Hmmm!! Captain Oxford’s armor dematerialized from his face as he grunted in a deep tone, before vomiting out the blood overflowing in his throat. After emptying the blood, he cleaned his mouth with his hand as he finally felt the fatigue from the battle overwhelming him.
He was weak, but he forced himself to stand as he looked at the bloodstains all around the room. He was the Captain, if he was the first to drop from exhaustion, it would undoubtedly affect the morale of his soldiers.
The battle was still a stunner to them. They never expected to get involved in such a battle with a mechanical soldier, shortly after entering the passage of their choice.
He didn’t know when last he got involved in a battle where the odds were completely against him, like this one. They would have all died, if not for Clark’s timely use of his stealth armor. The high-grade stealth armor was the only reason they were still alive.
Despite them emerging as the winners of the battle, the strength of the mechanical soldier still sent chills down his spine.
“Can a country with high-grade military strength create such a fearsome mechanical soldier?” He started doubting the veracity of the information he got, for the first time.
If the extremely durable metal and other materials used in its production were exchanged for lower grade materials, the mechanical soldier would still be a formidable machine of war.
The knowledge required to create such war machines was not something that countries with high-grade military strength could just get their hands on.
If they could even produce such a mechanical soldier, that was not something that they would take from their country and place in the territory of the Seafarers alliance. That was just not normal.
If such mechanical soldiers were things that can be produced at will, then there was no need for high-grade soldiers. Machines would have been the main soldiers, fighting wars for countries.
Despite him not being an engineer, he knew enough to know that a regular engineer, bred by a country with high-grade military strength could not possibly create such a highly sophisticated machine.
The knowledge, hands-on experience, technique, and skill required to make such a mechanical soldier was simply not available to an engineer from a country with high-grade military strength.
Despite Sparta just being a country with middle-grade military strength, it was at the upper tier of the middle-grade countries. Even if they don’t have the technology, they knew enough about countries with high-grade military strength to guess what type of technology they possessed.
After observing the mechanical soldier some more, Captain Oxford finally diverted his attention to the bloodstain on the floor that looked different from the rest.
With some parts of it already evaporated, this pool of blood seemed lighter than the others. It was so, because of the extreme heat that it was subjected to. These were the only remains left behind by the first soldier, who died in this mission.
After observing it for a bit, he closed his eyes to hide the pained expression slowly creeping into his face. The room was silent, as the soldiers all looked at the blood remains of their fallen comrade with a solemn expression on their faces.
The Spartan soldiers felt it more, as the fallen soldier was a soldier of the Spartan republic. Captain Oxford felt bad, as this man was a soldier that he recruited into the sea expedition fleet.
He knew that deaths were inevitable in the soldier occupation. But he could not help but feel guilty when he recalled the smiling, happy, and vibrant face of the soldier when he was first recruited by him.
The soldier probably felt honored, to be recruited personally by a 3rd rank high-grade soldier back then. He didn’t know that this same Captain would lead him into a path of death.
The Spartan soldiers stood rigidly in place, as they followed the lead of their Captain to sing a military farewell song to their fallen comrade. They ended it by reciting the anthem of the Spartan republic before they saluted the remains of their dead comrade.
A Spartan soldier was allowed to die in the line of duty, but his death remains were not allowed to be disrespected. Respect for the fallen, was a very essential and important rule of the Spartan military.
After the military farewell procedures, a soldier advanced to take a small portion of the soldier’s blood to give to his family for the burial. After checking their weapons and equipment, the soldiers finally converged at the corner for a meeting they urgently needed.
The scope of the mission already exceeded the safety level they were prepared to encounter. They did not know how dangerous the deeper parts of the base were, but the first room they entered alone already resulted in the death of a soldier.
Such deaths were not acceptable to any military force, no matter how it happened. High-grade soldiers were highly valuable resources that could not be lost in such a manner, in any country’s army.
After converging together, Captain Oxford finally spoke up with a grave tone.
“First, I’m sorry for the death of our comrade. I never expected the original vault mission to devolve into something entirely different like this. I don’t know what is happening, but from our short encounter, I believe the leaked information is not accidental”.
“I don’t know what exactly the Nadan republic is after, but I believe that they released the information themselves on purpose. There’s a conspiracy likely being in play here”.
“After analyzing the situation from a different point of view, I concluded that they likely need a lot of high-grade soldiers to enable them to get to the goal they are going after. That’s probably why the information was leaked, and we fell for it”.
“I no longer believe that the purpose of this mission is just for the Arcanite metal. Such an outrageously strong mechanical soldier guard, cannot be created just to protect a vault housing Arcanite metal”.
“And this is just the first room we’ve entered after we choose our passage. I don’t know how more dangerous, the other rooms waiting for us are. I would have called the mission off immediately on normal circumstances”.
“But as you all can see; our way back has been blocked and locked by some kind of high-end encryption. Clark and some other slightly technical soldiers already tried, but they could not crack the encryption code”.
“The protective firewall of the door is now too advanced for us to crack. The only option of getting out of this military base now is to continue forging ahead. Going back is no longer an option for us”. He sighed with a resigned expression on his face when he said this.
“A lot of you suffered severe injuries from this first encounter. I’ll leave the choice of continuing with us to you. If you want to remain here in the first room and wait for rescue, I will respect your choice”.
“My new plan is for us to forge ahead, and get another way to escape from here. Any soldier that decides to remain behind; after finding a way of escape, we’ll come back for you”.
“Make your decisions now. After 2 hours of rest, I’m going forward with anyone that decides to follow ahead”. After saying this, he finally turned to address his allied Captain.
“Captain Jack, I hope you can persuade your soldiers to make a good decision. It will only become more dangerous if we are separated. If you originally had any ulterior motives, I suggest you abandon it now. Our fates are now tied; for our survival, don’t try anything foolish”.
After allowing a lot of side suggestions from Captain Jack and some of the 2nd rank high-grade soldiers. Captain Oxford finally called off the meeting, so that they could rest.
Clark went to the corner to rest; he cleared the area of all the metallic debris lying about, before lying down. He was already a veteran when it came to surviving in desperate situations. He had experienced worse circumstances than this.
Just like the other soldiers, he did not sleep immediately. They were still not in the know of the real circumstance of this military base. They faintly felt like prey, that was slowly being fattened to be devoured in one fell swoop by their predator.
From this one battle, there were already signs that they were given an impossible mission to accomplish. What was really in the depths of this military base, that would necessitate employing such machines of mass destruction as guards?
As they ruminated about these questions. Sleep finally came, as exhaustion overwhelmed their consciousness. Fighting such a fast-paced and tense battle was not beans.
…
2 hours later, all the soldiers promptly woke up. Their current situation did not leave them the luxury of sleeping peacefully for hours. They already had elaborate plans of what to do, so they didn’t waste time as they started preparation immediately.
No matter what situation they found themselves in, their core identities were still the soldier's identity. Despite the death of their comrade, none of them volunteered to stay behind, making the situation more stable for the allied group.
Despite the mechanical soldier being a nightmare to them, that was when it was still functioning. Now in its state of slumber, it was the greatest loot they got here as compensation for the effort they put into taking it down.
Though not all of its parts were made of Arcanite metal, there was more than enough to satisfy them from its giant frame. They started working immediately, as they began salvaging it for any valuable.
Their original mission was still looting, after all, so they were not wrong. After salvaging the parts of the mechanical soldier, they also salvaged the metal-filled room for any valuables.
From the mechanical soldier, they got a lot of valuables. Its internal systems and energy batteries alone were already looting which was worth a fortune. Its enormous sword would have been the biggest loot, but it was too big to be wielded comfortably by a soldier.
Despite it not being wieldable, they still took it. The amount of Arcanite deposits in it alone was enough to influence their decision.
Despite the mechanical soldier’s gun not functioning again, its high-grade and sophisticated systems alone prompted them to strip it to its barest form. It now looked like a naked gun. It served its purpose to the group of soldiers well.
They already came prepared with expandable bags to carry their loot. Despite the amount of loot, they got being enormous, their bags conveniently swallowed them all up, like it was a black hole.
After so many technological breakthroughs, the law of expansivity also witnessed a lot of breakthroughs to increase its usefulness. The saying that scientists were one of the drivers of this era, was not completely wrong. Their importance was easily as worth as that of soldiers.
After all these works, they finally got prepared to continue their advance in this mysterious military base filled with conspiracies.
After checking their guns and equipment, under the lead of Captain Oxford, they entered a battle formation before proceeding further into the long corridor, through the door.
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