“Looks clear.” Columbus said, lowering his thermal goggles. The two had spent half an hour hanging back, out of the light, and scouting out the location. Learning from the past encounter, they made sure never to be ambushed again.

“Should we go in now?” Marcus asked, biting down on the hose connected to his water bladder and sucked. Warm water flooded his mouth and swallowed with a grimace as it tasted like polymer.

Attention! You are well hydrated 100/100

“I think we should.” Columbus replied, checking his energy shield, and led the way. Marcus trailed behind him, rifle at the low ready as he looked out for any surprises.

The wall up ahead was alight with small candles, their light barely able to reach up the ceiling, covered a crude mural made using white paint against the bare concrete. Marcus spared a quick glance at the wall then went back to covering their backs.

Ahead, blocking their path, was another bulkhead. The large double door blocked the whole 20 yard span of the tunnel. But unlike the first one they encountered, a side door was recessed into the tunnel walls, resembling a vault door. It was closed at the moment to which Marcus kept his eye on. “What’s keeping us?” He asked.

“This mural. It’s a story. Like a cave painting.” Columbus replied in a distracted voice.

“Does it have porn on it?” Marcus asked sarcastically. “Because if it doesn’t, then we better get a move on since were just standing around here in the open like a bunch of dumb asses.”

“Its an obvious clue.” Columbus replied, looking around, then with the thermal. “There! See that?” He said, pointing at the ceiling.

Marcus followed it and saw a pair of concentric metal circles in the ceiling. It reminded him of a retractable bollard that is used downtown parking areas. “What is it?”

“Here, better to see for yourself.” Columbus said, handing over the thermal scope. With one eye closed, the dark interior of the tunnel was replaced with shades of gray. Through the scope, the walls were painted in dark colors, cold, while the metallic circle up in the ceiling gave off some heat compared to the cold background.

Alert!

MK.4 Spider turret

Recessed. Cannot be further identified.

“More reason to get the fuck out of here.” Marcus replied, looking up at the device.

“Don’t worry.” Columbus replied, “If we didn’t trip its sensors in our approach, then staying here would do nothing. Besides, this is part of my quest. I need to find out what happened here.”

‘Fuck.’ Marcus whispered, ‘first up in my ass for doing dumb shit and now you’re doing the same yourself’. He followed what Columbus was looking at. Despite the crude drawings, it was easy to find out what story the mural was saying.

The pointed eared figures drawn in the wall likely depicted the goblins. They once lived on the surface, from the drawn picture of the sun. They were then forced underground by the arrival of the humans. There they lived in hardship and squalor, barely staving off starvation as they risk going over ground foraging for food and risked getting hunted down.

Then the war happened. A separate mural depicted humans fighting their own, one side shooting at each other while a few figures depicted as wielding the sun itself. Bodies littered the battlefield and cities burned.

Then an exodus. Figures lined coming out from under some cave and found this underground location, drawn as a shattered city over their new home.

“Oh no.” Columbus said suddenly. Marcus looked over to find him wandered into the distance and looking at his notifications. He looked back to him with a face full of concern, followed by a mechanical whirring sound as the sentry gun above lowered from its recessed position. Even from the meager light, Marcus could see the overly large barrel, protected from frontal fire by thick armor, folding down and aimed itself.

Not needing any command, Marcus ran towards the side door nearby. Reaching it first, Marcus turned the wheel. The lock disengaged smoothly under greased gears. He pulled. The heavy door opened too slowly, Marcus’ low strength taking more effort than it should.

Glancing to the side, Columbus ran towards him. “Come on!” Marcus yelled, unwilling to stay a bit more to find what the Sentry gun was capable of.

But instead of speeding up, Columbus slowed, pulling out his shield and energizing it. Eyes wide, the shield shimmered as he pointed it towards the ceiling, where the gun was positioned.

Marcus realized what was about to happen. Reaching down where his rifle hung, Marcus shouldered the gun and aimed. Looking up, the turret barrel pointed at his employer, peeking between the enormous slats of armor. From his angle facing the side of the gun, Marcus saw wires and hoses feeding to the mechanism.

Marcus fired. Bullets sparked against the mechanism but did nothing as the sentry gun unleashed its own brand of hate. The darkness of the tunnel temporarily turned to daylight as a bright beam of concentrated light emerged from the barrel.

Dots formed around Marcus’ vision. It was almost like looking directly at the sun. Still, he kept shooting. More sparks formed around the mechanisms, and for a split second, Marcus feared what had happened to his employer.

“Keep shooting!” Columbus yelled through the din, answering his unvoiced question. With hope restored, Marcus obeyed, spraying the mechanism behind the armor and hoping to hit a vital part. The turret fired once more, this time in a shorter burst and at a dimmer output.

Yet Columbus was still alive. The barrel still swiveled as it kept Columbus in its sight. Marcus’ angle was getting tighter as the barrel, along with the armor slats, now pointed his way.

“Run faster!” Marcus shouted back. His trigger slackened, and he pushed the mag release. Flicking the magazine inside the door, he reached for his vest for a fresh one and slammed it home. Pressing the bolt release, he raised his rifle and found the barrel of the Sentry Gun pointed his direction. The armor slats giving him no angle to shoot at the vital parts of the machine.

Columbus ran past him, entering through the already opened door. Marcus followed close, seeing as there’s no longer any point in fighting. He reached for the handle and pulled; the heavy door closing almost too slowly. He looked up and in slow motion, saw as the turret charged up and unleashed its deadly beam of light.

‘We’ll shit.’ He thought as it would look like he’d finally know what dying in a game felt like.

A harsh bump pushed him to the side. It was Columbus. With his shields raised, he aimed it to block the beam while also pulling the heavy door close. The turret fired, and the shield flared. It emitted an impressive light show lasting but a split second as it broke. The beam punched through his personal shields, burning him as he fell, barely managing to finally shut the door close and surround them in darkness once more.

“Hey. You alive?” Marcus asked, slowly getting up. He reached for his vest and broke a chemlight, lighting up the dark with its soft green glow.

“Barely.” Columbus croaked. Marcus panned the light towards him to find his charred body. Steam rose from his body as he turned his head to face him. Half of his face was burned. Black charred skin cracked in places, revealing red and pink flesh underneath.

“Man, you look like you’re fresh out of the oven.” Marcus replied, “I hope you still got more of that regen stim.”

“On my vest. Bottom right pouch.” Columbus replied. “Just jab it on my arm and press the button on the end. Its spring loaded and it should take care of the rest.”

Item Information:

Phoenix Regenerator Stim

Powerful regeneration Stimulant. Using a cocktail of super-advanced medical Nanobots, this stimulant can heal any type of wounds ranging from burns to femoral bleeding, even bring someone from the brink of death.

Removes pain

Removes contusion

Stops and prevent bleeding

+20 health/3 seconds

Debuffs:

Tremor (60 minutes)

X.8 Health (180 minutes)

X.8 Endurance

-90 Energy

-90 Hydration

Powerful regeneration Stimulant. Using a cocktail of super-advanced medical Nanobots, this stimulant can heal any type of wounds ranging from burns to femoral bleeding, even bring someone from the brink of death.

Just as instructed, Marcus jabbed the end on Columbus’ arm. With a press of a button, the cocktail shot straight to through his veins and started the healing process. The effect, although weak at first, was immediate. Within a minute, Columbus’ skin healed before his eyes. The cracks in his skin melded and fused together while his burns regressed from its black, charred state into bright pink then to his normal skin tone as if nothing happened. Columbus sat up, patting the dust off his clothes, and took Marcus’ offered hand.

“That must be the good shit, huh?” Marcus said, pulling Columbus up to his feet.

“If you had the same level of wounds, I won’t hesitate to use ‘the good shit’ on you.” Columbus replied, picking up his shield and ejecting the spent core and inserting a fresh one. “As you can see, I almost died saving you. If that spider turret used actual projectiles instead of lasers we would have died in the first two salvos.”

“Lucky us.” Marcus muttered. He looked back at the door, knowing full well that his rounds only managed minimally damage the turret. Worse, he was even shooting it from its vulnerable side. “So, I’m guessing there’s no way out that way anymore.”

“You don’t have to guess. I assure you we can’t.” Columbus replied, “Despite energy shields specifically being the counter to energy weapons, One salvo from that turret was enough to break this shield and still have enough power to reduce a significant part of my personal shield. Even if we try, there is no way for us to go back that way as we are.”

“Right. You good then?” Marcus said, picking up the discarded magazine on the floor.

“Give me a minute. I need to recover from the debuffs.” Columbus said, putting his pack on the floor. He pulled out a pack of dried rations and started tearing through it, raising both his energy levels and hydration as he took a sip from his own water bladder.

“Doesn’t hurt to say you need a break.” Marcus replied, following to sit on the cold concrete floor. Columbus finished eating his fill and for a while, they sat staring at each other until Marcus broached the subject. “So, can you tell me what the hell just made that turret go all murdery?”

“It’s my unique job. Chronicler. Any undocumented lore I discover awards me with an enormous amount of experience. I was too engrossed, and I blundered. I’m sorry.”

Marcus grunted. “So that reading from that wall gave you enough experience to level up break the limits of the quest.” Which reminded him to pull up the quest.

Quest Updated! The path to nowhere (Updated)

Type: Discovery

Description: There is a hole guarded with security systems for high levelled players. Where does it go?

Requirements: Maximum level 20, 2 players, (Failed.)

Find out what is in the end of the tunnels.

Find a way to get out alive.

Rewards: ??

“We’ll, at least we didn’t fail it yet. We can still keep going.” Marcus said. ‘It would have been a shame for him to go to all that trouble to just fuck it all up himself.”

“Fortunately, it wasn’t an essential requirement.” Columbus nodded.

“So how the fuck does someone get a unique job like yours?” Marcus asked, curious.

“Someone doesn’t just go out and take it. It is awarded depending on the actions and the play style of the player, awarded by the game’s AI as it makes the game from turning stale for everyone.” Columbus said, “Maybe after this, you’ll be awarded your own.” He said, standing up. “I’m all healed now. We should keep going.”

Marcus nodded and stood up. He gave his vests a pat to check their weight and make sure they are loaded. He then popped off the magazine and angled it to the light to look down at the stack of bullets. It was full.

The brass cartridges glinted from the light, its gray steel penetrator with its copper jacket peeked over the case. Marcus was sure the round would have fared better at punching through the sentry gun’s metallic casing than the hollow points he had loaded prior. He shared just as much blame as Columbus.

“I think I’ll be running AP ammo from now on, just so you know.” Marcus said as Columbus took his defensive position up front.

“Go ahead.” Columbus replied. “There’s no point being frugal now.”