Fortunately, there did not seem to be any more invisible vehicles waiting for us. There were, however, plenty of Sarnak Troopers and Raptor Guards.

After the fourth alien patrol, though, we’d finally reached Blackstone Street - within sight of the stadium.

: there’s some ultras about to reach you now

A man in a green cape and yellow bodysuit flew into view. Another woman walked up behind him, wearing a deep blue bodysuit with a stylized pattern on waves.

Lumina stepped forward to greet them. “Lafayette.”

The woman in blue stepped forward. “Oui. Lady Lumina, n’est ce pas?”

“Yes, I am Lumina. I have not met your colleague?”

“Brisdette,” the flyer introduced himself, landing swiftly. “We have encountered several aliens on the way here. You have friends, I see?” He glanced towards Doyle’s company.

“They came with us,” Lumina said. “May I introduce Viking and Belessar, from Tanisport.”

“Lafayette, from Lyon,” the lady introduced herself. “I … my English not very good. I make people out of water.”

: she’s a summoner - powerful one

“Pleased to meet you,” I replied. “We’re fairly close to the stadium now.”

Lafayette cocked her eyebrow. “Stadium? Is important?”

“It’s where the aliens have landed three ships. At least a hundred there…..”

: two hundred forty-seven

“... two hundred and forty-seven aliens there, we’ll need to hit them hard to drive them off.”

At the number, both the French superheroes had turned pale. Lafayette was the first to break the silence. “Too many. We need… help, from other heroes.”

: more frontliners coming, at least forty

: there’s a Brit general here who seems keen to make a fight of it - more troops coming too

: how’s the situation at base?

: there’s a lot more ultras here now

: nearly eighty-odd in support alone

“We may be getting help soon,” I told the others. “At least forty frontliners are on their way to the battlefield.”

“Still a tough nut to crack,” commented Viking. “And we haven’t heard from Quintana. Where’s the number for the aliens coming from, anyway?”

“Nanocloud has surveillance in the stadium.”

“Your colleague?” asked Lafayette.

“Yes. Farcog, she can see how many aliens are there in the stadium right now.”

Lafayette nodded. “My water people will help.”

“Difficult,” said Brisdette. “I cannot take too many at once.” He flexed his muscles. “I took four, five, on the way here, but such numbers are beyond even me.”

“We’ve handled about forty so far,” I replied. “I agree we still need support.”

“How many of you were there when you started?” asked Brisdette.

“Uh… Soundwave had to go back, but that’s it.”

The French ultra gave me a disbelieving look. “Too high. A lesser number might be more believable.”

“He’s not lying,” muttered Lumina. “We all helped.”

Lafayette perked up. “Then perhaps, it is good we have met you. You can lead the attack.”

I shrugged. “Why not. Someone has to breach the door first, right?”

: why don’t you just bombard the stadium with the ship?

I turned to Doyle. “Can the Resolute bombard the stadium?”

Doyle shook his head. “The aliens set up some sort of defensive shield around their shuttles. It intercepts artillery.”

: huh - well there’s still a fight going on up there between our fighters and theirs

“We’ll have to get reinforcements,” Lumina said. “Five of us won’t be enough to take the stadium.”

“If we can keep this road clear,” replied Doyle, “the British Army can send a dozen tanks down it. That should help breach the stadium defenses.”

“Tanks,” scoffed Viking. “As if they would help.”

“You may be tank-proof,” I pointed out, “but the aliens aren’t. We can hold this road for a bit against alien counterattacks. How long?”

“General Windsor says fifteen minutes.”

“He’ll have tanks here in fifteen minutes?” asked Lumina.

“And heroes. At least thirty, maybe more, en route.”

We took up positions along the road, expecting alien patrols. Sure enough, we weren’t disappointed.

: Sarnak incoming - sixteen, plus the eight footer

“Sixteen Sarnak troopers plus one Sergeant on the way,” I warned everyone.

“What is Sarnak?” asked Lafayette.

“You’ll see in a minute,” Viking replied. “He has these names for each type of alien.”

Lafayette nodded.

In seconds, the Sarnak marched into view.

This wasn’t the relatively disorganized clumps of aliens that we’d encountered earlier. The Sergeant had evidently enforced a higher level of discipline. These Sarnak had their guns out and scanning the environment for a target.

Fortunately for us, they weren’t looking at their feet.

As the Sarnak crossed a line we’d planned on, Banner pressed a button, and the road exploded.

Bombs went off everywhere. The platoon had been carrying a few claymores, they’d put in their stock of grenades, and I’d added my remaining Fuel Bombs to the lot. Plus a little bonus from my new title.

TITLE EQUIPPED: THE BAY WAY

+50% DAMAGE TO ENEMIES FROM MORE THAN 3 EXPLOSIVES DETONATING AT THE SAME TIME

A dozen bombs went off simultaneously.

SARNAK TROOPER -308 HP!

SARNAK TROOPER - 442 HP!

….

SARNAK TROOPER -508 HP!

Nearly a dozen Sarnak were caught in the area of the blast. Five were killed outright, the rest were wounded and screaming.

Doyle’s platoon followed up with a fusillade of bullets. They didn’t have much effect, but the Sarnak fell back.

Right into Lafayette’s waiting water constructs.

The fleeing Sarnak found themselves pummelled by men made out of water. Plasma blasts had no effect; one construct would evaporate, simply to be replaced by another.

The Sergeant seemed to realize what was happening and waved to the four Sarnak at the back. They began to fan out, possibly hunting for the mind guiding the constructs.

Couldn’t let them do that now, could we?

I launched my Fullersteel Pilums.

JAVELIN STRIKE! SARNAK TROOPER -320 HP!

JAVELIN STRIKE! SARNAK TROOPER -320 HP!

JAVELIN STRIKE! SARNAK TROOPER -320 HP!

JAVELIN STRIKE! SARNAK TROOPER -320 HP! SARNAK TROOPER DEFEATED! +500 XP!

Two wounded, one dead, and one lonely trooper and the Sergeant were all that remained uninjured.

The Sarnak Sergeant swung its beak in my direction. It saw me and charged.

Not a great idea.

I activated Boar Charge.

The two of us slammed into each other at a velocity more suitable for crashing cars.

The Sarnak Sergeant was heavy - at least two hundred kilos - and eight feet tall. I weighed one-thirty in my armor, all told.

Nevertheless, it was the Sergeant who was knocked back, thanks to the momentum of the Boar Armor.

SARNAK SERGEANT -205 HP!

IMPACT DAMAGE! ARMOR 950/1000.

My armor had been dented by the force of the crash. No matter. I grabbed my Lightning Hammer and delivered a Deadly Blow.

DEADLY BLOW! SARNAK SERGEANT -495 HP! ELECTRIC SHOCK! SARNAK SERGEANT -40 HP!

The Sergeant reeled back, staggering from the force of the impact. Then he shook himself and got back up.

Golden light flooded around him.

SARNAK SERGEANT HEALS SELF! +200 HP!

What?

Never mind. So some Sarnak could heal. The solution was …. To hit them again.

So I did.

SARNAK SERGEANT -99 HP! ELECTRIC SHOCK! SARNAK SERGEANT -40 HP!

And on the backswing.

SARNAK SERGEANT -99 HP! ELECTRIC SHOCK! SARNAK SERGEANT -40 HP!

The Sergeant kicked me. Hard.

I was knocked back for a second. Well. I had backup.

“Tucker!” I yelled.

PFC Tucker let loose with his assault rifle.

Bullets filled the air, riddling the Sarnak Sergeant - and bouncing off my Boar Amor, as Damage Negation was stretched to its limit. The bouncing bullets felt no worse to me than raindrops.

For the Sarnak Sergeant, they hurt a lot more.

The alien roared and tried to charge at Tucker. I slammed into it - thank you Bodycharge - knocking the creature sideways.

SARNAK SERGEANT: 45/1000 HP

“All yours!” I yelled, jumping back.

Tucker didn’t waste any time. He let loose with the Laser Rifle.

Three rapid-fire shots hit the Sarnak. The first raked a line across an already bleeding stomach. The second speared its eye. The third cauterized its broken nose.

The Sarnak Sergeant fell.

SARNAK SERGEANT DEFEATED BY ALLY. +1000 XP.

QUEST COMPLETE: HELP PRIVATE TUCKER BAG A SARNAK SERGEANT!

+100 XP!

“You finally used the rifle!” I quipped.

“Faster than a magazine change,” shrugged Tucker. “Hadn’t you better get the rest?”

I quickly surveyed the battlefield. The remaining Sarnak were in the process of being mowed down by the soldiers, pounded to pieces by Lumina, slammed around like a wet dishrag by Viking, or being herded by Lafayette’s water constructs into locations where Brisdette could punch them to death.

I yanked out my Laser Rifle and started taking pot-shots at the still alive Sarnak. No sense wasting XP.

The British tanks arrived precisely on time - fifteen minutes. Nearly sixty of them, all massive behemoths armored to the teeth.

Other ultras showed up, too.

LEVEL UP! YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 11.

1 ATTRIBUTE BOOST AVAILABLE.

: i seriously think you need to boost your AP, bro

She was right. I’d been neglecting it too long, considering how much I used AP.

I pushed my boost into Perception, hoping I was making the right choice.

AP increased to 272, and Persuasion Points to 340. Not that I’d used my social - or mind control - skills that much….

Perception did, however, have the effect of warning me about traps and ambushes - so there were benefits to that as well.

I Observed as the tanks rumbled past.

CHALLENGER III MAIN BATTLE TANK

LEVEL 32

FACTION: ROYAL ARMY

RELATIONSHIP: ALLY (5)

ARMOR POINTS: 500 POINTS / SECTION X 400 SECTIONS. TOTAL 200,000 ARMOR POINTS.

120 MM RIFLED GUN: +150,000 DAMAGE / HIT

MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 70 ROUNDS, COOLDOWN: 30 SECONDS

MACHINE GUN: +100 DAMAGE/HIT, 500 ROUNDS/MINUTE.

Seeing the numbers made me feel a bit reassured. But what was the deal with Sections?

ARMOR SECTION: LARGE VEHICLES AND OBJECTS ARE ARMORED IN MULTIPLE PLATES WHICH REACT INDEPENDENTLY TO ANY TYPE OF ENEMY FIRE. TANKS AND HEAVILY ARMORED FIGHTING VEHICLES HAVE MULTIPLE LAYERS OF ARMOR PLATE, EACH OF WHICH REACTS INDEPENDENTLY. THIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF INTEGRATED ARMOR, WHERE ALL OF THE ARMOR REACTS AS A SINGLE UNIT TO ANY ENEMY FIRE.

WITH SECTIONED ARMOR, IF ALL PLATES COVERING A SECTION ARE DESTROYED, THAT SECTION BECOMES EXPOSED TO THE ENEMY. HOWEVER, SINCE OTHER SECTIONS ARE NOT AFFECTED, THE VEHICLE CAN BE ROTATED AND THE DAMAGED SECTIONS MOVED AWAY FROM THE DIRECTION OF ENEMY FIRE.

WITH INTEGRATED ARMOR, THE ENTIRE ARMOR SYSTEM ACTS AS A SINGLE UNIT AND SURVIVES - OR FAILS - TOGETHER.

Oh. That explained how a Raptor Heavy Sniper Rifle doing 12,000 damage could take out a tank with 200,000 armor points. The fire must have shattered the sections protecting the magazine and blown up the stored ammunition.

I messaged Anne the information.

: it’s a good thing you didn’t keep using sectioned armor, then

: when did I use sectioned armor?

: remember your Khichdi combat armor? Or that face shield combo? They were individual pieces and took damage independently

: hey, that’s right

: but there’s got to be a reason why tanks don’t use integrated armor

I tried to think about it for a second.

TEST OF WISDOM: PASSED

ARMOR PLATE INTEGRATION AND MUTUAL REINFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY ARE BEYOND THE CURRENT LEVEL OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. YOUR COMBAT ARMOR, WHEN BUILT TO A CONSISTENT DESIGN, CAN BE INTEGRATED - UP TO A POINT. THE TOTAL SURFACE AREA THAT CAN BE PROTECTED BY A SINGLE, INTEGRATED SECTION DEPENDS ON YOUR MECHANIC SKILL.

YOUR CURRENT MECHANIC SKILL LEVEL IS 23. YOU CAN CREATE INTEGRATED ARMOR UP TO SIZE 230 KG.

“You are Belessar?” came a voice. An Asian accent - sounded Japanese or Chinese.

I turned.

The tallest, bulkiest man I’d seen was staring at me.

This ultra was at least nine feet tall, rippled with muscles, and bore a number of tattoos on his bare chest and back. A tiger and a koi fish, a tree with peach blossoms, and waves rippling across the surface of a calm sea were the ones I could recognize.

The man wore a karate gi - similar to the one I’d worn for Mr. Saito’s classes - and a dragon mask. It took me a second to place him.

Chikaradzuyoi was, by all accounts, the strongest Herculean in the world..

You don’t normally expect to find one of the top ultras in the world to be standing behind you. Well. So much for enhanced perception.

“I am,” I replied. “Honoured to meet you, great Chikaradzuyoi.”

The ultra inclined his head. “I should be honoured. It is not often you meet an ultra who has slain so many of the foe in merely two battles.”

“You honour me, sir. Your accomplishments are by far the greater.”

“Indeed, we are both honoured by each others’ presence,” the Japanese ultra remarked dryly. “Now tell me, what do you know of the aliens within? Can you aid in breaking them?”

“That is why I am here,” I said. “As to their numbers…”

: down to two hundred six - they’ve been taking losses across

“Two hundred six enemies are in the stadium,” I said.

“And have you suggestions for how to assault them? And when? I would be most interested in hearing those.”

“We should probably consult with the soldiers. I understand their general has some good ideas?”

“Indeed, I have heard much of General Windsor. Come. Let us meet with him.”