The lesson with Graham ended far too quickly for Matthew's taste, he wanted a chance to avoid the others for the day. Luckily when he came back to the warehouse he discovered that his wish had been granted, as they had gone on an errand for Strong.

“They went to one of the Helium mines. It had a little trouble with some local creatures,” the lieutenant informed him as soon as he arrived.

“Huh, that’s curious, but none of my concern. If they wish to waste their time doing things of that nature, I won’t complain. Especially since I don’t need to do the same,” Matthew said, intending to head back to his room. He had enough of this day already.

“You know, you really should just tell them. They’re good kids, and so are you, Matthew. I think they’ll accept you either way. No one thinks you’re your parents and their actions aren’t yours,” Strong continued nonchalantly, almost as if he wasn’t even listening.

“I already told you, lieutenant, I won’t. My family’s… disgrace is neither their business nor of any relevance to my relationship with them. Now please, I would like to stop talking about this. My memories of you need no further tainting,” Matthew was furious now, even despite their history, or mayhap because of it, Strong had crossed a line. The ice mage turned to leave, before he acted on his anger.

“That’s exactly why you should tell them. If you keep denying it happened you will never accept your new place in life,” Strong put a hand on Matthew’s shoulder.

“I doubt that would help it,” Matthew shrugged him off and kept moving towards the door.

“Well, just think about it!” the lieutenant shouted after him.

“Fine!” Matthew huffed quietly, not sure if he would truly follow through.

The room beyond the door was strangely empty, Ember noticed that immediately as she stepped through. It wasn't barren, with desks, computers, and screens filling the entire room and covering every wall, but it was devoid of life. With no bodies, nor any sign of the enemy besides that same strange liquid all over everything. Just the same as the hallway. She felt something different as she walked across, and when she looked down she immediately saw what it was. Whatever liquid was on the walls looked to be on the ground as well, and had hardened into a sort of gelatinous chitin.

Seeing that there was nothing else to find in the control room, Ember kept heading forwards. Her goal was the hangar above, and the stairs to it were at the end of the corridor on the other side of the room. Despite her curiosity about what had happened here, that was far more important. The enemy’s exact presence needed to be determined.

Ember figured that if no spiders were in the control room, they would probably be near the stairway, but all she found on her way there was silence. She filled every hallway with the soft sounds of her footsteps against the rubbery material beneath her feet. When she finally reached the stairs, something finally broke that disturbing silence. Another chattering sound came from above her, and she decided to investigate. Cautiously, she took a couple steps up the stairs. Only enough for her to see their top, but no more.

At its top, she saw something for a split second, a shadow moving across the ground. Ember sprinted to the top of the staircase, but whatever was there was already gone. They weren't the simple creatures she thought they were. It clearly sensed her there.

Disturbed, she continued to move, but now with greater caution. Her worries grew as every corridor turned out to be just as empty as the corridors below. The chattering noise persisted, and became louder the closer she came to the hangar.

’They must be concentrated around the Gundam. Are they targeting it? But we were told they’re simple creatures. Even recognizing the Gundam should be beyond their intelligence,’ only two possibilities occurred to her, either they had been lied to, or the forces there just assumed something without knowing it for sure, ’idiots, that isn't proper protocol.’

Nonetheless, she pushed forward to the hanger. But instead of a simple door she found an airlock, and the sound of chittering emanating from the walls around it told her the spiders were in there. They had fortified themselves inside the hanger, with a thick layer of that strange chitin covering the airlock's mechanism. Examining her options, Ember wasn't sure she could break through with her knife, even if it was advisable. So she decided to turn back, better to come in there with force if that’s where they all were.

John and the group waited patiently, with Bass trying to lighten the air with some casual conversation. The Gamer engaged with her, but both Yan and Charlotte weren’t up for it. So eventually they sat in silence, but they didn’t have to sit there for long before Ember returned. Almost immediately, she told them what she saw, and John sensed concern in her voice. Her explanation was clear, there was nothing behind the door or on the entire floor, and even the next one looked empty, though she did warn them about what she thought she had seen.

“I heard them concentrated in the hangar, and there was chitin on the airlock door. They may have gone after the Gundam, but I’m not sure why…” Ember concluded, trailing off as her voice became more nervous.

“I guess that means our objective is going to require fighting a lot of them now… But at least we know what to expect, thank you Ember,” John was worried, but he was glad for her information and to see her back.

“How about we get up to the second floor then, make sure they're restricted to that room while we plan how to attack it,” Yan said, almost like she was thinking out loud. Yet she was holding herself far less nervously than everyone but Bass.

“Yan, I'm behind you on this one,” Bass winked to her, “after you?” she signaled to John then the others. He agreed as well, it was a good plan.

Ember nodded in response, but Charlotte said nothing. So in purposeful silence, and with Yan walking out in front they headed towards the second floor. It didn't take them long to get up to it, and after a quick scan it was clearly still empty.

The spy also pointed out the chitin on the floor to John, asking him to use his scrying spell on it. He wanted more information as well, so he almost immediately used **Observe** on it.

“They took out the power flow to this place, didn't they?” he whispered the question to Ember. She nodded in response.

“Fuck. Then I know why they're targeting the Gundam,” he cursed to himself.

’I should have used Observe the minute I saw that blood. Stupid, stupid. Now it makes sense every where's empty, they're all rushing to the hanger to make whatever is draining power, probably. As clearly they need whatever independent power generation or storage capacity the Gundam has. Means we either have to destroy them or it. If we just try to take it out of here they'll chase us out. Probably the only reason they haven't left the mountain yet is because it is still here… Dammit, you really like making things more dangerous for us, don't you world?’ it was a rhetorical question, but he sensed he didn't want the answer either.

This blood and chitin were dangerous. It was stupid of him not to consider that possibility before. Every inch of the mine was turning into a ticking time bomb. Not sure how to tell the team, John grabbed Bass' shoulder and whispered in her ear.

“You know the blood everywhere?” he started, as quietly as he could. John wanted to make sure even Ember didn't notice his concern.

“What about it?” Bass said, almost annoyed.

“It's turning this place into one giant birthing ground for those spiders, and they're using the gundam to do it, most likely,” he continued.

“The fuck? Are you serious?” when she saw the look on his face she knew he was, “guess freaking creep is real, boss,” she laughed, like he had whispered a bad joke in her ear.

“Spiders are the new zergs, apparently,” John laughed in the same way as well.

“That's enough planning, let's get in there, boss,” Bass stated. They had decided not to tell the rest, there was already enough pressure on all of them. Instead, they were standing outside the hangar's airlock, making a plan of attack with the rest. Even with two doors between them and the room, John could hear incredibly loud chattering and the entire door waa covered in chitin, allowing no visibility inside. Even once they had slowly cut through it with Bass' halos and his own bolts, the window inside was covered with thick blood. Luckily, that sort of vision, whole it still would be helpful, was no longer necessary. As they had finally formulated the group's plan and it was now time to put it into action.

Ember was first to move, hiding under the cover of her ability and opening the first door in the airlock with a single powerful motion. The door shot open with a loud metal thunk. Seeing the airlock itself was clear, she moved to the next in a split second. It opened similarly, but a mass of chitin blocked the other side of it. Bass was ready next, her two halos were already vibrating powerfully between her hands when she hit them with one another. A huge shockwave passed through the small airlock and erupted into the giant space of the hangar beyond the door. John and the rest were instructed to plug their ears, but they still rang for a couple of seconds afterwards.

Liquid and chitin inside the room flew off the floor and walls and revealed a horde of spiders covering every surface of the room. With the massive wave of sound some were thrown off the walls and onto the floor, some moved to action, and some even exploded into huge amounts of blood which continued to cover everything. This was the signal for John, Charlotte and Yan to storm inside the room. With Ember disappearing into the shockwave and Bass not hesitating to run ahead.

His eyes darted around the room looking for his target. The Gundam was on the opposite side of the room, half hidden by the steep drop of the floor into a sort of miniature flight deck. A ladder in the center of the room led to a maintenance walkway above it. Even in a room that large, it was enormous, with its head almost hitting the ceiling. It looked much like the picture he had been provided, but its color had faded and drained somewhat. John wasn’t sure if that was because of wear or the blood which had been on it.

With not much time to think, John decided to head for the walkway, and ran towards the center of the room. Throwing waves of bolts to ward off the spiders coming from every side. Even with tens if not hundreds rushing towards him, most of them headed for the airlock area, where the rest of his team was. He couldn't let himself be paralyzed with worry, so he dodged and weaved through those spiders that didn't attack him immediately. Barely thirty seconds passed before he reached the ladder, and he took big leaps up to the walkway, more scared of the situation than gravity.

John looked at the Gundam from above now, and he immediately saw his mistake. There was an access ladder from below, but no way to approach from above. He also saw clearly how old the Gundam truly was. Bits of rust were all over the coat of green and black paint.

’Dammit, how am I going to get into that thing from here?’ John already knew the answer, but it was even riskier than climbing that ladder in the middle of a hoard of spiders.

He ran to the edge of the walkway, hoisting himself up on top of the smooth metal railing. At this point there was barely four meters between him and the ladder rungs. John wasn’t sure he could get there, but looking back, he saw he didn’t have much of a choice. Dozens of spiders were climbing up the walls towards the walkway and him. That didn’t leave him much time, and so in a blink of an eye, before he could think to hesitate, he jumped.

Flying through the air, he felt something on his back, the hair of a spider’s legs. He wanted to do something about it, but the ladder was almost in his face already. Before he knew it, he grabbed onto the edge with a thunk, feeling the entire force of his jump and gravity echo through his body. The spider flew off his back as well, but not before John felt a bite on his neck, and a dullness spreading through his body.

Damage taken: 20 HP lost.

Poison applied, health will reduce by 0.5 per second

The pain all over his body was much more important than the popups. He knew some of it was from the poison, but his arms and legs also felt like they had almost been ripped straight off. Looking around to recenter himself, he saw the spider dropping down to the ground. It was a mass of black fur and legs dotted with twenty or so blue eyes. And when its dead body hit the ground, it exploded into blood.

John’s movement was dulled by the intense pain, but his mind was still clear, so he slowly pushed on. It didn’t take long for him to recover enough of his strength to clamber up the ladder and reach the cockpit’s entrance. A small hatch was placed at the top, and with a loud click it opened as he pressed against it. He looked back to the rest before stepping into the tight space beyond it. On the ground was a giant mass of spiders, but he could see his team attempting to carve their way through them.

A bubble of vibrations surrounded Bass, and Yan clawed her way through the edges of it. Ember, was on the other side of the room, seemingly almost ignored by the spiders, but John could still see her as she cut through waves of them with her knife. He knew he had to hurry, the Gundam held what they needed in their hand, a sort of large flamethrower that had been hastily attached to its left hand. It was so enormous that the young man had been shocked to see it, especially since he had never seen one before. But he was far more glad that their information was correct, they needed the help.

He jumped into the cockpit without another thought, he needed to hurry. Ignoring the painted danger signs all along the outside of the mech, he sealed himself inside the room. Piloting a Gundam was complicated, but John had hoped he could manage to figure it out. After all, according to Ember, he would also be called a Newtype in this world, along with the rest of the Psychic mages.

The cockpit itself was a mess of levers, buttons and screens. It was obviously designed for function over simplicity or form. Some of the lights turned on as he closed the hatch, with a large green button appearing prominent at the side of the center console. John pressed it without hesitation, and screen after screen started lighting up and showing the hanger around him. Reticule appeared on a few of them as well, showing him each individual spider and his small team among them.

Below each of the buttons a label appeared in the air. John was unsure if it was from his powers or the mecha itself until he noticed a pop-up in the edge of his field of vision.

Psychic link has been applied to the Gundam "3M2D". Basic flight knowledge and interaction obtained.

A flood of information went through his mind in a second, and he knew what to do almost immediately. He found the two triggers used to move the Gundam without looking. Grabbing them, he jerked them forwards with some force. With a crashing noise the mecha's legs moved upwards and onto the hangar's main floor. Barely missing Yan on his left side, hundreds of spiders were crushed beneath his feet. When he tried to move further, something stopped him, and a warning about low energy appeared at the top of his screen. Not sure why he couldn’t move, John looked down with the mecha’s head and soon spotted it.

Chitin wrapped around a small part of the machine’s left leg, and flowed outwards from it and into the floor in a structure of blood and chitin that almost resembled a cable. From the knowledge he had gained, John knew what it was surrounding. A dedicated power port on the leg.

‘Shit, that must mean they're pulling the electricity straight from the Gundam itself. I need to get rid of it right now,’ his options were limited, only armed with a drill attached to the right hand and a flamethrower in his left.

Each trigger activated one of the tools, John knew that, but it would be difficult to use them with his friends directly in the way. But Bass had thought of that, and a signal was decided earlier to serve that exact purpose. Absolutely focused on them appearing outside of the cockpit, John summoned a round of Arcane Bolts. He paused for a second, waiting for one of his team to spot the spell. Yan was the only one he could still see, and he saw her looking up to the sky and seeing them. Just the slight tilt of his head told him that, as he now felt uncomfortable in the almost complete silence of the cockpit.

In the blink of an eye the bolts lodged themselves in a group of spiders next to Yan, and she rushed through waves of the creature back towards the entrance. On both her sides appeared Ember, Charlotte and Yan. Even from his position John could see they were injured, but they were all still alive, and the spiders almost seemed like they were letting them go. Charlotte healed the others as they ran, and the spiders started moving towards the Gundam. While he wanted to worry about his friends, a glance down told him he didn’t have that luxury. As a thick black fur started engulfing both legs of the mecha.

‘I guess they're going after me. Hopefully the flamethrower will work on them...’ the metal hand moved down with his movements, crushing some of the spiders with its bulk, and with a pull of the trigger the nozzle of the flamethrower spewed fire into the room. It spread like water across the various spiders, one after the next. A sight so terrible it made him sick. Still, John was determined, and his other hand moved to the cable, hoping to cut it with the drill. But the second he turned it on it stalled, and a warning appeared in his view. Hundreds of spiders, still burning alive, had jumped into the drill to block it from function.

John was surprised, but he didn’t have time to wonder, so he stopped the drill and swung the arm around as fast as he could to get them off. While the flamethrower still kept burning more and more of the monsters.

For almost a minute, everything around him was as silent as his mind, but he saw a thousand things in that burning fire. Even though he was entirely focused, his mind rushed through every single thing he had ever thought of just to justify this wretched vision. Once enough of them were dead, he reacted in pure instinct, and cut the cable cleanly with the drill, tearing it in half. At that point, almost no spiders were left, and the room was a charred mess. The work was done, but his mind was too tired to continue. With his last bit of strength he looked at his health, and he saw exactly why.

5/75 HP

’I’m gonna die, aren’t I?’ was his last thought to himself, but his body continued to work. He pulled himself up and pushed the hatch open. John’s mind had given up, but his body now refused to surrender. Unable to think, he almost fell down the ladder, but somebody caught him just before he could step off the first rung. Charlotte had arrived there to save him.

“I'm here, don't worry John, I saw your health,” with those words in his mind, he simply collapsed.