23 – Lone Digger

  The construct was in the center of the clearing, partially embedded in the ground. It resembled something between a scarab beetle and a ball of dung rolled up by it. With the caveat that it was a gigantic beetle-ball, twice the height of a human. Apparently, the task ahead was no easy one. Elanil sighed and glanced around. Gaspard and Nura nodded silently, indicating their readiness.

  She put away the tracking artifact: there was no longer any need for it. After they had completed all their business in Hamselton and left the town, it activated and led them steadily northwest.

  Elanil raised her bow and positioned herself on a slight elevation to the left. Nura moved to the right flank, axes in hand. Gaspard advanced straight ahead, keeping low. As they approached close enough, the construct’s carapace plates shifted activating from an idle state.

  Quest: Constructicide in the Valley (regional)

  Sub-quest: Lone Digger

  Status: Acquired

  Description: Deactivate the Digger.

  Additional Information:

  Medium-size tunnel Digger

  Type: Construct

  Threat Level: Moderate

  Notable Traits: Reinforced armor, Ball configuration, Shredder configuration, Health Regeneration, [Trash Volley]

  Reward:

  – XP (Conditional)

  – Loot (Conditional)

  The Digger reoriented toward the party and unfolded. Now it looked like a huge woodlouse with its back completely covered in layers of armored scales. Its forelimbs locked forward, shovels extended.

  “To be honest, I liked it better in a poop ball form,” Gaspard giggled.

  The Digger bolted. Their expectations were met—Gaspard caught its attention. Now they had to test the waters: study its attack patterns and keep their abilities as their ace in the hole. But to their surprise, the construct didn’t attack Gaspard first—it charged straight at Elanil. She rolled aside twice, evading the construct’s attack which adjusted in mid-movement. “Another smart bastard,” she thought. “Might be a tough fight.”

  While the Digger was distracted chasing Elanil, Nura threw one axe at its exposed flank. The spinning blade struck the side plating and bounced off. As the construct turned toward her, Nura closed the distance and cut the rear leg assembly with her second axe. The strike scraped metal and failed to penetrate. She disengaged immediately as the Digger spun nimbly, its razor-like shovels ready to counterattack. Nura dodged and regained her footing.

  Gaspard used the opening to advance. He threw a knife at the eye cluster beneath the head plate. For a moment, the blade seemed to pierce through but then fell free as the construct shook. The Digger pivoted and slashed forward. Gaspard ducked under the first shovel and sidestepped the second, then struck with both daggers at close range. The blows only clanged against the carapace, and he quickly withdrew before the follow-up swing.

  The construct halted and shifted tactics. Its plates retracted inward. The Digger curled into a sphere and dropped its weight forward. It switched into the Ball configuration. Accelerating across the clearing, it rushed toward Elanil. She rolled to the side, avoiding the trajectory of this enormous bowling ball that tried to squash everything in its path into jelly. The ball struck the rock and deflected, carving a shallow groove in the ground. Completing a wide arc, it moved back again toward Elanil’s last position. She retreated downslope and maintained distance. As the construct moved uphill, its speed dropped briefly. Nura seized the moment and hurled one of her axes at the rolling mass. The axe struck and ricocheted, nearly hitting her.

  “Don’t waste your strength!” Gaspard yelled. “It’s literary a rolling fortress!”

  The Digger uncurled and returned to the Shredder mode near the center of the clearing. Its forelimbs stabbed outward in a wide sweep. Gaspard and Nura split in opposite directions. One shovel struck the ground between them, getting stuck briefly. Gaspard threw a knife at the exposed joint while it was lodged. The blade failed to penetrate but distracted the construct, and the Digger advanced on him. Gaspard retreated step by step, forcing the construct to commit to linear thrusts.

  Nura circled behind it. On Elanil’s hand signal, she rushed in and struck repeatedly at the rear assembly with both axes, targeting fasteners and seams. Metal fractured partially; one rear plate loosened. The Digger reacted instantly, spinning and slashing. Nura disengaged with a backward leap as the shovel blades passed where she had stood.

  The Digger stabilized after the missed strike and shifted its forelimbs downward. Both shovels sank into the ground with a gesture of a pianist unleashing Rachmaninoff prelude’s first chords. Like scoops, they drove into the ground franticly. Rocks, compacted soil, and fragments of broken plating were pulled inward. The material disappeared into vents along the construct’s belly. Internal mechanisms engaged. Heat shimmered around the intake seams.

  “It fires!” Elanil warned.

  Nura and Gaspard broke away from the construct’s frontal attack reach. The Digger anchored itself and elevated its head section. A circular aperture opened beneath the eye cluster, or rather the navigational apparatus. A compressed mass of glowing debris formed inside. The construct fired. The projectile crossed the clearing in a shallow arc and detonated near Elanil’s previous position, throwing fragments across the ground. She had already dived and rolled downslope. The shockwave passed overhead. She sat up squatting and moved laterally, maintaining range.

  [System Notification: your foe fully recovered its HP]

  “Huh, the rascal heals itself after firing trash volley,” Elanil snorted.

  “I believe we’ve seen the full showcase,” Gaspard said. “Our turn?”

  Elanil and Nura exchanged glances and then both nodded. He only waited for the signal. Elanil saw how Gaspard was there and then suddenly not. She realized Gaspard used [Elusive motives] and entered stealth. Although she already saw this ability of his in action, it still looked impressive. His silhouette glimpsed directly in front of the construct, close enough that the shovel blades should have caught him. The next moment he was gone. The Digger reacted to the last known position, regrouping and raising its forelimbs.

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  Metal rang—Elanil saw Gaspard flicker back into view behind the construct, both daggers striking upward into the exposed seams. The hits landed solidly. There was no visible secondary effect. Before the construct could complete its turn, Gaspard vanished again, reappearing several steps to the side as the shovels cut through empty air. The opening was brief. Elanil drew and fired without hesitation.

  [Knockback Arrow]

  Crackling with lightnings, the arrow struck the upper forelimb assembly. The impact forced the limb off line, and a discharge crawled across the chest plates like electric goosebumps. The construct lurched—the stagger was clear. Its firing aperture failed to open. Now it was Nura’s turn.

  [Boomerangs]

  Nura moved on Elanil’s shot. Both axes left her hands in a wide arc, spinning outward before curving back toward the construct. Elanil tracked their path as the first axe tore into a loosened chest plate and ripped it free. The second hit higher, biting into a limb mount before rebounding back toward Nura.

  Gaspard appeared again at the rear. His hands moved so quickly, as if they were in stealth, while he himself was in plain sight. The series of ten knives he launched was like a machine gun burst. [Poisonous Thorns] were not of much damage, especially against a mechanical enemy immune to poison. But aimed accurately at vulnerable spots, they could be a serious problem. And Gaspard had a knack for aiming like no other.

  The Digger staggered, rearing up. The plates along its belly hung loose, exposing sparking internal components. Elanil realized now was the perfect moment. She loaded an [Explosive Arrow] and fired at the spot where the gap between the protective plates was greatest. The explosion from the arrow’s detonation jolted the construct so hard that it finally lost its balance and fell backward with a dull, heavy thud. Dry pine needles scattered in all directions like splashes of water. As it fell to the ground, the Digger convulsed, coiling and uncoiling several times.

  For a moment, Elanil even thought that the battle was won, but the Digger recovered faster than she expected. Its forelimbs slammed down, stabilizing its frame. Once again, its scoops began frantically scooping up everything in sight and devouring it with enviable appetite. No distracting attacks from Gaspard, Nura, and Elanil could shake the Digger's stubborn determination to fill its belly to the brim with forest fast food.

  Trash Volley fired again, this time toward Gaspard’s approach vector. He dove behind a protruding rock. The stone turned out to be strong enough to withstand the explosion.

  [System Notification: your foe fully recovered its HP]

  “Damn it!” Nura hissed.

  Elanil agreed with her completely. So much effort, and it was all for nothing. Well, almost for nothing. Even after restoring its internals, the construct no longer had the same robust armor it had at the beginning of the fight.

  “We got too carried away with firing off our Abilities all at once,” Gaspard said, jumping out of the construct blades’ reach. “We need to be more careful next time.”

  “At least you have something to choose from,” Nura grumbled, dodging another relentless assault. “All I have are my [Boomerangs]. [Intimidation] is useless against constructs. And [Shadow Fight],” she glanced at the grey clouds above. “The sky is completely overcast—not a chance of shadow.”

  “I think, just like the bombardier beetle, this one is most vulnerable while it’s loading its [Trash Volley],” Elanil suggested, jumping on the rock to dodge the Digger’s attack.

  “Agreed,” Gaspard nodded. “We must save all our striking abilities for this moment.”

  “But both of mine aren’t as strong against it as I thought,” Elanil thought.

  “I can get inside,” Nura volunteered. “My basic attacks are no worse than my [Boomerangs]. Maybe even faster and more effective this way.”

  “Are you crazy?” Elanil yelled. “It’s as hot in there as a blazing furnace!”

  “That’s why you’re going to cast [Protective Shield] on me.”

  “But it’s only my health so far. It’ll be depleted in seconds.”

  “That’ll be enough.”

  “Cast it on both of us, Elanil.” Gaspard suggested. “Just in case. So, I can drag that charred fool out by the scruff of her neck if she gets carried away eviscerating the guts of that bug.”

  “Okay, but this ability of mine has the longest cooldown. We’ll have to run around this Digger for a while.”

  “Don’t know about your plans for this afternoon, but I’m in no hurry,” Gaspard replied cheerfully, dodging another attack of the sharp blades.

  And so they began running and leaping across the clearing, playing either tags or dodge ball with the angry construct, who seemed to have found a second wind. Each of its attacks grew more and more furious, and it moved faster and more nimbly. Sweat poured off the group’s bodies in streams; they tried to talk less and watch their breathing so as not to lose their rhythm.

  First, Elanil cast [Protective Shield] on Nura. Then, a couple of rounds later, on Gaspard. She only warned them to wait a bit longer, so that at the crucial moment, the ability wouldn’t be on cooldown in case she had to urgently cast it on Nura or Gaspard, and they would be fully prepared before going into the final assault, provoking the construct into digging in and gathering the projectile for a shot while healing.

  “Ready!” she shouted.

  Nura immediately launched a vehement counterattack, frantically parrying the construct’s futile forelimb strikes. Gaspard didn’t stand aside. His flanking attacks finally forced the construct into a defensive stance. Just as it opened its orifice for devouring the first batch of garbage, Elanil fired [Knockback Arrow]. The construct was paralyzed for a moment. Its mouth opened even wider.

  In a split second, Gaspard launched [Poisonous Thorns], right on target. This widened the hole even further. Next came [Explosive Arrow], which did the trick—exploding inside the Digger’s belly, it created a gaping hole through which Nura could now rush. Gaspard again entered stealth mode using [Elusive motives] and began distracting the construct as much as possible so that it would not have time to cause fatal injuries to Nura while she was so close, or more precisely, inside it.

  Nura’s battle cry echoed across the clearing while she was diving headlong into the Digger. Immediately, a series of chopping and grinding sounds erupted, so high-pitched that Elanil’s ears nearly popped. Realizing the construct was powerless, Gaspard rushed to Nura’s aid, finishing off the mortally wounded mechanism as quickly as possible before Elanil’s [Protective Shield] evaporated from the hellish heat within. Elanil couldn't see if her shield was working on any of them, and she quickly created another one, aiming it at Nura, figuring that her shield would have depleted first.

  Something seemed to snap loudly in the air. The construct's body began to vibrate violently and emit a repulsively high-pitched, yet unbearably low, sound.

  “Run!” Elanil screamed at the top of her lungs, fervently hoping that Gaspard and Nura had noticed it themselves and weren’t too preoccupied with hacking away at the enemy from within.

  And they leaped out. Or rather, as Gaspard had predicted, he pulled Nura out and, with a leap of utterly inhuman agility and strength, crossed a considerable distance away from the Digger’s body, which was convulsing in its final throes. The next moment, everything went quiet. The Digger’s body went still and no longer moved. Victory, finally. Not nearly as easy as they’d hoped.

  Elanil ran up to Gaspard and Nura. To her great relief, both were alive, though clearly not unharmed. Covered in ash, abrasions, and bleeding cuts, they lay on the ground, catching their breath.