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While the TSAR-77E was his main weapon, he also kept a combat knife by his side as a reserve weapon. However to be honest, thanks to his inventory, he was practically a mobile armoury, with all kinds of weapons stuffed inside. On the other hand, despite all his physical enhancements, his skin was not as tough as metal, so he needed something to protect himself. For this purpose he had a type of power armour equipped. It was called the ‘S Series – Model 787 Mobile Armour’.

This armour had set the cornerstone for the new era of warfare. Designed by a technologically advanced human race, it completely revolutionised the battlefield. Combining the mind of a human with the strength of a machine, it formed one of the most effective weapons of war. It consists of a two parts, the internal ‘soft’ suit and the external ‘hard’ suit. The soft suit provides mobility and flexibility, while the hard suit provides the defence. The plates of the outer suit are made from composite armour and can defend against direct hits from small firearms fire up to 12.7 mm (.50 calibre) shells, and grenade explosions. Powered by two hydrogen fuel cells, it is has a long run time and is known to be very durable.

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[A/N : The portion of text below contains info dump, so readers can skip it if not interested.]

This model of Power Armour consisted of two parts: the Inner Body Suit and the outer armour. The two parts together formed the mobile armour.

The inner suit was black in colour and appeared to be made from a rubber-like material which was quite thick. It was a single piece and had a single large zipper at the front to allow access. The inner suit covered the entire body up to the neck and only the head was left exposed. There were many metallic attachment points all over the suit, which were meant for the outer armour to attach. Dozens of faint lines could be observed running longitudinally across the suit which is an extensive network of artificial nerves and hundreds of sensors which measure nerve impulses of the wearer. These also read the neural signals in the brain and spinal cord and links them to the artificial muscle fibres.

The suit is made made of synthetic polymers that are designed to act exactly like muscles. These provide the wearer with extra muscle power. These fibres are electrically powered and operate in response to the neural electrical signals running throughout the human body. These signals cause them to contract or expand. The fibres obtain their power from the batteries of the powered armour. The suit also performs another secondary function, wherein it insulates the body from outside temperatures and also has a system of heat sinks which collect heat and radiate them out through the back of the power armour.

The outer armour worn over the inner suit is mostly made from plates of composite material which are made of thin layers of hyper alloys, ceramic coated glass fibres, and plastics all compressed under immense pressures, into a single plates. The only exceptions being the helmet and the breast plate which covered the chest region. They are made from rolled plates of plassteel which provide almost twice the protection than that of the composite plates of same thickness. The neck was left un-armoured, covered only with the inner suit for the sake of flexibility and ease of moving the head. An armoured collar which was welded onto the breast pate, circled the neck, protecting it from incoming attacks.

A pair of Pauldrons covered the shoulder joints. The arm guards are divided into two parts, the upper arm and the lower arm, separated at the elbow joint. They extend all the way to the wrist where the gloves are attached. The gloves are also armoured but left the underside of the palm and fingers free, only covered with the inner suit. Similar arrangements are done for the legs. Composite plates in the shape of interlocking 'V's cover the remaining torso and groin regions and the hips as well. The interlocking was done in such a way, that it left enough flexibility for movement. The armoured boots also enhance the running and jumping power by two times.

There are many compact motors at the key joints which gave additional power. The metal backpack built into the back of the armour, houses a cooling system for the inner suit, an air filtration unit for supplying air to the helmet, and the fuel cells. But its size is only that of a small backpack, which was very appreciable considering all things that it held. Over all the armour has an all around protection from small firearms up to 12.7mm ammunition, and shrapnel from bomb explosions.

The helmet is relatively simple. It covered the entire head, and consisted of two main sections. The main section which covered most of the head, and a minor section which covered the nose and mouth and could be lowered if needed. It joined with the inner suit at the neck, creating an air-sight seal. Two small pipes arising from the air filtration unit, connect to either side of this joint below the lower part, and supply air to the person inside when the helmet is completely shut. The small air pump is present in the same box attached to the back which houses the Hydrogen fuel cells. There were another two smaller pipes which supply power to the helmet from the fuel cells. The mouth covering area of the helmet housed the communication system and outlet for the air feed, giving it a box like appearance.

The forehead of the helmet was slightly bulged forward to accommodate a visor for the eyes, right below it. The visor can be can be raised to reveal the eyes if wanted. This visor along with the mouth covering could be retracted to expose the entire face if required. The helmet also has a searchlight mount on its left and a infrared camera on the right side. There is no glass on the visor, it’s a single piece of solid alloy. There are four camera-eyes, two on each side of the visor that provide the image of outside, displayed on the inner side of the visor, which houses an HUD (Heads Up Display) system inside the helmet. The HUD is controlled by a simple AI integrated into the Helmet which keeps track of the wearer’s vitals, the status of the armour and also tracks enemies in view. Through the AI, the Helmet can be linked to other weapon systems, such as a portable missile launcher placed on the shoulder.

There are several hard points on the armour, allowing the attachment of various additional equipment, additional ammunition and weapons, such as a small missile launcher, a Gatling gun, or a combat knife. There are two rails on the shoulders which extended parallel to the back as well. Additional weapons can be placed on the rails when in use, or kept on the back when not in use. The power supplied by the inner muscle suit and outer powered armour combined, allows the wearer to carry heavy loads and weapons into combat, while providing decent amount of protection to their wearers. A tank of compressed air which could auto refill itself maybe attached externally to the back after which the power armour can function up to appreciable depths underwater.

[A/N : If you skipped over, then continue from here on]

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Coloured in full black, with matte finish on the armour plates, the mobile armour looked very impressive. But it had a key difference when compared with other power armours. This model was developed to enhance the overall mobility and terrain crossing capacity of the wearer, hence it got its name, “Mobile Armour”. It focused on improving speed and manoeuvrability, while keeping it cheap enough to be mass produced. As such protection was the secondary concern. Still, it was a very efficient item and did its job well. Add who already had very high levels of strength did not really need a heavy armour, he was satisfied with a decent level of protection and the ease of movement which the Model 787 mobile armour gave him.

Armed and armoured with these new equipment, he had arrived here on his quest to obtain enough mana cores. And even before he had reached near the actual forest, monsters had been popping up left and right. These were all A and B ranked monsters, but they could only live outside the forest, on the very fringes, and dared not venture inside, for they would just become easy pickings for the horrors residing there. But they were not a threat to him who killed the poor creatures even before they could scratch him.

He ventured for days on the outer areas of the forest, where he encountered many monsters and some Knight Class magical beasts. Low raking magical beasts usually were unable to use spells, but they had huge strength and vitality thanks to the high amounts of mana they possessed and could actively use. The first magical beasts he encountered were [Slimes]. A Slime was a creature little more than a blob of transparent jelly that could move. They had a tiny monster core which was the centre of their very being, but were placed among the category of E rank monsters, since their cores had so little magic that it was negligible. Slimes liked wet and warm areas, and Waldestein which was a lush rainforest was very ideal for them.

He also encountered beasts which could actually use magic. For example the [Fire Salamander]. This creature was a two metre long salamander, but instead of having moist soft skin, the skin was covered by tough leathery scales, with dirty brown colouration. They had the ability to spit fireballs at their enemy, hence earning their names. Another beast called [Shadow Panther] was a large feline that hunted in the night. It used its mana to blend with the shadows, making it almost invisible, but before the infra red camera that worked on the concept of heat, its cover was instantly blown.

There was also the [Mad Beardog], a large creature which had the body shaped like a dog and had the head and forelimbs resembling a bear. It had had extremely strong body with fur so tough even normal grenades had no effect on it. There were also creepy lizards which spewed poison and violent monkeys that craved for flesh. Within a few days Add had realised how well this place deserved its fame. But then, when he was sure that he had adapted to this forest, he chanced upon a group of creatures which even he did not feel like messing with.

Spiders.

Thousands of spiders.

He was just walking through a region of tall trees which would put the redwoods back on Earth to shame, when his heightened senses told him that he was being watched by something. With the sensors of the mobile armour, he quickly found out the things that were gazing at him like he was some tasty snack, and when he used the encyclopaedia (which he had updated using hundreds of thousands of CP) his face became frosty in an instant. The creatures were giant spiders, each the size of a large dog with long spindly legs and large fangs dripping poison.

They stared at him with their beady eyes and within moments he was surrounded by them, they were in the bushes, on the ground and also up in the trees. But they were not just any ordinary tarantula. These were the Emerald bellied Huntsman spiders whose appearance could cause heart attacks in people with arachnophobia. There were many monstrous spiders on Iseria, Add had already crossed paths with a few of them, from freakishly giant tarantulas that ate bears for breakfast to tiny walking canisters of concentrated potassium cyanide, but these things gave him a headache just by reading their information.

The Emerald bellied Huntsman spiders were called so because of their bright green coloured bellies, while the rest of their bodies were pitch black. These spiders did weave webs, but not those traditional beautiful nets to catch insects, nor those fine carpet like webs to sense vibrations, no, these spiders were hyper active hunters who silently crept through the bushes and trees looking for prey. And if an unfortunate creature caught their eyes, they wove a small sticky net carried it with their feet and pounced down on their prey in a surprise attack, but they did it together like a pack of wolves and after catching the prey, they wove a silk coffin for those poor souls and liquefying them into a pulp with their poison. They were A ranked monsters and their stealth abilities were exceptional, as they had managed to evade Add’s perception for quite some time.

“This is inconvenient”

Unable to wait any longer, the spiders pounced towards him. Add responded with HE grenades and made a run for his life. The spiders individually were not a threat; heck even a hundred of them was not a problem. But there were literally thousands of them here and he was being surrounded. No matter how powerful weapons he had, there was also an undeniable might in numbers. If he got surrounded by these spiders, he would be in a very precarious situation. The mobile armour should be able to defend against their fangs, but he did not want to take any chances.

He kept retreating while throwing grenades and shooting any spiders which popped up before him. However the spiders were tougher than he expected, even the powerful grenades which could blow up a small bunker could only kill a few dozens of them at a time. Aside from making the spiders more aggressive it did not make any significant reduction to their ever increasing numbers. Of course he had even powerful explosives like the water bomb, but he needed to open some distance between himself and the spiders. Despite his speed which was already very high, the spiders were able to keep up with him and he could not run any faster.

Suddenly, with a loud thud, a large figure dropped from the trees some distance away from where Add was. As soon as the figure appeared, the spiders stopped their attacks and instead angrily hissed towards Add while maintaining a safe distance. The later also stopped, as he narrowed his eyes to look at the new arrival with caution. The figure had a rather unique appearance, and it appeared as if all the spiders respected and feared it.

“An Arachne is it…”

An Arachne is a female magical beast belonging to the King class. A new born Arachne was already a General class, and some could even reach the Emperor class. According to legends, the Arachne race came into existence eons ago, from a high elf called Arachne. Legend has it that Arachne was the most beautiful High elf to be ever born, so beautiful that even the gods envied her beauty. She was a kind and benevolent lady who also had an unparallel talent for weaving.

One day, Iphion the goddess of weaving who envied her beauty, came to challenge Arachne to a weaving contest. Arachne accepted her challenge and though in the beginning the two were equally matched, in the end, Arachne won. The goddess was furious over her defeat and it was then that her eyes fell upon a spider crawling on a leaf. Filled with malice, she used her powers and cursed Arachne to become an abomination which everyone would loathe and shun.

And thus the beautiful elf became a half spider monstrosity, and was exiled by her kin to live in the wild, hated by all those who saw her. Before her exile, she swore revenge upon the gods, but was never able to succeed. It was from her that the Arachne race began and to this day, they are loathed and shunned by almost all the races. The Arachne had the upper body of an elf, but from below the waist she had the lower body of a spider. They were solitary creatures that preferred to live in caves and deep forests, and were predominantly carnivorous, although they could also eat vegetarian foods such as fruits.

Arachne were described to be highly intelligent, on par with any sentient race and were inherently bold, ferocious and lustful. They were efficient hunters, and hunt like regular spiders do, some actively chase their prey, while others use their stick webs as traps to trap prey. Since they were a female only species, they needed a male from another species, usually Elves or humans, to mate with. Arachne were known to trap lone male travelers who ventured into their territories, in their webs. If the male was to their liking, they would mate with him, and once the mating had been done, they would then proceed to eat them.

However, aside from that they were also well known for weaving the finest clothing, a legacy of their unfortunate ancestor; and no other race could compete with them in that regard. Although they were magical beasts, they could not use any powerful spells. Instead, like many other magical beasts, they used their mana to strengthen and protect their large bodies. As a result they were very nimble and agile despite their size and can easily navigate within trees and dense canopies. They used the pointed ends of their legs to attack. Most sub-species of Arachne did not have poison but of the few that did, had venoms so lethal that they could dissolve a man into a puddle of protein and fat within an hour.

Their web laying skills were very profound and the traps they set were very hard to detect. They could also control and lead other spiders and were often called Spider Queens for that, just like an ant queen ordered an entire colony and this skill made them even more deadly. However, despite being very tough, they also have a severe weakness towards fire. Their bodies and threads are weak to fire and are easily burnt. Also, the biggest weak spot was an Arachne’s upper body, which was soft and not covered in any carapace, making it very vulnerable to attacks.

The Arachne who led the Green Bellied Huntsman spiders, her appearance was beyond fascinating. Her hair was a cascade of silvery white flowing down, until well below her waist. Her skin was so very fair and pale that it appeared to be made of the highest quality of porcelain. Her eyes were like crystalline sapphires, with beautiful eyebrows. Her oval face was the epitome of perfection, as if a sculptor had crafted it out of marble. Her torso was well endowed in the womanly assets and the spider body, was not grotesque, in fact it only added to her inhumane charm. The carapace was milky white in colour, and shined like metal. Her beauty was really enchanting, rather than being revolting, it was as if she were the manifestation of a beautiful fantasy, and made one want to to protect that beauty. Her upper body was covered by a white one piece dress made of silk. This was the queen of the spiders, Arachne.

Add was momentarily mesmerised by her innate beauty, but quickly steadied his thoughts. The Arachne slowly walked over towards him, her three pairs of slender legs moving quickly, while the fourth pair was shorter and placed just beneath her torso and was very sharp, probably used as a weapon only. She did not stop until she was around 10 metres away from him, her expression was cold and she had a noble aura around her. The spiders followed behind her and continuously screeched and made noises as if talking with the Arachne while she listened in silence. Some of the spiders also started to slowly surround him from the sides. The atmosphere was very tense and appeared to be a stalemate, and as Add was planning on using a small napalm bomb to burn the living hell out of these spiders, the Arachne opened her mouth to speak.

“Human, you sure have courage, coming to my domain and killing my kin! You have made this queen very angry! Now this queen shall show you what happens when she is angry.”

She spoke the human language of the northern subcontinent, but it was a very archaic dialect. Her voice was sweet and melodious, yet the underlying anger could be well perceived. Add knew that an Arachne was at least a General class monster, and the one before him was probably a king class monster, which was very dangerous to confront directly. He did not speak and stayed silent, calmly watching any movements made by the Arachne or the spiders.

The outer regions of the forest where Add currently was, usually was home only to monster and only few magical beasts of the Knight class. Stronger magical beasts usually did not venture out in this regions and stayed within the deeper parts of the forest. This was because, the density of mana grew higher as one went deeper into the forest, no one know why this was so, but everyone agreed that the great forest of Waldestien was able to house such dangerous and absurdly strong beasts because it’s abnormally high availability of mana.

For magical beasts growing stronger was similar to how human warriors and mages grew stronger. They absorbed mana and store it in their cores, using it to strengthen their bodies and increase their abilities. Although the creatures could absorb mana from the environment directly, just like taking in oxygen while breathing, There also were certain naturally occurring things which stored large amounts of mana within them such as certain crystals and rare plants and herbs. But, there was an even simpler and easier way. The magical beasts just had to kill other magical beasts and devour them, especially their cores which were filled with mana. As such, as one went deeper into the forest the magical beasts grew stronger and more deadly, as everyone wanted to devour everyone else.

The Arachne was a strong creature which should not appear in these outer regions; however she had her own troubles and was forced to leave her old home and come out here. Fortunately, she had found a large group of Green bellied huntsman spiders and became their ‘queen’, thanks to her racial trait which allowed her to command other spiders that were weaker than her in strength. With their help, she had taken control of a large area of the forest, which was her own domain now, countless beats and magical beasts had already died by her hands, and she was slowly getting stronger, waiting for the day when she would be able to go back deeper into the forest again.

However, today as she was resting atop the largest tee in the area, her followers sent her a message that there was a new prey but they were unable to deal with it and many of them had died. Irritated, she went to see just what had been causing trouble to her otherwise ‘efficient’ followers. When she saw that it was just a lone human that had ventured into her domain she was a bit surprised. It appeared to be a man, who was apparently quite strong to be able to survive the attacks of her minions, and kill so many of them.

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