Writer’s spot: Greetings friend! Some action scene, some surprisingly strong opponents and some understanding!

SO, as promised, I managed to get myself to write this chapter before a whole week has passed! Hooray! With this chapter, we start to get some understanding of the mastery behind the strangely influential group.

BESIDES(2), this was supposed to be uploaded yesterday, but RRL went down and I had to sleep, so this time, it’s NOT my fault. HOORAY!

Beep, and enjoy your story!

----

The two robots stared at each other for a long time, almost as if two beasts were preparing to try and kill each other. Something that wasn’t all that far from the truth if we would take their shapes and temperaments in account. While growling slightly towards the bull, Gaz started to assess his situation, which left him with a favorable situation, seeing as how the elf was also here with him.

Sadly, he didn’t have his rifle with him, since he had no plan to actually use it during a scouting session, but at least he had some weapons with himself, so he could somehow help during the fight. Besides, they could also drag the fight long enough so that Yllivia manage to recover and come to help them in case the bull proved to be a bit too much.

Lastly, there was also Ruby, who was acknowledgeable about robots like no one else, so his chances were actually quite good. Smiling fearlessly while staring at Brutus, Gaz prepared to take the first move before the bull could do something, but…

“N… New generation?” Ruby said shocked, making Sorius click his tongue.

[Huh? What do you mean?] Gaz asked confused, not exactly liking the tone of the girl.

[That’s… Just like how some robot species dies for good with some time, others also pop up from new adaptations from older ones… The ones that weren’t registered are known as new generation.] She explained with slightly worried tone.

[…Then, we know nothing?] Gaz asked in shock.

[That’s the case…] She replied with a sad tone.

[… Doesn’t that kind of makes you useless?] Gaz said bluntly.

[Hey! That’s…] She started to reply in an angry tone, but before she could do any real explanation, rebuttal, she was interrupted.

[NOT NOW, MOVE IT!] Gaz shouted worried.

More out of instinct than real experience, the girl jumped away just as the massive robot crossed the spot where she found herself in. Shocked at its speed that she hadn’t experienced before. Before she even had the chance to react, the bull had already blasted through the wall besides her, passing through it like it was paper.

Looking shocked at the scene, she grimaced slightly while noticing how Gaz quickly moved around her, taking a position while keeping his attention towards one single direction. It took her a moment to understand what was happening, but as soon as she did, she turned towards the elf.

“It’s coming from that direction!” She told him. He widened his eyes while quickly taking out the rifle he kindly took from the guard in front of the last depot.

“How do you know?” He asked curious while keeping the gun pointed towards the place she indicated.

“Beepy. His sensors should be picking it up...” Just as she said that, Gaz made a barking sound.

Reacting to it, Sorius quickly opened fire just as the wall in front of them was brought down in a heavy impact. The first bullets quickly crossed the space between him and the robot, hitting it right in the huge body behind its head, but all they did was reflect off its body or penetrate only slightly the plating.

Thankfully, this was enough to stop its advance, because it diverted its head slightly, changing the trajectory to the side and missing group.

Hitting It’s head on the wall and dragging around it, the robot came to a stop after some time before finally turning back and once again charging the group. Since it didn’t try to hide itself within the rooms around them, Sorius managed to land a few more bullets on its body.

But not eve then did the robot stop, and just as it reached the group, it twisted its head to the side before bringing it upwards in a slanted manner, the horn drilling through the ground while it tried to stab it into their bodies. With Gaz jumping backwards just in time as he pushed Ruby away and Sorious managing to dodge it on his own.

Although the bull missed the group, it stopped right besides them, and as he looked around, he turned its back towards Gaz and started kick wildly legs while jumping around madly. The wall close by was brought down with ease by the wild kicks and one almost managed to find its way into Sorius’ arm and the horn scratched Gaz’s body, lifting him briefly in the air.

Seeing as the robotic wolf didn’t manage to escape completely, the bull immediately turned towards him before he could even fall back and charged, keeping its head low on the ground so that the horn would pierce the robot from downwards.

[Watch out!] Ekis shouted a warning.

[I CAN’T MOVE IN THE AIR!] Gaz said just as he landed on the ground.

Turning his attention towards the bull, Gaz didn’t have much time to move away before the horn made contact with his body. Feeling as the right horn pierced just below his front leg, he let out a mental shout of pain while his body was lifted by the bull while dragging him along the wall.

Luckily, he managed to push the other horn away from his neck using his free leg. Grimacing in pain as he felt the damage, he turned towards the robot as he tried to push himself out from the horn, using his claws and teeth in a feeble attempt to damage the bull, only to be stopped by the thick armor.

[Get out of there! Quickly!] Ruby shouted worried.

[I’M TRYING!] Gaz replied, but all his efforts seemed in vain, as the horn dug even a bit deeper into his body and his legs got damaged a bit further. [It’s not exactly easy to escape impaling, you know?]

[You don’t understand… You…] She grimaced as she saw steam escaping from the bull’s nostrils. [Not enough time…] Turning towards Sorius, she saw him grimacing while changing the magazine from the rifle, some bullet marks resting on the robot’s flank.

Seeing that she didn’t exactly have much choice, the young girl changed her mind from trying to councel him and quickly charged ahead. This didn’t exactly escape Brutus’s gaze, since he turned his back to her and raised his right hind-leg.

Frowning as she focused, Ruby quickly took in the position and the angle of the leg, as well as the slight tremble as the bull gathered the power within the legs to prepare to kick her. After making calculations on her mind based on what she knew of older models.

[Maximun power around… now.] She muttered, crouching just as the leg started to snap it back to the itself in a straight position.

She felt her heart freeze as the leg seemed to make a trajectory straight up towards her face. Something with so much power would easily kill her in one hit, however, as the leg completed it’s trajectory, it swerved upwards, missing her head by nothing more than two fingers of distance.

Even in her professor mode, she still felt as her legs wanted to give in at that moment, but she didn’t have time for that, so she quickly scrambled up to her feet and reached the wolf robot, who looked at her in confusion and shock.

Ignoring his gaze, the girl turned sideways and slammed her shoulders on the robot, the sudden impact making him wince in pain, but at the same time throwing him off from the horn for good.

But it didn’t come without price, as the bull shook his head at her and managed to bash her away a fair distance before she landed on the ground. Thankfully, his horns were turned upwards, so they missed the girl.

“What are you doing?” Sorius asked with some anger and confusion in his voice as he ran towards her while firing a short salvo aimed at the bull’s neck-joint.

Just as he made the question, steam escaped from the top of his body, and a loud rumbling sound echoed as the huge pile-drivers rocketed out from his back, passing just above his horns, where the wolf was earlier, but instead only meeting air.

The bull let out a loud grunt of anger from its inner parts before swaying angrily with the pile drivers still out, trying to land an attack at the group nearby. Luckily, the large pikes obstructed his view, so even though he managed to get close to the group, he mostly missed any attempt at an attack, only serving to break the walls even more.

[Are…. Are you fine…?] Ruby asked as she felt the pain cursing through her body.

[Somewhat…] Gaz replied while quickly putting himself up and moving around the robot. [Ekis managed to cut off the pain in time. What about you?]

[Nothing broken… Thankfully.] She replied in a pained tone. “The ceiling...” She murmured to the elf afterwards while pointing to the ceiling above the bull.

Sorius looked confused for a moment before finally understanding her words. Most of the walls around them had been completely destroyed, so there was little holding the ceiling in place. Even some cracks were starting to appear.

Aiming his rifle upwards, the elf didn’t take much longer before he started shooting up towards the cracked spaces in the ceiling, expanding the cracks even more until it actually broke and fell down upon the huge bull.

Falling down due to the extra weight, the bull soon was on his knees while hidden beneath the rubble. Gaz became a bit cheerful with that, but before he could even do it, Ruby said.

“Let’s fall back.” She said hurriedly, receiving confused glares from both Beepy and Sorius. “Beepy is damaged, your gun don’t do any real damage and we know nothing about him.” She said briefly.

“I could aim for the joints. It seemed to be working.” He said briefly with a frown.

“Not really. He could still move his head just fine after all that.” Ruby said with a grim face. “Besides, I think I saw a couple of bigger caliber weapons back there and we can get the help of…”

“ink… so…ing… ere…” She stopped when she heard a few voices coming from far away.

“And he have reinforcements.” She said briefly. This seemed to be enough for the elf, as he quickly helped her up and gave a quick look to Gaz, who was walking away with a slight limp. [How’s your leg?] She asked briefly.

[Hose is torn and the piston is dislodged with the support completely broken.] He replied briefly. [Electric motor still works, but can’t put any real strength behind it. That and the loose parts are a hindrance.]

[…We can deal with that quickly.] Ruby said after a brief thought. [But don’t think we can repair the piston without going back…]

Gaz grimaced but nodded briefly.

“Why the hell did I leave my rifle at home again…?” Sorius asked with a regretful voice. “And that’s a gears, so my esp is useless on it.”

“Not necessarily.” Ruby said while guiding them towards the place where she had seen Yllivia be dragged to earlier. “ If we manage to discharge enough energy, it would heat up the gear’s metal and make it softer. If it tried to use some kind of high pressure action, it would probably end up blowing.”

“… How much energy are we talking about here?” Sorius asked seriously.

“Too much.” Ruby shook her head, and this made the elf frown slightly.

Ignoring their problems, the group quickly turned a corner and found a room where there were some still intact rooms. Seeing that they had no idea where Lunn had taken Yllivia, the two organics looked worried, but Gaz quickly took the lead and walked towards one of the rooms, leaning on his hind-legs, he supported himself on the doorknob and opened it.

Inside was a huge room, filled to the brim with what looked like plastic bags with some red pills inside. While Ruby looked confused at the scene, Sorius frowned and put on a disgusted face.

“Red Crest…” He said in a low tone while looking at one of the bags. “Hallucinogenic drug that leaves no traces in the body after a couple of hours.” He explained to Ruby. “Saw this once or twice in our older city during jobs… Couldn’t you have chosen a better hide out?” He said angrily while turning to the other people on the room.

“Not like we had a choice, you know?” Lunn replied while using her Esp to take care of Yllivia’s wounds, the Lynnian looking a bit better than before. “There were guards coming and we needed a quick hideout.” She said angrily.

“Guards left to hunt you. So the room was free.” Yllivia said briefly while looking around. “At least, we found the source of their influence.” She stared at a nearby plastic bag before turning to the last person who was crouching on the room. “He confirmed it for us.”

Ruby’s and Sorius eyes were redirected to the third person, who was being held in place by Hugger, who was holding his arms and legs together tightly against his back. This made Sorius satisfied, as he nodded briefly.

As Ruby became confused about what was happening, Yllivia looked towards Gaz, only to see him with a gaping hole beneath his body where the horn had pierced him earlier. Ignoring Lunn’s warnings, she quickly put herself up and ran towards the small robot, kneeling besides him with a worried look.

“Beepy… Are you alright?” She asked him in a worried tone, but Gaz simply nodded. Luckily, his piston and hose managed to protect the inner and more important pieces of gear.

“Beep!” He replied cheerfully, easily ignoring the pain with a small help of Ekis, before turning towards the pills with a confused gaze.

“Hmm… Why are these pills proof that they are receiving help?” Ruby asked the question that was floating on her head. Lunn blinked surprised for some time before nodding understandingly.

“I forgot but you are new to this, right…?” She gave a wry smile before grabbing Yllivia by the hand and dragging her back so that she could continue treating her. “You see, deary, but these drugs are extremely rare, and we only know of a single group that can craft them.” She said with a sight towards Ruby.

“Scarlet Moon… One of the three biggest gangs within the whole country.” Sorius said with a frown. “They are so big that not even the police can touch them.” He said with some disgust in his voice. “From what I heard, they are actually affiliated to someone in the high ranks and received free pass to do whatever they want.”

“Heh? Then this is one of their bases?” Ruby asked in shock, but Yllivia shook her head.

“No, This is a normal gang that became an affiliate.” Yllivia said briefly. “They mistakenly got the alloy from scarlet during a robbery. Used it to gain favors. Word got out, though, and other gangs wanted to attack them, so decided to use the last tournament as a cover for the actual transaction. Everyone know that the alloy wasn’t in their hands anymore.”

“…Then, isn’t this bad?” Ruby asked, and Sorius nodded after a long sigh.

“Worst possible. After the biggest extremist merc faction, we might just have gotten one of the biggest drug lord in our tails.” The elf said with a depressed tone. “Just what did you get us into this time, you retard?” He said turning to Lunn.

“Hey, it’s not my fault we were completely out of money, you know?” She said angrily.

“… Still need to get out of here.” Yllivia said briefly. “After getting the alloy, though.” She said curtly.

Nodding heavily, The group took advantage of the short time they had before being found out to make a plan.