply dodge. You are lucky, you don’t have to sit there as they shoot fireballs and who knows what else at you!” The demon type of monster is one of the few that can cast spells, and they also possess a greater amount of intelligence. Meaning, we have to deal with them ambushing us and then raining fire down when we can't even see them. At least they are usually fewer in number and lack superheavy armor.

  “Oh stop being such a wuss. I’m more concerned about these praetorians, and the bonus objective.”

  “This was a military installation," Stephen says, “and there was a bunch of data that couldn’t be extracted in time. Apparently if we collect it we get some bonus intel on the queen and her praetorians. The praetorians are basically like mini-queens that we must defeat before we can take on the bigshot.”

  “Big boom required?” Moxie asks with a large smile.

  “Sounds like we will indeed need some big booms. So be ready.” I smile back at Moxie.

  Violet is off to the side and leaning against the Pegasus, polishing her blade. It must be a lot of work, after all, she does like to stab things. It is my goal this month to not be one of those things she stabs.

  “Alright, is everyone ready?” Stephen places the device on the barrier. “Let's go hug some monsters, with our hatred of course.”

  The device activates and we quickly step through the hole in the barrier and into hostile territory. The FAUD follows behind us at a distance. I grip my dagger tightly as we settle into a run towards the facility. The glowing column of light can be seen in the distance where the queen’s rift is trying to break the barrier, it's our job to take it out before that can happen.

  As we get closer, I move up into the front and make use of my new skill, Trace Clues. My vision lights up with a bunch of information, footprints, marks and all sorts of information that usually would go unnoticed fills my brain. Which allows me to spot an interesting pattern, “Seems like there was a group of seventy monsters here about ten minutes ago, they are likely hiding nearby.”

  “Well then speedy fella, you know what to do.” Liv taunts.

  I sigh, “I’ve gotta lure them out, don’t I?”

  “Yep, my taunt doesn't work if they are hiding. Something something bullshit mechanics.”

  Wasting no time, I run into the facility. Naturally, being military it's nicely designed into square and uniform grids. Which makes it super easy to defend as you get lots of good choke points at intersections.

  Unfortunately for us, we are currently trying to attack the facility.

  I come into the first intersection and am forced to dodge instantly as a bolt of lightning shoots towards me. Luckily spell-created lightning is drastically slower than normal lightning, so it is dodgeable. Sadly, it makes it unable to power electronics.

  I look up and the nearby roofs are lined with a bunch of really disgusting monsters. They all have short horns that curl back, otherwise they look like shorter humanoid beings, but something about them just feels wrong. Oh, and of course they are coated in black aetherium skin and armor.

  There are three different types that I can see right now. About two dozen [Demon Mage Lvl 120], forty [Demon Brawler Lvl 120], and a handful [Demon Paladin Lvl 130]. An interesting characteristic of higher grade hives is that they have more variety of monsters. Combine that with the more specialized demons, and you’ve got a real fun time.

  “Aww look, they missed us and sent out a welcoming party. How sweet of them.” Liv shouts from behind me, just as the melee fighters jump down and charge right for me.

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  I move out of the way and let Liv absorb their attention with her Taunt and massive shield. Then I Blink onto a nearby roof and run towards the mages, who are busy trying to roast Stephen and Violet with fire and lightning. Apparently ranged monsters are less susceptible to Taunt due to distance or whatever, which really sucks.

  My dagger slices into their armor like it is paper. Combined with my speed, I am able to dodge almost all their attacks while cutting them down in record time. I do get a few burns, but it's nothing too severe. Definitely nothing compared to losing half my limbs.

  I Blink down and am immediately targeted by one of the paladins, it has a large sword and some thicker armor. I experiment with a new spell that I actually came up with myself. I launch a blob of a mud-like substance towards its feet and it hardens upon contact, preventing it from moving. I think I will call this spell mudball, which seems fitting considering it looks like mud at first.

  It roars its anger, and I slip in behind it and manage to cut into the weak spots of its armor. I probably shouldn’t but I can't help laughing as it disintegrates. I move on to a group of brawlers that are moving towards Violet – who is busy being a badass as usual.

  The brawlers are definitely a step up from the hounds. I can’t tell if it's because of the levels or the type, but they actually dodge some of my attacks. One even manages to knock me off balance and score a nice hit to my poor ribs, turns out they aren't called brawlers for no reason. Luckily the damage was still within Moxie’s healing skill.

  We get a few bruises and cuts, but we end up finishing off the monsters. But this was merely a scouting party. Grade two is definitely a bit step up compared to grade one, I can see why Bellaris was hesitant about us taking it on.

  But, we can handle it. After all, if we can’t handle this, what hope is there for us in the future when things get even harder?

  After a short break, we continue on. We at first try to move along the roofs, but the streets are too wide and we cannot make the jumps, stupid military design philosophy. We are forced to run along the streets, and end up encountering a smaller group of monsters along our way. We brush them to the side with no injuries.

  We reach the first hatchery. “Damn, it must be three times the size of the ones in the other hive.” Stephen comments. There are several wrecked shuttles lying about in the hatchery, and a large building. The place must’ve been a starport at some point.

  “Eh, who cares about the size, we are going to rip it apart no matter what.” I quip back with a smile.

  “Big boom time?” Moxie asks with much anticipation.

  “Actually, that might not be a bad idea.” Stephen replies. “What if you and Maka sit back and thin them out a bit before we go in? It would make it far less dangerous.”

  Everyone agrees, so Moxie and I take up positions on a nearby roof overlooking the hatchery. I get to try out my Meditate skill for the first time, and it is really awesome. We are able to rain explosions down all across the hatchery, and we manage to thin the horde of monsters down significantly. It seems that Moxie’s expanded mana capacity has really come in useful as she is able to launch a bunch of larger spells that wipe out dozens of monsters at once.

  Unfortunately it seems most of the eggs have some sort of harder shell on them that is too costly to break at this distance. Naturally, the monsters are not happy and Liv has to stand in front of us to absorb the ludicrous quantity of projectiles that come flying towards us.

  After we thin them to what is deemed an appropriate level, I jump down and activate Stealth. I manage to plant a bunch of Moxie’s explosives on several hundred eggs. But my aether gets dangerously low so I am forced to get out before I get even a third of them. Nonetheless, the resulting explosion is quite sizable as a quarter of the hatchery detonates.

  Violet who has been standing off to the side with an annoyed look brightens up as I approach. Unfortunately it is not because of me, but rather because the monsters have now been thinned enough for her to start fighting. I am honestly surprised she didn't just charge in and ignore our plan. Now that I think of it, she has always worked with us, even if she complains about us slowing her down. Guess she realizes that doing everything alone isn't a good way of doing things.

  It is quite a slog, but we manage to destroy the rest of the eggs and clear out the remaining monsters. Our kill counts absolutely soar to insane levels and I can feel that I must’ve gotten a good amount of levels.

  In fact, my Spell Book leveled up and I gained a new rote spell slot. So I enter Mudball into it, so I can cast it much quicker in the future. I can always remove it if I come up with a better idea for a spell.

  We are quite tired and don't want to push too hard right away. So after the FAUD is done doing its collecting, we settle under the barrier and rest. One thing that Tien tried to impress upon us heavily along the way here is that hives are a marathon and not a sprint. It is better to take a bit longer and live, then run into a new battle exhausted and end up dead.

  I notice Violet is polishing her blade again, which is utterly unnecessary as the aetherium will never go dull, and if it breaks we are likely dead. “Why do you always polish your blade?” I give the question a shot, fully expecting her to ignore me.

  She turns to look at me with those lovely eyes of hers. “Old habits die hard. Not all of us are undisciplined idiots.”

  I feel like that was meant to be an insult directed at me, but I cannot seem to make sense out of it. I feel like I am fairly disciplined all things considered. Sure, I could probably do more physical training instead of reading, but that's beside the point. I choose not to respond, happy that she paid me any attention at all.

  I doze off briefly as I think about how nice it is to be slaying monsters again.

  [Scout has leveled up! Lvl 124 -> Lvl 136]

  [Mage has leveled up! Lvl 112 -> Lvl 132]

  [Average Level is now 134]

  [Lemon has leveled up! Lvl 98 -> Lvl 110]

  [Stealth has leveled up! Lvl 15 -> Lvl 18]

  [Blink has leveled up! Lvl 18 -> Lvl 20]

  [Trace Clues has leveled up! Lvl 1 -> Lvl 4]

  [Magic Fundamentals has leveled up! Lvl 17 -> Lvl 19]

  [Spell Book has leveled up! Lvl 14 -> Lvl 18]

  [Meditate has leveled up! Lvl 1 -> Lvl 6]

  Next Chapter: Information Warfare

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  They’ve been drinking my future like it’s corp-subsidized coffee. I’m about to make them choke on it.

  I’m Dash. My great-grandfather was one of the Fifteen who saved humanity during the System Apocalypse, founding the corps that rule the solar system. That legacy should’ve been mine. Until my father was disinherited and died, leaving us with nothing but a single building on Earth 2.0.

  My compatibility tested at 17%. Failure. While classmates advanced to System Academy, I got mining school, fighting bugs for drops. But the 17% compatibility score was a lie. A rival corp has been draining my power.

  When a broken System finally manifests, it grants me Hoqalo, a trait to forge gear better than anything factory-made. Now, armed with my tools and my corporate grandmother’s dangerous resources, I’m done fighting for scraps.

  They stole my future. I'm stealing it back with interest.

  | LitRPG | Cyberpunk | Magitech | Underdog | Book 1 Written |