TheRandomBlueCat
patreon
Corpo Age - Chapter 270: Final Hunt Pt.5
🕑 Added 2025-02-26 12:11:01 +0000 UTCI wasn’t sitting still when they turned to fire upon me. Combined with my augmented reaction speed, thanks to my bio-coprocessor, I reacted in time to dodge the bulk of their attack. Still, I could tell I was grazed, seeing how my energy shields flashed before me for a split second.
The power armor had a HUD that displayed its status, and the damage wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t hard to figure out why. The enemy squad wasn’t equipped with any normal weaponry. I couldn’t tell what it was before they fired, but now I knew. There were plasma lances. They electromagnetically shot out two darts, but that wasn’t the main payload. The two prongs on the projectiles projected a magnetic containment field that acted as a railway for the jet of hot plasma that followed after it.
I had mostly been nicked by these prongs, and barely any of the plasma had grazed my shields. If that wasn’t the case, my shields would likely be on their last straw by now. Plasma did some serious damage to energy shields.
Knowing what their guns did didn’t mean I knew how to counter it, though. It wasn’t like I could magically pull out whatever I wanted. That’s why I immediately took cover behind the numerous stacks of crates all around us.
I took a deep breath and continued running around. It was a fact they spotted me somehow. Judging from what the person in bright red power armor did, I speculated it was from the minute difference in temperature in the surrounding area. They somehow lit themselves on fire, heating up everything around them to find this variance. Air and the alloys of my power armor were made of heated up at very different rates. It was an ingenious way to detect me, if I might say so myself.
All the in-depth knowledge I gained from the system focused on countering active and passive scans. Even with the cooling function, it couldn’t keep up with brute force methods like this. There were certain limitations to my tech. Everything I learned was in theory, and it was up to me to implement it.
So far, this was my first time to come across such a method. The countermeasures I designed didn’t account for something as weird as this. I was expecting them to use spray paint, as they did on that other Executor’s ship.
It was too late for complaints now and I had to deal with the hand I had been dealt. From the few seconds that passed by after their first shot, they at least hadn’t followed up with another attack.
Hmm, their heat detection method shouldn’t work through obstacles. I need to use that to my advantage.
Thankfully, not all the Nyes I deployed were annihilated. They were attached to some of the other members of their squad, allowing my breaching program to do its work. Time was on my side. Well, I had some time, but not a lot. The longer I waited, the more time I gave their reinforcement to show up.
With knowledge of their position and my stealth instincts kicking in, I kited around the boxes, climbing up and down to avoid their gazes.
I took my few moments of respite to ready my Light Judgement, particle beam blade, and the sword bought from Ferrumus that I believed was called a molecular divider.
They knew I was here, so no need to remain quiet—for at least the duration of this fight.
The neatly stacked crates were separated in a grid pattern, allowing just enough room for the heavy machinery to pass through. The bigger stacks gave me more room to maneuver around, but with their numbers advantage, it was inevitable they would have a line of sight to me from time to time.
I leveled my particle beam rifle at the enemy’s center mass as I prepared to shoot if they reacted to my presence. I allowed them through when they didn’t, but it didn’t take me long to figure out only their teacher could detect me. With that information, I started picking off the henchmen first.
I repositioned myself at one of the T junctions, waiting for another one of them to pass by. When they did, they received a greeting from the cold steel of my molecular divider. Their energy shield didn’t even flicker as I drove my blade through their body.
In one smooth motion, I dispatched my foe and rolled away in search of a new position to post up on. However, my thinking had proven too simple when the enemy squad immediately saw through my plan.
They backed off and assembled behind their leader in bright red armor, which was still engulfed in flames. They backed away when continuing to face my direction.
Just as I thought they were in full retreat, their leader did something I hadn’t thought I would see outside of a video game. They twirled their hands around before performing a push motion in my general direction. The flames around the armor quickly flew forward and followed the leader’s direction as if they were a magician of some sort.
The jet of fire snaked around the storage area, passing through at rapid speed. It wasn’t long before it would reach me, and there was only so much space for me to retreat. The storage area had been in the corner of this docking bay. There was only one way forward toward my enemies or toward my left, which went out parallel to one of the parked ships. Neither had any cover, so going out would just make me a sitting duck.
I took the little time I had to configure my Light Judgement into sniper mode and began firing while I retreated. Hopefully, it would distract their leader enough to stop their fire bending or whatever they’re doing.
And of course it didn’t. The other power armors stepped up to form a wall, and their energy shield flickered into life to block my attack. I didn’t expect to get through the defenses of SocialCorp anytime soon, but this didn’t even distract the fire maniac.
Having given my general location away, I understandably received a ton of return fire, while the literal cloud of fire beelined toward my last location.
I sucked in a deep breath as I ran and searched around for things I could use to get out of this situation. I noticed something off when I entered the room, but I had been focused on this squad of power armors. It was only now that I realized there was gravity where I stood while the colossal spaceships were right next to me, which didn’t make sense. I doubted they were designed to operate within the atmosphere.
That was when I noticed their entire bay was sequestered off by one large energy shield, much like the ones found on various hangars. Just as a plan formulated in my mind, an alert drew my attention. It was a notification that I had successfully breached into the systems of the squad I was facing.
I didn’t hesitate to override their controls and turned their guns to their leader, the only one I hadn’t been able to hack.
Like marionette puppets, the three maroon-colored power armors turned to their upper body one-eighty degrees to face their leader, likely breaking a bone or two in the process, and opened fire.
I was just about to enjoy the infighting when their leader pointed their palms at their misbehaving subordinates and unleashed two flamethrowers right into their face. It was at such a high temperature I could see molten metal dripping to the ground. There was no screaming, just pure incineration.
I quickly snapped out of it and jumped to the other side of the hangar-wide energy shield and jumped off parallel to where the crazy pyromaniac was. As I suspected, there was no gravity on this side of the shield, and it also blocked the heat as well. It allowed me to close the distance.
It was time for Ferrumus’ molecular divider to help me out once more. It was regrettable I couldn’t figure out its mechanics, but it didn’t take away from its deadliness.
With my ionic thrusters, I charged out of the zero-g zone, and straight onto the jet-bright armor. My blade was at the ready, swinging it as soon as I closed the distance. My opponent was one of the Executors, so it wasn’t surprising they were heavily augmented with top-of-the-line stuff. They reacted immediately, and a wrist blade deployed as they swung their arm to intercept.
It didn’t matter, though. The molecular divider sliced through anything like butter. I would just cut them along with their blade—or so I thought. In hindsight, it was stupid to think a weapon provided by Ferrumus, an A-Class Corporation, could overwhelm SocialCorp.
My prior success with one of the other power armors had gotten me drunk on its power. That was why I was caught with my pants down when I felt the recoil of solid contact. It only lasted a split second before I ceased. My eyes were on the target, and I was expecting the blade to split them in half, but all I saw with a broken blade pass by in front of them.
Shit, my blade broke? I need to make some distance.
I made my way toward the door, with retreat in mind. My stealth allowed me to pick my thoughts and getting lost in the narrow corridors was more advantageous for me, but things never turned out how I liked.
The situation took a drastic turn for the worse when the entrance to the facility opened by itself when I was still a few steps away. Behind it emerged the figure of another two power armor, both bright red, just like the pyromaniac behind me. That could only mean they were the remaining two Executors. I had taken out one with their fleet, and the remaining three were now all assembled.
Shit, that crazy fire mage LARPer must’ve called for reinforcements after they incinerated the Nyes jamming them.
The two newcomers instantly posted up at the entrance and closed the doors. I was trapped between them, and the one behind me could detect me. I could only hope they couldn’t employ their fire detection method right away, giving me enough term to jump to the other side of the energy shield again.
Hope within me grew when I heard the fire maniac behind me speak up instead of taking action. The more time they wasted talking, the better it was for me.
“Woo-hoo, welcome to the party, ladies!” a girl’s voice excitedly shouted in a maniacal tone that matched my imagination of a pyromaniac.
“Where is he, Silky? Stop playing around and finish the job,” a woman’s mature voice reprimanded her partner, like an elder sister.
“Riiiiight, here!” the crazy woman shouted as she swung a blade of fire my way.
I had only one goal in mind, to retreat, which caused my movement to be one-dimensional. The attack caught me dead on, forcing my energy shield to activate.
The blade of fire was immediately followed up by the lashing out of some wires. Then one of them suddenly appeared above me and unloaded an axe kick onto me. While my energy shield held on for dear life, I wasn’t going to let them continue their barrage.
I finally made it to the other side of the giant energy shield, but the three Executors were hot on my tail. Without much choice, burned straight toward the closest behemoth-sized ship. It was the only cover in the area to hide me from their detection, albeit I had to cut my way through.
A moment after I bulldozed my way through into the interior of the ship, the entire thing rumbled. I knew they were still hot on my tail, or at least the ones who preferred melee combat, but my invisibility still held now. I had a brief moment to scrounge up a plan.
Now then, what should I do? To escape, confront these assholes, or bypass them in search of Silas?
