BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM-Chapter 1284: The bugs (10)
"The clones did most of the job. Without them..." She shook her head. It was clear what she was implying. Without the clones, they would have all died, but that was expected.
Amber and the others had incredible powers but were still not strong enough to fight on Mur without such a mana usage that they would be rendered useless in the following fight.
Erik was in a somewhat better position, mainly due to his vast mana reserves and versatile powers that served him well in various situations. The group lacked these advantages—something Erik was going to address.
"We faced things that would have killed us in seconds otherwise." She was referring to herself, Mira, Emily, and June.
"Massive bear-like creatures with brain crystals that could destroy entire areas. Thaids that hunted in groups. Some thaids could even change their size at will."
"Useful."
"Yeah, for the creature, it certainly was."
Erik listened as Amber gave more and more details. He had found and fought similarly strong monsters, but contrary to the Chimaeric Demons, he didn't need numbers to face them.
However, based on what Rick said, albeit he and the other clones were plenty strong for the average thaid here, their lack of mana forced them to target smaller and weaker ones and to use tactics if they wanted to take care of those on a similar level of strength.
"Emily helped a lot, too. With her scope, she spotted thaids in the distance and even killed them when her mana allowed it," Amber said.
"Mira's arrows worked well too, but she was mostly taken care of on the tactical side." She paused. "I think she is regretting a little not having taken a more unique power. She can shapeshift, which means she can scout and fight melee well, which was something she lacked, but her birth brain crystal power was not that strong to begin with, and this means she is now weaker at a distance."
Of course, on Mannard, this problem would be non-existent given how much weaker thaids were compared to Mur.
Instead, here her mana was not enough to give her attacks an edge. If she needed to kill the stronger thaids but they could see or perceive her arrows, and she wasn't physically strong enough to fight melee.
"But some of them..." She shuddered. "Some were simply too powerful to fight."
"Yeah…"
"We didn't start with just 500 clones. We had around 800. After losing 300 of them, we were forced to hide more often than we would have liked."
Erik's hands clenched. He had pushed himself to reach them as quickly as possible, but hearing about their struggles made him wish he'd moved even faster.
"The worst part was not knowing," Amber said. "Not knowing if you were alive, if you'd make it here, if we'd ever see you again. "
She turned to face him. "When we saw you today, when you appeared in that cave..." Her voice trailed off.
"I'm sorry…" That was all he could say.
A heavy silence filled the room. Erik noticed the tears in Amber's eyes. Neither of them spoke—there was too much to say after being apart for weeks in this untamed and dangerous land, but nearly not the time.
Besides, Erik was filled with guilt. The clones died trying to protect him and the others, just because he told them to.
Their death was bad enough, but he also felt guilty about what Amber and the others went through—spending weeks scared and fighting to stay alive, not knowing if he would ever come to help them. He promised to keep them safe, but even though he tried his best, they still suffered while he wasn't there.
However, he also knew there was something else they had to address. Something quite important that might give them clues about the thaids, the Silver Line Corporation, and, of course, the Blackguards.
"I know that it's exactly not right to ask you this, but I need to know what you found in that cave."
Amber's expression grew serious. She knew Erik was going to ask that question. She would have asked the same if the roles were reversed.
"At first, we found remnants of the old world—human remains scattered here and there among some ancient technology. Rifles that would be considered antiques now, protective gear made of kevlar." She shook her head. "It's weird to think our ancestors considered such tools enough during a war."
"Well, it's not like we can blame them. Thaids didn't exist back then, and those things worked against each other…"
"Yeah, you are right." She paused. "We also found the underground city."
The clones already told something to Erik, but it was Amber and the others who went searching around the most, so they were the ones with the most information.
"An underground city… Like Liberty Watch?"
"Exactly. The deeper we went, the more we understood how large that place was. It is. Large, I mean."
She paused. "Can you believe it? An entire underground city, preserved from the time before the thaids came. It is so big that even Liberty Watch can't compare. The layout, the equipment we found. It was both a military installation and a research place like Liberty Watch."
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"The clones said you reported about many Silver Line Corporation's logos," Erik said. "Based on what the clones said, I guess they used the place to make their experiments."
Amber nodded. "Those bug-like thaids weren't natural, if we could say that. Well, thaids aren't, but it was clear that the queen was one of the Silverline corporation's creations."
Amber could do nothing but shiver at the memory. The clones told Erik that too, but Amber went on giving him more details and described the place as best as she could, the creatures living there, and the nests.
…
…
…
"We think she might be one of the first thaids ever created, maybe even a prototype. The corporation's experiments gave birth to something they couldn't control, and that led to their death," she said at some point.
"And now she's breeding an army down there."
"The problem is for how long that went on. In theory, it should have been centuries, but do we know how long that thing lives?" That meant she could go on making an army for a long time.
"Do we know when it got the ability to spawn other thaids?" From that depended when she started and how many thaids she birthed.
"Well, I actually don't care if I have to be honest," Erik said. "What matters is finding information."
"The facility's documents are most likely destroyed," Amber said. "I wouldn't have my hopes up if I were you."
"I don't." Erik gave her a resolute look.
He stared out the window, watching shadows lengthen across the forest and wondering if the battle at the rocky outcrop was still going on.
The sounds decreased, to the point Erik couldn't hear anything anymore from this distance, but something might still be going on there. "We'll need to go back there."
"I knew you'd say that." Amber's voice held no surprise, only resignation. However, she knew that with Erik there, their chances of surviving that place increased a lot.
"The queen will be a problem, though."
"I don't doubt that."
Erik knew. The underground city held secrets about the Silver Line Corporation's early experiments with thaids. Understanding those origins was not important.
Erik didn't care about thaids, they were pests he couldn't get rid of even if he wanted to, at least until he got stronger.
He was more interested in the labs themselves because he was certain the blackguards were searching those places and most likely camped there.
Amber rose, stretching muscles stiff from their earlier flight. "We should get some proper rest. Tomorrow, we can start planning our return to the cave."
Erik agreed. They had all pushed themselves to their limits that day. The queen and her swarm could wait.
"Ok, I'll leave then," Erik said.
"No. You will keep me company tonight."
