Chapter 51: Trapped XP
Ten opponents at once is a lot, but only if they are above a certain level of quality. Ten, twenty, a hundred, a thousand are all just wheat beneath my scythe if they lack the skill or the strength to threaten me; in some cases, such numbers even hinder each other. The scout drones weren't so weak as all that, and overcoming ten of them would represent, if not a true danger, then a task that would require effort and concentration on my part.
The scout drones weren't shaped like people, which made their movements a little harder to read, but as their engines still let out an ear-rending screech as they moved to attack, it really didn't matter. I will grant that the pack tactics employed by the level five scout drones were better than the headlong rush the scavenger drones would attempt when their ambushes failed. The way the ten bestial machines broke into small groups and tried to come at me from multiple angles at once was clever, but would never be enough, not against me.
Unlike last time I was surrounded by a pack of scout drones, I didn't play games or use it as a chance to keep my reflexes honed. I went on the attack, just like you are supposed to when you find yourself surrounded. You identify the weakest point in the encirclement, double-check that you aren't being baited by false weakness or hidden reinforcements, and then you strike that weakest section of their lines hard and fast before the rest of the circle can get in position to attack you from behind or the sides.
Given that this was five groups of two, you might think that there was no objectively weakest point among the drones that were moving to trap me. You would be mistaken in this belief. It wasn't that one or more of the four-legged drones was showing signs of damage, but anyone with a little bit of combat experience could easily identify why I considered the pair to my immediate left the weak point in my encirclement.
It was the nature of the ground they occupied, or the roof, I suppose. For the purposes of our conflict, it was the ground, and uneven ground at that. I spun to my left and exploded forward, activating my spear's blade as I did. The pair of drones were passing between a pair of the circular spinning things and something that I took to be a chimney extending out the top of the roof. They had to go that way if they wanted to assist the circle, as fallen in chunks of the roofing had left huge gaps in the ground that they ran on.
The pair tried to react to my sudden assault, but as they had placed themselves in what was functionally a corridor without walls, they couldn't make full use of their speed and mobility.
As I had seen them do many times, one of the pair I charged reared up to attack me from above, whilst the other attacked low, three of its clawed legs bending as it swiped with one of its forepaws.
The mouthless, triangular-headed drones always seem to attack in that pattern when they aren't alone; One high, one low. It would be a solid addition to their tactics, except that they do it every time. More proof that the information provided to me by my HUD and my A.I is accurate. The scout drones might look like beasts, but they are, in reality, machines merely given a semblance of life by the power of the Over-Surge that created them.
As such, I had expected them to do exactly what they did and was more than prepared for it. I leaped into the air at the same moment that the Drone on the right reared up, just as I had known it would. I might have jumped, but the motion was more about moving forward rapidly than gaining height.
Twisting my upper half as I flew through the air, I launched and of course landed a Heavenly Spear Kick to the chest of the Drone as I came in under the claws that were rending downwards from the rearing drone. The metal of the best's mid-section dented, and it was sent hurtling off its feet and into one of the larger roof holes, just as I had intended.
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While this was happening and I was still in the air, I slammed the energy blade of my spear downwards into its companion drone. The scouts were made entirely of metal, which meant that my spear's blade wouldn't shear into them with ease, but with the force of my turning body and increasingly powerful limbs, I was able to drive it through the light armor on the machine-beast's back and deep into its engine.
Oh! I forgot to mention that if you don't know what an engine is, it's like the heart in a living being, but instead of moving blood around a body, it consumes fuel or power to give energy to an automated machine. Immediately, my HUD displayed that I had gotten the kill credit for both drones; however, to my chagrin and surprise, it was accompanied by a 'notification' that I hadn't seen since my first day in this world.
"What?!" I growled as I realised my Soul Expansion Gauge had only filled by an additional two points per Drone.
"They are considered to belong to him thanks to his drone control hack." Answered Diaochan in my ears. That was possibly the most irritating thing that had happened in a day already full of irritations.
[Soul Expansion Gauge: 123/1125]
All of a sudden, hundreds of points that could go towards my Soul Expansion Gauge had been locked away from me. So while I could still loot them for parts to potentially put towards my Chrome Prophet, slaying the scout drones had become a lot more pointless, while remaining just as dangerous and challenging. More so, in fact, as they were rarely grouped together like this.
With a slam of the but of my spear, I used the weapon to vault over the round spinning thing so that I could keep moving before the scout drones could close the gap I had torn in their entrapping circle.
"If I kill the raindrop controlling the drones, will they go back to normal?" I asked Diaochan as I ran.
"Uhhh. Yeah, I think so." The invisible A.I replied unsurely.
It wasn't the most confident response I'd ever been given, but I probably wasn't going to get more confirmation than that until I actually killed him. It was honestly a little counterintuitive. Normally, I would cut down the weaker foes and then attack the enemy heroes or officers. It stopped the lesser warriors from interfering when I dueled their leaders.
Not wanting to waste the 'XP' I needed to work from the top down and target the boy in the spider armor first. Which wasn't exactly ideal, as the still eight-strong pack of drones would absolutely continue trying to interfere. Fortunately, I had both a plan and an ability that would facilitate a true one against one duel. Well, saying I had a plan is a little bit generous, but it would work anyway.
The remaining drones weren't sitting around waiting for me, and I was soon weaving between attacks from the four-legged metal animals as I sprinted towards the pair of raindrops. The pairs of them tried to herd me back into a circle of them, but I kept moving and changed directions several times as I ran between chimneys and broken chunks of roof. In a straight line, I suspected the scout drones would actually be able to outpace me. It didn't matter, though, as they were extremely easy to bait into a chase of twists and turns. A scenario where they were the slower party.
A few more twists and turns between the debris and structures on the roof, and I had created a clear path right to the pair of raindrops. Which was good, but also meant that they had a clear path directly towards me.
The one in the bulky blue and white armor had already placed himself between his friend and me and was running to meet my charge. As he did, both arms began to shine a glacial blue as though Qi or some other energy were running through them. The distance between us was devoured by both my strides and those of the raindrop, but so was the gap between me and the pursuing drones.
On my HUD flashed a warning as the distance closed to less than ten feet.
[Level Four Arm-Ripper Lunge]
[ Source: Beowulf Mark 14-Glacial edition]
[Proximity: Close]
[Threat Level: Lethal]
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