[Ties] Bootcamp 11

"BANG!"

A fusil roared in a corridor. A lone soldier was running here, and this soldier wore a Phoenix insignia. It was Gregory. Gregory fired and reloaded his fusil as he ran around the arena's passages.

"Just our luck to have Fire Ants breach the catacombs." he muttered under his breath, "Hope the kids are all right. So much for going at a roundabout manner."

Just then, a fire ant came from a corner. Gregory and the fire ant were just a few meters away, enough for both to reach either with their weapons. Gregory finished loading his fusil, while the ant turned on its backside to spew flames.

"That ass of theirs really shows its full potential in a cramped place like this." he commented, "However, it just makes the wind very still and my shots will be more accurate!"

He took aim for the fire ant's abdomen, right at the place where the flames would shoot out from. Not wasting any time, Gregory pulled the trigger and a large metallic ball shot out of his fusil. In just a split second, the ball lodged into the fire ant's orifice, preventing it from shooting flames. Instead, though, the sudden blockage built up pressure on its abdomen that it visibly buldged from the lack of an exit.

With no way for whatever was used to shoot flames, the fire ant's abdomen blew up, and the fire ant died immediately after. Insectile body parts and fluids painted the hallway, and nearly covered Gregory.

"Eww, never thought that would work." he said, "At least I know, now, that their holes are weakspots. Now then, where to go?"

"Beep! Beep!"

As he thought about his next destination, a beeping noise came from underneath his uniform. Reaching inside, he pulled out a boxy device similar to the radio he showed to Malachi years before. Pressing a switch on a side,

"Kssh, Greg, you hear me? Kssh." said Emmanuel, "Kssh, I've received reports of a group of children running around the west block. I suspect it's Malachi and the rest. Kssh."

"Gotcha, I'll head on over." replied Gregory, "Let's see, the west block is over here."

After receiving information from Emmanuel, he went through another corridor. Gregory ran for a while with nothing to hinder him. Passing by a few windows, however, showed the events in the field.

"We might have an infestation..." he commented, "Damn! This arena is hard to maintain as it is."

In the field, multitudes of gaping holes on the ground could be seen. From them, hordes upon hordes of fire ants poured out into the open and reinforced the fallen fire ants. From the sight of the soldiers, they had become hard-pressed just focusing on survival.

Gregory pulled out his radio, and twisted a knob. Pressing on the switch, he roared an order.

"This is Royal Phoenix Grigorio Perez!" he said, "All troops at the Royal Garrison are to deploy and engage the Fire Ant army here at the arena! Situation critical and expect heavy resistance! All Royal Engineers are to dispatch all available Steam Knights and Siege Engines to provide heavy assault and cover for the infantry! Move!"

As he gave his order, all radios in the area resounded with his voice, and all soldiers affirmed the order. Over the distance, a muffled blaring of sirens could be heard and the gates of the arena opening its doors was audible.

"This should buy us some time." he muttered under his breath, "Hope the kids are all right."

He turned and left, running through an empty corridor, hoping to reach Malachi and the rest.

///

Meanwhile,

"Where do we go now!?" cried Axel, "Fire Ants are crawling all over the place!"

"Just keep running, anywhere untouched is better than being found." replied Malachi, "Arlianne, anything behind us?"

"No, it doesn't seem like anything followed." she replied, "I hope Chief Axton is well."

Malachi and the other two were in another corridor. A pathway somewhere in the arena. Before, they had just been pushed away by Arena Chief Axton who had engaged a group of fire ants with their previous escort.

"Hey, wait a minute..." paused Axel, "This is the armory. Hey, let's grab our own weapons for self-defense."

Malachi looked at a nearby door. They were, in fact, before a large sign that had the word "ARMORY" bolted to the wall beside them. Malachi looked at Axel and Arlianne.

"You've seen the carapace of those things, right?" he asked them, "Except for a few lucky shots, we need a Steam Knight rather than a fusil or a hand cannon. If we really want to punch through their defenses, we need to get up close and personal."

"Yeah, but you can't expect us to survive without a chance, right!?" cried back Axel, "Anything is better than being unarmed!"

Malachi went into deep thought.

'If I just had the chance to make armor-piercing rifles, we would have much of a problem at the moment.' he thought, 'At best, we'd just fling bombs at the ants, but I wouldn't want to cause a collapse in a tight place like this. Dammit, what to do...?'

While Malachi was thinking about what to do,

"Sshk, sshk."

"Fire Ant!" cried Arlianne, "A Fire Ant is in front of us!"

Opposite of where they came from, a fire ant turned from a corner and began charging at them.

"Dammit! Inside, now!" bellowed Malachi.

Malachi pushed Axel and Arlianne into the armory, struggled to close the large doors, and bolted the doors shut.

"CLANG! CLANG!"

Fortunately, the armory doors were made from pure metal, and the fire ant futilely tried to bash it open. Malachi pushed the other two deeper into the room while knocking down a nearby shelf before the doors. Malachi looked around and inspected the armory.

"Well, we're here." he said, "Now what?"

The armory was huge. With just the three of them, three adolescents, the armory could fit another two siege engines before getting cramped. Rows, columns, and shelves of fusils, hand cannons, grenades, crossbows, and blast hammers lined up before them. There were also stacks of crates and piles of metal sheets scattered around, and sacks of ammunition were neatly placed in one corner next to a shelf of crossbow bolts. Parked at the back were empty Steam Knight suits.

"I suggest we arm ourselves." said Axel, "Who knows how long those doors will hold, or how else they might enter here."

Axel stomped on the floor a few times to check on the material.

"Pang! Pang!"

"At least we know they can't go through metal that easily." he said, "Do we just sit here?"

"We still need to get out to contact the others." said Arlianne, "Our parents are likely worried right now."

Hearing her, Axel paled.

"Damn! Lakeng! Are you there!?" he bellowed.

A young man in military attire appeared behind a shelf.

"You called~?" he said.

Axel let out a sigh of relief.

"Why didn't you speak out earlier!?" cried Axel, "I totally forgot about you."

Lakeng shrugged.

"I figured Malachi here would be able to protect you." replied Lakeng, "Well, since I'm out here in the open..."

Lakeng stood up straight and saluted both Malachi and Arlianne.

"Greetings, Royal Falcon Lakeng Baraco at your service." said Lakeng, "I'm Axel's bodyguard."

Malachi raised a brow and Arlianne was speechless.

"You have an officer for a bodyguard?" commented Malachi, "Now, I'm curious about your clout in the kingdom. Judging from how you move, you're lightly armed. Either with a hand cannon or some other small weapon."

"Sharp kid." said Lakeng, "I'm only armed with a pneumatic fusil to protect Axel. It can't do anything against Fire Ants, though."

"A pneumatic weapon?" inquired Malachi, "Do you mind if I take a look?"

Lakeng was hesitant for a while.

"What will you do, exactly?" he asked.

"I will touch it, inspect it, test it, and taste it." answered Malachi, "Just kidding, I will just see if we can use it to get out of here."

Lakeng skeptically looked at Malachi.

"I have a lot of ideas now that we're in an armory." added Malachi, "Just trust me on this one, okay?"

Axel watched the two. He looked at Lakeng, and Lakeng met his gaze. Axel nodded and gestured to give the pneumatic fusil.

"Well, here." said Lakeng, "Don't wreck it."

Malachi received the fusil.

"Thanks." he said, "Is it too late to say that I may have to wreck it, though?"

Lakeng immediately reached to grab his fusil back, but Malachi just hugged it closer to him.

"Chill! If ever, I'll make you a new one!" yelled Malachi, "Just give me a workshop and I'll make it even better than what you have right now."

Lakeng frowned.

"Really? You can make it better?" he asked doubtfully, "How can a kid like you make a better weapon?"

Malachi bent forward and placed a finger on his lips, gesturing a "silence" sign.

"That is a trade secret." he replied with a light playful smile, "Just trust me on this one."

Lakeng still looked at Malachi skeptically.

"... Fine." he finally said, "I'll hunt you down if ever you go back on your word."

With consent, Malachi tinkered with the pneumatic fusil in his hands. Its size was one size smaller than ordinary fusils that used pyrocite. While it was smaller, though, the ammunition used was the same but was propelled by high air pressure that was fed from a detachable tank beneath the body. Unlike pyrocite fusils that were muzzle-loaded, the pneumatic fusil had a canister that loaded the ammunition from the side.

Inspecting the body, Malachi found a sweet spot and disassembled the entire fusil right in front of the others.

"Hey!" shouted Lakeng, "You wrecked it!"

"No, man. I just disassembled it." consoled Malachi, "I can easily reassemble this."

Like he said, Malachi only took twenty seconds to reassemble the pneumatic fusil to working condition. He even fired a shot to prove his point. With proof before his eyes, Lakeng hesitantly withdrew next to Axel and left Malachi to tinker around with his fusil.

Disassembling the pneumatic fusil once more, Malachi inspected the inner workings of the gun. The gas tank was attached to a pump that feeds the air into another small chamber connected to the trigger. When the trigger was pulled, high air pressure was released, launching the ammunition.

'A BB gun!' he thought cheerfully, 'Only it's an ouchy BB gun!'

Smiling at the pneumatic fusil, Lakeng raised a brow.

'The heck is this kid?' he thought, 'That is one creepy smile.'

Since the fusil used air pressure, it didn't have the danger of its body spontaneously combusting. However, if the pressure kept building, the gun would rupture making it useless.

'Maximum pressure of the reservoir tank is at... 40 megapascals!?' he mentally screamed, 'That's huge! And the firing chamber...?'

Malachi removed all ammunition from the pneumatic fusil, and placed his palm on the muzzle. Letting the pump put air in the firing chamber, as much as it could, he pulled the trigger to get a feel of the pressure released.

"Pak!"

"Ouch!" cried Malachi, "Damn, that hurts."

"The hell are you doing!?" yelled Lakeng, "That gun can puncture skulls, much less your hand!"

"I just wanted to feel the pressure." replied Malachi as he massaged his palm, 'Damn, didn't expect it to be that strong. Felt it around... 40 kilopascals?'

"Well, what can you do with it in this situation?" inquired Lakeng.

Malachi reassembled the pneumatic fusil and went to a nearby stash of ammunition.

"I need some time, but I can modify this to punch through Fire Ant carapace."

///

"Get squads 8 through 14 down the catacombs!" roared Emmanuel, "Get rid of any Fire Ant you see!"

"Sir!" replied a group of officers.

"Any report from the first platoon?" inquired Emmanuel.

"Squads 1 through 7 have reported no anomalies and have completed getting the civilians to safety." replied another officer, "However, none have reported seeing a group of three children in their AO."

"All right, reassign them from escort to search and rescue." ordered Emmanuel, "Elijah, any report from your Intelligence Division?"

While Emmanuel handled the ordinary infantry, Elijah was busy operating a radio array.

"I heard reports about the remainder of Chief Axton's unit." replied Elijah, "His escorts said something about the Arena Chief bring a group of children with him in the west block."

"Do you think...?" said Emmanuel without finishing his sentence.

"Highly probable." affirmed Elijah, "They are, after all, patrons of the arena."

"Got it." said Emmanuel as he pulled out his radio, "Beep, Greg, you hear me? Beep. Beep, I've received reports of a group of children running around the west block. I suspect it's Malachi and the rest. Beep."

"Kssh. Gotcha, I'll head on over. Kssh." replied Gregory.

As for Elijah,

"... Got it? Work with Lord Grigorio if you meet. Beep." he said over his radio, "Beep. Do not let even a hair be harmed. Also look for Lakeng, he should be with them. Beep."

"Kssh. Yes, milord. Kssh." replied a man.

Elijah paused for a while.

"Beep. Also, we'll send some reinforcements on your way. Beep." added Elijah, "Use them as you see fit."

Emmanuel pulled over an officer.

"Get squads 1 through 4 to the west block." he ordered, "Have them work with the Royal Phoenixes if they rendezvous."

"Yes sir!" replied the officer.

Suddenly, all of their radios lit up.

"This is Royal Phoenix Grigorio Perez!" said Gregory over the radio, "All troops at the Royal Garrison are to deploy and engage the Fire Ant army here at the arena! Situation critical and expect heavy resistance! All Royal Engineers are to dispatch all available Steam Knights and Siege Engines to provide heavy assault and cover for the infantry! Move!"

The two brothers looked at one another, and both ran outside. Passing through a doorway, they emerged at a terrace overlooking the entire arena and the battlefield below. Having seen what Gregory had previously seen,

"It's an infestation!" cried Emmanuel, "Connect me to the Royal Garrison, now!"

///

"Aim for their eyes!" roared Malachi, "Anything not covered by their carapace is a sweet spot!"

Malachi finished modifying Lakeng's pneumatic fusil. Its changes on its body were greatly visible. The automatic pump was switched out with a manual pump, and the reservoir was directly connected to the firing chamber. The reservoir was also reinforced, increasing its maximum pressure, and the loading mechanism was changed to a makeshift spring loader allowing a greater amount of ammunition to be loaded.

Having much of its parts changed or removed, the pneumatic fusil was lighter than before, and allowed Lakeng to take aim quicker than expected.

"I never thought you'd modify it to this extent." commented Lakeng, "With all the available equipment, you managed to turn this into a much more lethal weapon! The new ammo is also phenomenal!"

Indeed, rather than ordinary ball ammunition, the bullets loaded into the pneumatic fusil had a conical shape and a flat butt. Aside from the weapons in the armory, a small workshop was present, used to fix broken equipment or replace broken armor. Malachi used everything present to create, or carve, armor piercing ammunition. However, since it wasn't used for a rifled gun, Lakeng had to go closer to the target to ensure a hit. Nevertheless, the increased air pressure meant that it had enough force to push the bullet out the muzzle, and let it fly straight to its target while maintaining enough force to puncture soft targets.

"Pak!"

"Pschwit!"

The round fired off by Lakeng accurately landed on a fire ant's eye, lodging deep inside. Having been blinded in one eye, the fire ant flailed around in rage, attempting to strike Lakeng. Only,

"Now!" ordered Malachi.

Arlianne and Axel each held a crossbow. Their crossbows were the same ones that were mass produced. However, the only difference was with its ammo—the crossbow bolts had bolt heads that weren't pointed. Instead, once the bolts landed on the fire ant, the bolts detonated into small explosions. The small explosions cracked its carapace, and revealed a soft and flesh-like interior.

"There!" roared Malachi as he pulled out his own crossbow with a larger than usual bolt head.

Firing his crossbow, one would expect a small explosion. Nay, his bolt went deep into the fire ant's body, instead. Except, once a few moments had passed, the fire ant's body shook and exploded into hundreds of gory pieces.

"Booyeah!" cheered Malachi, "Feast your eyes on that!"

"Why can't we just use the explosive bolts?" asked Lakeng, "Less danger for me, to be honest."

"Well, we need to stop them from charging us." answered Malachi, "We also need to blind one side of its vision so we could safely flank it. However, this tactic is only effective for lone ants, we will have to change a few things if we get mobbed. Which is why we had to arm ourselves since we chose to go through with guns blazing."

Hanging on Lakeng's back was a repeater, while the others had hand cannons, ammunition, and some grenades. Malachi had a crossbow, a hand cannon, a pack of makeshift ammunition, and a single grenade. Axel also had what Malachi carried, except for the hand cannon, and had more grenades at five pieces. Arlianne was the only one to carry a pure crossbow loadout.

"The bolts should be safe to handle." said Malachi, "... as long as the tips don't receive too much impact."

Axel was curiously looking at the explosive bolts Malachi made. Hearing Malachi's comment, he immediately stopped touching the bolt head.

"Where do we go now, Malachi?" asked Arlianne, "We should head towards the others, soldiers especially."

"Yeah." agreed Axel, "Since we got to the armory, we should be in the west block. The exits are on the north and south blocks, but the south entrance is currently flooded by Fire Ants. That only leaves the north entrance."

"Then, we'll head north." said Malachi, "Watch your surroundings for enemy ambush."