Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

significantly fewer Shamblers moaning and banging around, the whirl of the drones was more noticeable to the Mantids, who began to congregate to view this electronic interloper. After finding they could not reach the drones by jumping from the ground, some Mantids began to climb the manor and leap outward, tumbling and falling as they missed. None of them seemed to be damaged by the huge falls though, to Gus’ disappointment.

Gus tried for a second drop and some of the Mantids leaped out of the way, but a fair number hit roaming Shamblers and could not dodge the edge of the descending bag. After it fell, Mantids fell upon the drones and shredded the fragile devices. Some jumped in the circular ring of fabric tearing it to shreds. The thin rim of the bag of holding remained on the ground inconspicuously. The creatures did not appear to have enough understanding to mess with the thin strand lying on the ground, and fortunately did not invert it.

Time to move to phase two. Gus grabbed another set of controllers and turrets supported by four drones were deployed to the area in front of the manor. Gus maintained the drones above the jump range of the Mantids and let the carnage begin. Mantids and Shamblers began falling in waves. Gus’ happiness was short-lived, as the Mantids began tearing body parts off of the fallen and throwing them at the drones. Before he could change their altitude, more than half of the turret-drones were hit and came crashing down. Loss of even one drone meant the rest were insufficient to keep the turret aloft, and the turrets were torn apart either by the fall or Mantid attack. Still, they were able to selectively target around twenty Mantids before they had to retreat.

The turrets were much less deadly at the greater height, with their accuracy dropping off rapidly. Gus chose to recall them before they wasted their power. Juggernauts had come away from the front door to investigate the fracas. Gus had been waiting for this, and tried out his T-Wrecks skill for the first time. A fifteen-foot creature materialized, formed out of ether condensed into typical matter and directed by the Nth. The dinosaur bellowed and Gus mentally commanded it to target the Juggernauts. The dinosaur easily snapped through the head and shoulders of a Juggernaut, and a well-placed tail swish knocked three approaching Juggernauts back, staggering one and breaking the legs of the other two.

As more Juggernauts approached, the dinosaur would bite and scratch with a clawed foot. The creature’s larger mass and strength overcame Nth-reinforced muscle and tore through the zombie tanks. Once in a while, one would slip past and land a solid punch on a leg or the chest as the monster was turned and fighting other enemies, but a quick bite or kick ended these attacks with extreme prejudice.

While the Juggernauts were no match for the T-Wrecks, the Mantids were what brought it down. They managed to leap onto its back and began to bite and tear. The construct made an effort to shake them off, but the Mantids held on like ticks. The damage added up and the dinosaur dissolved into nothingness. Gus checked his logs, but unfortunately, he gained no XP from the drone or T-Wrecks’ kills. When I have time, I’ll need to ask Nick about that…

Gus caught the one Juggernaut closest to him with Wreck-luse, and he stampeded over a couple Shamblers and a Mantid who were not expecting him to turn and run. Another Mantid was stiff-armed by the Juggernaut and flew back into a wall of the manor, falling boneless to the ground after its spine was snapped.

Gus surveyed the remaining zombies and their number had been reduced to fifty or less, with only Shamblers and a dozen Mantids in the mix. Gus could not see any remaining Juggernauts, but the relentless banging had stopped so he hoped there were few to none of the beefy zombies left.

A Mantid climbed onto the roof, facing the courtyard, looking for attackers. Gus threw his naginata, severing its spine, and then retracted the weapon with Ether Leash. There was enough chaos in the zombie ranks that he was not noticed.

He edged out farther on the balcony and was able to pick off four more Shamblers in the same way, but after that, the remaining zombies remained out of a direct line of sight.

Time to move to the final phase. Following the map Nick had provided, Gus made his way to floor twenty-three. As he made his way down the hallways to the external exit, the floor looked unfinished compared to others. He had to confirm first generation access again to stop on the floor.

Gus’ footsteps echoed down the long concrete tunnel. This level didn’t have finished flooring of any type. Gus activated Dash and sped down the long hallways that smelled of cement and dust. Each Dash kicked up plumes of grit and dust behind him and he soon reached the final destination marker on his minimap. Gus stood before a simple door with a keypad access code, instead of the usual hand scanners.

“Nick, what is the password?”

“040815162342,” came the reply.

“Can I change it? I’m never going to remember that,” Gus asked.

“Even if you typed it repeatedly for a while?” Nick teased.

“Pretty sure that’s a no,” Gus said resolutely.

“Alright. Just enter it and then give me the new numeric code.” Gus entered the code with Nick repeating the obscure numbers a couple times until Gus got them correct. The panel’s outline shifted to green.

“Ok, hold the pound key for three seconds,” the green outline began to flash, “Now enter the new code.”

Gus pushed in 8-6-7-5-3-0-9.

“That’s not long enough, needs to be at least 12 digits,” Nick advised.

Gus added 8-5-3-5-9-3-7 to the string of numbers. “Now hit the pound key again and it’s reset. Not just for this panel, but for any panel of this type on this floor.”

Gus didn’t think there was anything else to see