The Alchemist's Lair: Part 10

Rhombus could in no way measure up to Iocasta’s standard for navigation, but, armed with the hastily scribbled map, he was doing a decent enough job. Slowly and steadily, we advanced through the corridors. I was unable to discern one hallway from another, and, while metallic rooms filled with strange contraptions had more unique features, they all started to blend in my head soon enough.

Here and there, we ran into remnants of various skirmishes. Bandits chopped up, bandits with assorted body parts burned away, and even a few disabled machines, mostly torn limb from limb – the highwaymen were not taking any chances.

While walking by one of the rooms, we heard a gut-wrenching scream. Taking a glance, I spotted one of the automatons, which was just getting the job of disemboweling an unfortunate bandit wrapped up. Unfortunately for us, it seemed to have some kind of sound receptors in addition to the one eye, as the noise of our footsteps attracted the metallic monstrosity’s attention. It turned around astonishingly quickly and opened fire. We took cover along the wall posthaste, to the sides of the door.

“Do we fight? Or do we run?” asked Gandor, in between the bursts of energy bolts. It was a good question. Rushing into the room was incredibly dangerous, and whoever took point was likely to be torn to shreds. Escaping, however, carried the risk of the murderous machine following us and attacking us from behind.

The automaton would spare us the necessity of making a decision, however, as after a few seconds, its mechanical joints started creaking, and it began walking towards us with alarming speed. We were going to have to fight.

Annabel chanted something, gathering the plentiful dust that was lying on the floor into a levitating ball, then hurled it into the room. This sudden blindness briefly confused the machine. I quickly dashed into the room, bent over, almost on all fours or, more accurately, all threes, as I was priming my metal rod for a swing in my right hand. Rhombus was at my heels, Gandor right behind him.

Before we could get into melee, the machine opened fire again, one bolt of energy flying uncomfortably close to my arm, burning through the clothing and lightly searing my skin. With no time to wait for the dust to settle, I blindly swung at where I expected the automaton to be, and it blocked with inhuman speed. For a while, we exchanged blows. My enemy was lightning fast and moved with surgical precision, no movement wasted. Thankfully, its attacks were monotonous and predictable, allowing me to settle into a rhythm. Rhombus attempted to help me, but was noticed and found himself a target of several poorly aimed bolts, forcing him to retreat and seek cover. This fight on two fronts briefly lessened its close combat ability, and I managed to get through its defenses and hit it in the torso. It rang like a temple bell, but otherwise my strike didn’t seem to have much effect. I stupidly allowed myself a brief moment of disappointment, allowing the unfeeling machine to seize the initiative.

I was beginning to get overwhelmed when I noticed Gandor aiming with his handgun. He was hesitant to shoot, since the chance to accidentally hit me was large while I was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with his target. Immediately, I tried looking for an opportunity to disengage. I didn’t have to wait long. After parrying one of its attacks, I dove under the automaton's left arm, its scythe-hand missing me by millimeters, and crawled away to relative safety. Gandor didn’t waste time, shooting every bullet that could fit into his handgun. Some missed; some bounced relatively harmlessly off its metal plating, but at least some hit their mark, disabling the mechanical creature’s single, red, glowing eye. The automaton went berserk, swinging its blade wildly and shooting in random directions. I started wandering which was the best way to take cover without getting shot, and then a large armoire that was in one corner of the room was lifted in the air.

It was Annabel’s doing, obviously. Mustering her focus, she hurled the piece of furniture at the automaton, and both crashed into the wall. The machine was not yet completely destroyed, but it was flailing at the ground like a heavily armed may beetle. We observed it briefly, while catching our breath, and decided its legs were too damaged for it to get up, and that finishing it off was more trouble than it was worth. Leaving the doomed machine behind, we continued our journey.

Eventually, we reached a large hall. This room I remembered distinctly from our first trek through the facility – several metallic counters which housed damaged lab equipment, multiple pillars, a strange console covered in knobs that had in the meantime begun to hum. We entered from, if Iocasta’s map was to be believed, the south. The other exit was to the west, and as we were slowly making our way towards it, another of the metallic constructs came into view. This one, however, was much bigger than the rest.

It was a good two heads taller than me, and much bulkier. Like its smaller counterparts, it had the shoulder-mounted gun, but its other armaments were different. Instead of its left hand, it had a cannon, and instead of its right, a rotating circular saw blade.

As soon as it spotted us, it lifted its cannon arm. We barely had enough time to leap over one of the counters. It did separate us from both exits, but it was the only piece of cover we could feasibly reach in time. Turning around and dashing back the way we came could’ve been a possibility, but luckily, our instincts didn’t take us down that route, as the machine’s weapon turned out to be loaded with grenades, one of which it lobbed at us. It detonated at the center of the room, where we used to be a second ago, scattering heat and shrapnel everywhere. I was momentarily deafened by the noise, grateful nonetheless that we didn’t try to run the other way, where it was almost certain at least some of us would’ve gotten seriously injured.

My ears still ringing, I took a careful glance above the counter, my mind working frantically to find a way to deal with this new enemy. Regular automatons were tough enough, and this thing seemed more powerful by an order of magnitude. To my surprise, although it had already entered the room to find and finish us off, I saw it turn around towards a more pressing threat it perceived. First, it just rotated its head, like an oversized owl, and then the rest of its massive body followed.

Before it could attack, however, a couple of bandits dashed out of the corridor.