The Pilot of Wrath

Chapter 62 – People in Glass Houses

In Matt’s opinion, stone golems weren’t so bad. In fact, the colossus weren’t to awful either. They were still tanky, difficult monsters that hit like a truck, but they were kind of a one trick pony. The Mudmen were another sort of annoying entirely. He looked down at the rapidly separating body of one such mud man.

Mudman. Level 36

Mudmen are a type of elemental which is made almost entirely of soft, wet, earthy materials such as clay, silt, or organic rich mud. They have widely varying abilities based on the nature of their body composition.

Matt clicked his tongue in annoyance as he pivoted to engage the back line of the earth elemental formation. He neatly side stepped a boulder that had been thrown at him only for the mech’s foot to slip in the slick, clay like mud spewed by the mudman he just killed.

That was half his current struggle. Every one of the mudmen, regardless of what variety of mud, was spraying a type of muck that was both sticky and slippery. The substance would stick when it hit one of the constructs but was slippery when on the ground. The saving grace was that the effect faded shortly after the mudman was killed.

Bang, smack. Bang, fwizz. Bang, thump. Boom! A trio of rounds from Matts cannon raced out and hit the colossus that had just thrown a boulder, over a meter in diameter, at him. The first passed through its body with no effect, the second glanced and ricocheted off to who knew where. The third, ah lucky number 3, that one found the creatures core and reacted in a more energetic fashion.

The detonation engulfed the smaller mudmen and golems that had been near the colossus, nearly vaporizing everything in a 40-meter radius. The reactions from hitting a core were more volatile than Matt remembered. Maybe its because of the higher level? He thought to himself while moving to another hilltop.

Anyone just tuning in to watch this wave would probably be wondering why Matt was out, away from the walls of the city and engaging the monsters in the open with 50 other pilots. Well, that was because these rock for brains monsters were cleverer than the previous waves.

When every other wave had tried to bum rush the walls and force their way through. These rocky foes had set up shop after exiting the portals. Normally not an issue for the defenders who could both out range and out damage the encroaching waves before sending out a team to deal with the campers. Where it became an issue was in what the colossus’ were able to do with a multi ton ball of stone.

The first rock had been launched from over a kilometer away. While it landed short, it had a bit of momentum and crossed the remaining hundred yards in a flash before slamming into the wall and following the angle right into the gates. Several people were severely injured from debris and fragments of stone and the big guns attempted to return fire.

Try as they might, the 90’s couldn’t connect as the colossus’ were being screened by smaller golems and mudmen. The mortars also proved ineffective and were only able to damage and kill the smaller monsters, the explosive yield not being to do much without a direct hit on a colossus.

After the disappointing results of the counterbattery fire and a few more boulders impacting the walls, the pilots had deployed in 4 groups. They set out from 2 gates opposite from each other, 2 of the groups making a frontal assault jointly into the ring of earthen attackers. After they managed to breach the enemy lines, they spit and worked their way in opposite arcs, trying to meet with the teams that had deployed opposite of them in a giant pincer movement.

Closing with the enemy had been surprisingly easy, which should have been their first hint that something was off. While the larger monsters were in the back line, the smaller ones had formed a sort of defense in front. The mudmen would saturate an area or pilot with the slippery or sticky mud and the golems would fire off what amounted to gravel shotguns, sacrificing portions of their arms with every shot.

While the constructs were largely immune to the ranged fire, it wasn’t the only trick they had. One pilot In Matts group had already been taken down by one of the golems that had gotten close to his construct. Upon contact with the leg of the construct, it latched on and self-detonated. The cloud of stone and metal debris was more danger to the elementals than the pilots, but the detonation had taken the leg of the construct clean off and crippled the other.

Matt had sent 2 other pilots to drag their damaged teammate back to the gates where he wouldn’t be a target for more suicide golems or their rock throwing friends. He was hoping he would be ok, there wasn’t a response when they tried contacting the man but that could also be from damaged radios.

“Battery 11, shift fires.” Matt said into the radio as he moved into the next section of the attacking army. He slowed and watched the impacts of the heavy machineguns and artillery walked away from him and begin ripping into a new section of the enemy. He of course added his own shots into any of the downed enemies, preferring his unstable rounds to deal the final blow to groups of them at once.

The shallow hills around the city were giving him some cover from friendly fire but he wasn’t going to take a chance with an errant round or ricochet. The hills also had an odd effect on the enemy formation. Those on the slops and tops tended to be exposed to the fire from the city walls but those in the valleys were not. This created an odd sort of layering to the enemies that Matt had to navigate his troops through.

“Bravo, push left.” Matt said into the radio, getting several replies of affirmation as half his team shifted down one of the valleys to clear it out. The remaining 10 pilots followed him, forming a wedge behind him and opening fire as they advanced. The others were handling the golems and mudmen while Matt tried to hunt down the surprisingly elusive colossus.

“Where did you go?” Matt asked himself as he scanned the hills for any sign of its passing. His threat detector was nearly useless with all the noise of the smaller enemies and friendly units nearby.

“I suspect that it is lurking just over the next set of hills.” Van rumbled.

Both Matt and Van were on edge and getting frustrated with hunting down the last of them. They had built up a good momentum but, other than stomping some small fry and one colossus, they hadn’t gotten into the thick of it.

“Got them.” Van said and sent an image of what he saw. “2 hills over. North side.”

The image that Matt received was of the curved back and shoulder of a hunched over colossus. It looked to be attempting to sneak along the next set of valleys, doubling back on the pilots. Matt switched gears and started to work his way over through the valleys.

“Alpha and Bravo teams.” Matt said into the radio. “I found another and am moving to intercept.” He at least needed to try and retain some operational protocol.

Moving through a slight wash, Matt rounded the corner of a large hill to see the same rocky shape ducking behind it. His focus and drive proved to be a problem as he suddenly saw movement from his rear camera shortly before a force hit him in the back.

The giant rock had been thrown from close range, less than 300 meters by a quick estimate. The natural flinch reaction was able to get it from a direct shot into more of a glancing blow off the right shoulder of the mech. Even a glancing blow was enough to put him on the ground, however. The impact and subsequent fall had rattled him around enough that he feared the pilot restraints might break.

“Fucking, son of a bitch.” Matt roared as he rolled over and climbed back to his feet. The feedback from the pilot interface not so politely informing him of the damage. Van was already pumping energy into repairing the limb when Matt was forced to dodge another boulder, stepping back to see the other colossus joining its brethren for the impromptu beat down.

Neither of the monsters made a sound, only their foot falls and the grating of stone accompanying their charge. Matt expected another boulder and barely managed to manipulate the mech’s arm to fire at them when they summoned more rock. These rocks were not the round stones he had expected. These rocks were stalagmite like pillars of rock that they wielded like clubs.

“So, it’s gonna be like that.” Matt commented as he fired a few shots to try and break the charge. The unimbued rounds burst on contact, throwing up sparks and smoke enough to make the attackers slow. He could hear his heart slamming as the last of the damage was finally repaired and the mech’s right arm could move freely again.

One of the colossuses pushed ahead and swung its club, forcing the other to slow. They clearly weren’t working together despite the trap they had made. Matt teleported a short distance down the valley, gaining a little breathing room while lining up both monsters.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. The auto cannon chugged out a handful of imbued shots that all glanced off a shimmering barrier of yellow-brown mana. Even at close range, they failed to penetrate the rippling barrier.

“Shit.”

“Shit.”

Both Matt and Van swore as the rounds didn’t have any effect. It was too late to do much more as he was forced to teleport away again, this time landing slightly up slope on one of the hills. This time he was able to gain another hundred meters and forced both monsters to slow and pivot first.

“More is always better?” Matt half questioned as he crouched slightly and braced his autocannon. He poured imbued rounds into the shield of the first, hoping to beak through but got slightly desperate as they closed half the distance in a few strides.

While the stone monsters were closer to Matt, thus being closer to crushing him, they also became bigger targets. Bigger targets meant larger margin of error and the perfect vs good enough accuracy standard took effect.

Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang. 5 imbued rounds in a split second all impacted the first colossuses shimmering shield within in a quarter meter of each other. Well, 4 rounds impacted the shield while the 5th made it through and pierced the torso of the monster. From such a close distance and the angle that he was facing, Matt saw the exposed glowing core through the gap in the stone. He watched in slow motion as that core began to fragment, rapidly turning to dust.

“Fu…” Was all he got out as he activated the shield projector on his left arm.

The blast turned the valley into a hellscape of flying debris and chunks of stone flying faster than the speed of sound many times over. Matt tried to ride out the blast but was bowled over backward despite the shield having deployed. After what felt like several seconds of being tumbled like a rag doll, he was able to regain his footing and begin pumping energy into the damaged sections of the mech.

“Damage sustained to the construct is mostly superficial.” Van began to report. “External armor plates are now at 30% armor value. Frame and synthetic muscle fibers have moderate damage, estimate 80% mobility.” He paused. “Cannon is inoperable, store it and I can repair.”

“Prioritize movement then the gun. We could easily become a mobility kill.” Matt said as he scanned the now barren valley before him. “Now where did… got ya.” Matt said after a moment of searching. After finding the second colossus just getting to its feet, having faired no better in the explosion.

Matt dismissed the autocannon, instead summoning his tomahawk and pushing mana into it, igniting the edge. The colossus summoned its stone club once again as it saw him stalking toward it. Matt broke into a slow trot and closed the remaining hundred meters. Just before he made contact, while the colossus was halfway through a heavily telegraphed swing, he teleported.

The rock monster was only momentarily confused, wondering where its opponent had disappeared to and starting to turn. Matt reappeared behind it and lashed out with the glowing spike of the tomahawk, sinking it all the way into the creatures’ shoulder. The sound of metal scraping against stone was temporarily replaced by the sound of rock exploding from thermal shock. The superheated spike had caused a large chunk to be blown away from the arm joint.

Yanking the weapon back out, Matt swung again at the hip join of the monster, ducking a flailing arm as he did. The last moment dodge had the effect of stealing a lot of the attack’s energy, but he was still able to pull another piece from the colossus. He once again teleported, leaving a narrow beam of plasma to slam into the monster.

Reappearing to its left, Matt once again struck out, this time planting the mech’s foot squarely into the hip of the monster and toppling it onto its side. With his enemy on the ground, he once again struck with the spike of his weapon, impacting the shoulder as the colossus shrugged its arms up to cover its head. Discretion being the better part of valor, Matt teleported away again.

Matt arrived some 100 meters away, still withing line of sight of the grounded monster and pulled out his auto cannon. He tried to tug the magazine free but found it rather jammed and deformed in the magazine well. Adding a little more muscle and directing mana at that half of the receiver, Matt cleared the jam just as the colossus began to regain its feet.

He shoved a new magazine in and cycled the action, imbuing a full magazine with stable rounds. Suck it, you sedimentary shit bag. He thought as he pulled the trigger and walked the rounds up the leading leg of the monster.

Several rounds crossed the distance before Matt was able to see the trace, only catching the impacts as the recoil walked the rounds up and on target. The monster slowed in its approach, trying to shield itself with its arms. Arms that were rapidly chipped away by the armor piercing nature of the imbued projectile.

After a dozen hits, one of which took the monster in the face through a gap in its arms, the colossus fell, locked up like a mannequin. The core didn’t detonate, this time enough damage had been done to kill the monster without the exciting finale. Taking a moment, Matt collected himself and scanned the valley. Movement caught his eye, and he swung the barrel of his cannon to the source.

The leading end of a barrel crossed the gap in the hills, a construct following shortly after. He lowered his muzzle and called out on the radio for the rest of his squad to advance up to his position.

“How did it go over here?” one of the pilots asked.

Matt let out a shuddering breath as the adrenalin left him and the wrath faded. “Ha-ah. It was exciting? Yeah, let’s go with that. Status on the golems and mudmen?” he asked.

“Dead and dissolving.”

Matt nodded; the movement being reflected by the head of his mech. “Bravo. Status.”

“Wrapping up. We made contact with the other group and are fanning out to cover the area and pick off any strays.” The voice of Jess came back over the radio.

“Roger, I will have the guns cease fire so we can take the hill tops.” Matt radioed the commands to the wall guns, getting confirmation and an update on the remaining enemies. Both groups had made contact and the colossuses were down, leaving only small fry to be mopped up. Matt looked to his display and saw his armor was still recovering, just barely over 80%. He took a moment to pull up his System messages and saw he picked up 2 more levels from hunting down the half dozen colossus and hundreds of smaller elementals.

He allocated his free points, again focusing on dexterity and endurance with intelligence coming in a distant third. He was still putting a few token points into the other stats. Matt was also hoping to get some advice from Tori on either specializing or spreading his points out to cover everything.

The fire from the walls had nearly completely faded before Matt gave the order to cease fire and the few sporadic bursts trailed off. “Alright, fires have stopped. Find the remainder and put them down so we can get this over with.” He said over the radio.

after climbing to the crest of a hill to survey the area, Matt found that many others had the same idea. While he didn’t find any enemies in the rolling terrain, a few other pilots must have, judging by the occasional report of a cannon. He moved on, finding a few of the smaller golems but the end of this wave was a forgone conclusion.

Within an hour of his fight with the colossus, Matt saw a System message and opened it. It confirmed the wave was over and he made his way back to the city with the rest of the pilots. He headed toward the hub, dismounting to go find Franklin and Rohm.

“How is it looking Frank?” Matt asked after finding the orc in the command center.

The governor looked up and smiled weakly. “Could be better but far from the worst-case scenario.” He paused to get Rohm’s attention from where he was on the radio. “We lost 2 people from the initial attack, with a dozen more were severely injured, and 3 pilots are down for the count. Their constructs were heavily damaged and while Tobias is trying to figure out repairs, he made no promises.”

“Shit. Who did we lose?” Matt asked.

Rohm came over at that moment and spoke before Franklin could answer. “Grengrid, and Davos. Both classers who were taken out by one of the thrown boulders before they could retreat. The injuries all came from the stone fragments, but they should be up and running soon.” He paused and pulled out a note pad. “Lisk, Miskan and Kate were the pilots.”

Matt was stunned at the news. He didn’t know the 2 classers but hadn’t expected Lisk to have been taken out. “What happened to Lisk?”

“From what I was told, He got slowed in the mud and a couple golems self-destructed while nearly touching his construct. The blast destroyed his construct, but he managed to live without a scratch. Word has it, he is over in the forge, being a test subject for Tobias.”

Franklin took back over as the Rohm was summoned back to the radio sets, grumbling the whole way about being cooped up. “I think we could use a short break, maybe give it a day before we start the next wave.”

Matt checked the event window and saw that they had cleared the first 4 waves in just over 50 hours and had nearly 5 days until the next one would automatically start. “Yeah. Good call. Let’s collect any resources that we can and then call everyone in for the night. Even if there is only one more, lets hit it well rested.”

They chatted a bit more, Matt telling of the explosion he had gotten trapped in. After a few more questions and some speculation, he left to go get a drink, some dinner and take a nap. He reconsidered of they should delay for another day but thought there was no harm in holding off. Not like our situation changes, just the enemies we face. He thought as Echo led the way to a particular tavern with a missing window.