They marched in silence, the Chosen warriors following the three Bee Strathon soldiers, moving down through tunnels previously used to attack the temple.

“Are you sure this is the right path?” The lead soldier asked Paska, who nodded vigorously.

The soldier frowned as his squadmate talked to him in a private channel, preventing the Chosen from eavesdropping.

[Bronco, it seems like it’s a dead end ahead. Multiple tunnels have been collapsed in.]

“Looks like a potential ambush then.” The lead soldier, Bronco had no reaction. It wasn’t the soldiers’ first rodeo in underground combat.

Collapsed tunnels that seem to funnel into a singular area were a prime area for an ambush. The Bee Strathon came prepared for such events, however. They had come into conflict with other mining groups before who also attempted similar methods.

As they reached the first dead-end, it was extremely obvious it was a man-made collapse, with footsteps leading off to another path on the right. “Don’t follow those footsteps. It’s a trap.” The soldiers warned the Chosen, before deploying a circular detonation charge on the dead-end wall and ordering everyone to step back.

Instead of a majestic detonation, an ultrasonic vibration ran shockwaves through the collapsed rubble, causing it to fall apart in a single instance. The Chosen was amazed at the technology, having lived underground their entire lives in cave-like environments, so seeing the strength of the soldiers brought about awe as well as suspicion.

Many of them harboured suspicion about how Paska was related to them. They had originally thought that Paska had been truly blessed and chosen by a relic of the slovesa, but seeds of doubt had now sprouted in their minds.

As they continued trekking, the soldiers began to feel a sudden sense of dread out of nowhere, though it was a small feeling. At first, it did not really impact them, but as they moved on, it felt more and more disturbing, like a continuous tension that tightened around their neck slowly.

Each of the soldiers didn’t tell each other how they were feeling, instead trying to crack jokes over their own private communication channel to stave off the feeling. None of the soldiers wanted to show their weakness.

The Chosen fared even worse. It felt like they were marching to their doom, yet all of them could clearly recall how honoured they were originally to be able to claim back the temple.

Despite everyone in the formation feeling it at varying levels, none of them uttered a word about it.

Paska’s hand began to shake uncontrollably as he used his other hand to clasp it down. “Am I that afraid of that monster? How can this be!?”

What they didn’t know is that Ceres had spent the last week deploying emotional mines all over the tunnels, and right now he had a full view of them though only through the reactions of the black goo. He had a continuous tube of nutri-paste right next to him, with Halyon still strapped to a chair next to him as well.

“Why the hell am I still strapped here when there are enemies coming? We’re right smack in front of the temple!” Halyon raged as he struggled against the restraints.

Mercer slapped him on the back of the head, before mumbling a soft ‘sorry’, which only angered Halyon even more. The rest of the fighters gathered around Ceres in close proximity, though they did not know for what purpose.

Ceres needed all of them nearby to fuel his battle plan, which involved invoking fear and dread into the enemies. Due to the range, he needed to be stationed near the temple to reduce the cost of the energy, and to refill him, he gathered the fighters around him, while inducing angry emotions in Halyon to further boost him.

Ceres didn’t bother replying to Halyon, continuously focusing all his energy and strength as he strained the range to the limit. Only Halyon and Mercer fully understood what he was doing, while the rest of the fighters were left in the dark, including the town chief.

“They are here, approximately close to fifty of them. I don’t know how many of them there are Bee Strathon soldiers, maybe all of them or none at all. I can’t tell the difference.”

Ceres told the town chief as he pointed to a map, while his body was starting to feel the strain. He was controlling a low level of invoking emotion, but it was taking a heavy toll on him.

The town chief smiled. He did not care how Ceres was getting the information, already knowing Ceres was far from a baseline human.

The information on where the enemy was is already a huge advantage. The town chief began to order a few fighters to set up traps and pitfalls all over the exits that they were going to use.

“What about the dead ends?” The town chief asked.

Ceres shook his head, indicating that they had already bypassed a few. The map marked out their projected route, and it seemed like the enemies were headed straight for the temple.

The town chief nodded his head, expecting such a development. In fact, the town had been preparing for a worst-case scenario in which Bee Strathon drilled straight down into the temple. They had been prepared to go all out in a massive brawl, to buy time for the messenger to return.

Under the surveillance of Ceres, the enemies’ movement was tracked as clear as day, all the while feeling dread that was ever so slightly increasing in strength. Even the soldiers stopped joking amongst themselves, continuously suspicious of their surroundings.

[Uh guys, I can’t hold it in any longer…]

[Don’t you dare say it!]

[I got a bad feeling about this…]

[FUCK YOU JINXED US!]

The senses of the soldiers were all heightened. Why wasn’t the feeling of dread going away despite having walked for more than an hour? What was up with this damned place?

Bronco couldn’t stop worrying about everything, but he did not tell anyone and kept it to himself. If he showed fear in front of his subordinates and the Chosen, he would be the laughing stock for years to come.

“It’s only ten more minutes to the temple. Get ready.” Bronco ordered.

[Bronco, multiple humans detected ahead. Seems like they are waiting for us.]

“What? How are they able to detect us?” Bronco was shocked.

Did the enemies somehow have better technology than them? He racked his head through all of the confrontations with the Queen’s Guards over the years but had never seen such an outcome before.

Bee Strathon continuously had one of the best technological advantages in this area, so how could they be detected first?

“Doesn’t matter, shoot on sight. Orders from Ulson is to leave none of them alive. We’ll take the temple then take the town. Kill everything, else we will lose the first claim.”

As they finally walked out into the large cavern, the soldiers finally saw the large temple door looming at the other end, surprising them at the scale of it. They had seen a fair amount of slovesa cities in their time, but the temple proved to be far beyond what they expected.

“Looks like Ulson is going to be a very happy man.” Bronco commented as he had not seen the recordings from Paska’s point of view.

At the front of the temple was an encampment, barricaded in with what looked like blue metal walls. A few dozen soldiers could be seen standing at the top of the wall, looking directly at them.

Outside the wall, a single man stood with both hands on a tower shield made of blue metal, resting the shield on the ground with a slung rifle behind his hand. Wearing combat armour layered with the same blue metal, it was the town chief.

Bronco motioned to Paska, who began to get the Chosen to fan out of the tunnel, creating a front.

He sneered as he saw the soldiers at the top of the wall, wearing similar makeshift plated armour. “I feel like I’m in an Ancient Earth holo-drama. What, are they going to shoot arrows at us?”

The moment the formation was completed, the three soldiers hefted their rifles into a firing stance before shooting directly at the town chief with no hesitation.

The soldiers expected their rifles to immediately kill him, but instead, the lasers had a diminished effect on the combat armour, deflecting off the cobalt blue metal plates. The town chief wasn’t fast enough to dodge the lasers at the start, but he immediately hefted his tower shield in his left hand, blocking himself while his right hand held a rifle and fired blindly in the direction of the soldiers.

He began moving back slowly to the wall as a hail of fire landed on his tower shield. “Ah, just like the good old times. How far have I fallen…”

The three Bee Strathon soldiers immediately charged along with the Chosen, spreading out over the battlefield., expecting zero resistance or at least resistance in the form of arrows and spears.

“WAIT! HOLD!” Bronco suddenly paused the charge, quickly flicking an ultrasonic detonation charge on the ground in front. A series of explosive traps courtesy of Ceres suddenly burst out in flames, triggered by the vibration.

“They have traps, watch yourself. Fire!”

The soldiers and the Chosen began shooting at range, advancing carefully. The Bee Strathon soldiers were the only ones experienced enough to notice the hastily concealed traps. They were ex-military after all. “Keep pounding them, they only got sticks and stones!”

However, suddenly one of the soldiers was nicked in the shoulder by an energy beam, sending him spiralling uncontrollably onto the ground.

“What?!” Bronco suddenly noticed that the enemy soldiers on the wall all had energy rifles. “Shit!”

The two soldiers quickly deployed their own personal energy shield, which flickered under the continuous barrage of energy beams. The Chosen were less fortunate, having to suffer a few burns and injuries while they hastily found cover in the rocky terrain.

Bronco ran over to the fallen third soldier, immediately deploying a metal barricade that deflect the incoming shots and provided cover. “Hey, are you ok?”

“Urgh... yea I’m fine.” The third soldier checked the damage on his shoulder, which seemed to be superficial.

“This was not what I expected – the enemy has equal firepower and potentially an even stronger defence than us!” Bronco complained, before taking out a grenade and sticking it into his rifle-mounted grenade launcher.

“Sir, are you serious? That could blow up the entire camp. What if there are slovesa artefacts in there?”

Bronco began to aim, but a sudden eruption of joy caused him to experience an involuntary body shiver and falter, misfiring towards the wall instead of over it.

The grenade exploded with a loud bang, causing the walls to tremble as those on top fell down. However, the cobalt blue wall did not fall - in fact, it looked like it did not take any damage at all!

Bronco was now in complete confusion. He had practised that angle for years, how did he suddenly feel joy at what he was doing? He always held an image of himself in his mind as a stone-cold killer.

In the encampment on a part of the wall, Ceres smiled as he continuously monitored the battlefield. His job was to assist the soldiers, and he did it by continuously fluctuating random emotions among the enemies in various areas, causing them to stutter or lower their combat potential.

It was especially effective against the Chosen, who already was suffering from severe doubt and confusion regarding the Bee Strathon soldiers and Paska’s relationship with them. Not all the Chosen had energy rifles as well, having to resort to crudely made axes and blunt weapons.

The town chief, Captain Kai and a group of young soldiers charged into the battlefield, engaging in a melee brawl with the Chosen. Each of them had the same loadout, albeit with a spear. They formed a simple phalanx, blocking incoming energy shots while fearlessly charging forward.

The older adults and elderly propped their energy rifles on the top of the wall, shooting wildly into the horde of Chosen and the Bee Strathon soldiers.

Ceres became like a battlefield orchestrator, the emotional mines planted deep into the ground all over allowing him to pinpoint targets and influence smaller fights. It seemed like an overwhelming advantage for the town fighters, and the Chosen became even more and more confused and clueless about why they were losing despite the number’s advantage.

Paska was planning to let the Chosen and the three Bee Strathon soldiers take the brunt of the damage, saving himself to fight Ceres, but in the end, he had no choice but to move forward to contest the town chief, who was continuously pushing them back and causing casualties.

The town chief was no stranger to combat, having fought in the ‘good old days’ as a mercenary warrior. With his brand-new prosthetics, he was more agile than before, easily fending off more than ten of the Chosen at the same time.

Paska activated his staff, which immediately broke into three parts and dashed towards the tight formation of the town chief’s squad. The staff parts flew in from above, hitting them from within and forcing the formation to scatter.

Pulling out his machete, Paska then walked with purpose towards the town chief, readying himself.

“So you’re the leader of the Chosen. You’re lucky you did not meet me during the first temple fight!” The town chief had always wanted to kill Paska for killing more than half of the expedition. He eagerly rushed forward with his spear and tower shield in hand.

As the two approached, countless fights were going on around them in complete chaos.

The town chief began with a shield thrust, trying to counter Paska’s charge. Instead, Paska’s body twirled gracefully, his shaman robes fluttering as he spun and slashed at the side of the town chief. However, the machete failed to hit the town chief, as he nimbly dodged it.

The two became stuck in a melee, while the battlefield enter a stalemate thanks to Paska breaking up the tight formation of the town. Due to the numerical superiority, each young fighter was being besieged by three Chosen warriors.

The ranged defenders on the wall could also not help as much, with the battle scene becoming too hectic. The chance of friendly fire was too high.

Mercer was currently fighting for his life, defending against six Chosen warriors as one of his comrades was knocked down on the ground. Just as he lunged forward to counterattack, his sides were exposed, and a Chosen warrior found an opportunity to attack.

However, the Chosen warrior suddenly froze in place as though he was terrified, while Mercer quickly use his shield to knock him down before stabbing him with a spear.

Just like that, Ceres controlled the battlefield, making it nigh impossible for any of the Chosen to win a fight.

Also, every time the three soldiers tried to make a charge towards the walls, Ceres would invoke his full strength of fear on them, causing them to retreat. He could not allow the Bee Strathon soldiers to reach the walls, or else they would be massacred from within.

Ceres also ordered the ranged defenders to focus on the Bee Strathon soldiers, seeing as they could not shoot into the melee brawl.

As such, the three Bee Strathon soldiers were stuck in an endless firefight, with energy beams continuously eroding their deployed metal barricade and scorching its surface.

“Why do we keep retreating? What’s so scary about them?!” Bronco was furious, wondering whether the temple had a sort of anomaly that the defenders were abusing.

“Sir, at this rate, the Chosen is going to get wiped out. We need to do something fast.”

“We don’t have a choice now. Use the X-12 stimulant!”

The three soldiers activated a function on the exosuits, which injected a serum into their necks. It was a numbing agent, designed for soldiers to ignore nerves, the pain and other effects. If Ceres saw the stimulant, he might have recognized it as the stimulant designed by Professor Dekil in the news.

They had no idea if it would work against the effect of the temple, but they were going to try regardless.

They began to charge past their metal barricade, firing back at the defenders on the wall. Ceres was taken aback by their sudden increase in accuracy as they knocked out three defenders on the wall, quickly trying to invoke fear in them. However, it did not seem to slow them down.

“What the? Halyon, come with me to stop them!”

Ceres quickly hop into his heavy knight exosuit that was next to him, charging over to where the three soldiers had scaled the wall.

He could not afford to reveal his black armour skill to the enemy, lest they retreat and expose his location.

“Sir, enemy exosuit!” The soldiers were shocked to see an exosuit underground. None of the tribal humans they had ever fought before had such a piece of equipment, so they immediately assumed it must be a mercenary.

“Is it Queen’s Guards? If not, take him down!”

Bronco began to load his grenade launcher, planning to burn down the entire encampment, but Ceres’s superhuman speed caught the two soldiers off-guard, allowing him to run around them and tackle Bronco directly with a shoulder tackle off the wall. The two of them plummeted to the ground, rolling and tumbling in a grapple.

Before the two soldiers could help, a few energy beams nearly blasted through their personal shield from behind. It was Halyon in his new exosuit, though the emblems of the Keeper and enforcers have long been removed.

“What the… which group are you guys from! Don’t you know what it means to go against Bee Strathon!” Bronco roared as he grappled with Ceres.

His rifle had already fallen out of his grasp during the tackle, so he activated a sharp standard knife that slid out from his wrist, using it to try and stab in the gaps of Ceres’s exosuit.

As they continuously wrestled, Bronco finally found purchase in one of the gaps on Ceres’s waist, stabbing the knife deep.

However, instead of the expected scream and sound of flesh being torn, a loud thud was heard, with his sharp knife becoming blunt.

A look of shock appeared on Bronco’s face. What mercenary group was this?

 

 

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