BACK ON THE APOLLO

7:58PM

"This is quite an unexpected development Captain Taiye, but neither one of us here would take away the achievements of the young man, or the terrible display of camaraderie from his other students. This elitist attitude is not what we hope to foster in the Terran Coalition, however the fact remain that you taught these children, the fact that they could put the life of a comrade on the line for their own wellbeing is clearly a result of being giving wrong direction by those who are supposed to shape their character." Commander Yulekov spoke out loud, trying but failing to hide the grin on his face, Taiye on the other hand seemed nonplussed and just lucky annoyed.

"I'm not in the business of taking the blame for other people's misgivings and blunders. I taught them how to be soldiers, taught them values of what a loyal, faithful and true soldier would be. But apart from Samson every other officer student has tutors from the different divisions they would eventually be assigned to. I taught them tactics, trained their bodies, trained their minds and prepared them for the battlefield. But their other tutors taught them to master their miracles, drilled the knowledge of how important they were into the coalition into their heads. I was responsible for making them soldiers, but you; commander Yulekov was responsible for teaching character! A fact that can be seen as you failed in as the people who connived against Combat Officer Samson are your own personal students!

I've had enough of all this bantering, we can still monitor them all. Now that we've been able to break through the barrier placed around the area, we should be able to communicate with them the moment they leave the dungeon. However, I would like the president to address this problem fairly or it would cause dissent amongst the other soldiers without miracles. Especially as it seems Combat Officer Samson has decided to leave the army, a decision we cannot deny him after what he has just gone through. I believe we need him close, I have chosen to withhold the details of his miracles until he reaches level 10 and at least awakens one of them. But Believe me when I say that it is not something the Terran Coalition can give up, in fact it might completely change the tide of this war for us."

The entire room was silent; at this point everybody knew that Commander Yulekov had a vendetta against Taiye. Which was understandable, Yulekov was in charge of the ship the [Apollo] but it was retrofitted as an off world campus for officers in training, and Taiye was the chief instructor of the officer academy, a position that might soon by Head of the academy based on the display of his Nephew and the power the young man had slumbering within him.

Taiye was more respected than Yulekov on the ship he commanded, it made the commander have thoughts of the Murder kind. But such a method was redundant in and out of itself, Taiye can't die on this ship... There would be no way to hide the murder. And even if Taiye is killed, it still won't get rid of the problem that is Combat Officer Samson Michaels. No if he really wanted to put Taiye in line, it was by getting at that boy.

Yulekov did not care if he had two miracles, the elves were almost defeated and one measly 'black boy!' would not stand in the way of him getting on the council and obtaining a presidency. He would be VP of the Soviet Union! And to do that he now had to get rid of what until 5 hours ago he considered an inconsequential brat!

Andrej and Malkova were supposed to be. His ticket, he needed to create an environment where they could shine properly, especially with other soldiers under their command. Once this bloody farce is over and done with, he would be making proper moves, but he could take the first step here.

"Mr. President, if you will, I might have an idea that can probably solve the problem that my protégée has caused. It would placate the boy, and give him proper recognition for the efforts he put in saving his cohort. We can even televise it, it would be such a huge honor for one so young and it should rally the rest of earth and give morale to other soldiers."

Taiye narrowed his eyes, about to speak up, recognizing a plot in the works, but the president of the Terran Coalition beat him to it.

"What idea is that, and be warned Yulekov, this is no place for petty squabbles, plots and machinations. These children are our future, we ought to do right by them, all of them!"

"Of course Mr. President, of course! We should make him, that is Combat Officer Samson, a commander of an independent Reserve unit. We can have him promoted to commander of a 50-man Platoon, giving him the rank of lieutenant. He would be able to build his own army himself with free reign over the battlefield and who's command he would submit himself and his platoon to. And from what we have seen, Combat Officer Samson has proven he can work well under pressure and behind enemy lines. So far his ability in reconnaissance, infiltration, and combat tactics are next to none, proving that he is more than what his Uncle says he is. Last in his class but superior battle senses and tactics on the battlefield. Combat Officer Samson Michaels is a prodigy, and it would be unwise of us to not acknowledge it."

"And where will the members of his platoon come from? We can't just put non battle tested cadets on the field with him, he's still a cadet himself!" The president asked. Yulekov was about to offer soldiers from his own division when Taiye cut him off.

"You don't have to worry about Mr. President, we can have him pick soldiers from those who have just left basic training. Eventually they all will have to go through battles, and if you would allow me the chance to return back to the battlefield or at the least focus my strength on grooming him, and handling his missions. Whatever platoon he's given will grow well with him. The reason why this cohort of officers is said to be the best is because of him, he was always the hardest worker, and was never on the defensive for long as even without a Miracle active, he kept on catching up to the others and forcing them to up their game, keeping them all on their toes. If he should survive, I believe his achievements would not be any less than that of his mother's, if not greater."

" I don't know about Taiye, you are invaluable to the academy as it is, we will need you to train the next generation of officers. After all you already have a fresh cohort in your hand from what I'm told. How will you juggle that and supervising your Nephew? I know you worry about him a lot, but babying him won't let him grow." Commander Yulekov injected, but Taiye had a reply ready too.

"I know that, which is why I ask that we let Major Ning Yue out of prison on probation to serve as his supervisor and second in command. It would mean two very important cards on the table, and a thorn on the side of the elves!" This time however, the entire meeting room was silent.

>>>>>

"Light Heal!"

It took three of that to completely heal myself, and not a moment too soon as the acid had reached the first platform. I rushed forwards, spider limbs at the ready onto the stairs again. Without the hand cannon I was left with using my battle tool, but I was in such a hurry I forgot to pull it out. Leaving me face to face with a leaping spider.

[Lion Claw!]

The great thing about the martial arts we learnt on earth was that here, all the moves became skills. And enhanced with mana, they packed a punch that even I didn't expect. A hazy bluish green claw appeared over my hand like some sort of energy projection and ripped the spider to shreds, completely taking off its head and leaving the rest of its body in a mess.

I was surprised and frankly I felt stupid. Anything that had to do with physicality, the spiders were resistant to it. From bullets, to even my Wind Blast spell. However, the energy blasts from the hand cannon broke their defenses and even now my martial arts skills. Wind Blast didn't create wind, it was just that which was already available to create a compressed form and push an opponent back. [Charge Shot] with the hand Cannon was from pure mana, so are my skills. Which means these damn things are weak to mana....

"Fuck!"

Did I feel like an idiot? Yes, yes I did. But it didn't matter, I still have spiders to mow through. Many of them were already out and down for the count due to the geyser of acid a few moments ago. But there were still enough of them for me to know I wasn't exactly out of the red zone yet. But be that as it may, it was time to fight.

[Lion Claw]

[Lion Strike]

[Lion Stomp]

And so it went on, and on, and on. Halfway through I fell into a sort of rhythm, even going so far as to use the skills with my spider limbs, making for a completely wholesome and new combination. It was easier going through them now, I even had time to pick up a few cores. But all good things must come to an end as I finally reached the final platform, and came face to face with the mother of all spiders, and the dungeon even went as far as printing its name over its head.

[Level 20 Cymerian Spider Cyborg (Dwarven Enhanced) Elite]

A long ass name for sure, but once again that Dwarven signature was there. It made me wonder if elves had dwarves amongst their race, which should be impossible, the fuckers were almost completely perfect. Or was it the 'other' kind of dwarves? It stood to reason that if there are elves, there should be dwarves. But 23 years of war and no one has seen anything else yet, just bloody fucking elves.

The sight of the spider in front of me gave me pause, it was unlike anything I've seen so far, and if I'm being honest, I'd rather run the other way than face it. but as with all things that I've had to face since I stepped into the damn room, there was absolutely no escape for me.

*Hissssss! *

"Well hello to you too."

I replied to the spider, and just in time too as it shot forwards, swiping two of its limbs at my face. I planted my own spider limbs to the ground and used them to jump back, of course I didn't get as much distance as I would have wanted from it, but it was still enough for me to avoid getting my head cut off.

"Wind Blast!"

I might as well have just blown wind at the face of the spider as it didn't even budge from its position. But that was just testing the waters, this spider was even too big for the platform we were on, which means I had to fight it moving backwards and not forwards, neither could I move to the side to evade any of its attacks. Now normally this would have been extremely bad for me, but due to my recently acquired 'extra limbs' I could take this fight in any direction I wanted.

But as they say, not all plans survive the battlefield as the spider jumped right at my face. For a moment my heart stopped because let's just be honest, that shit was terrifying as fuck. I relied mostly on instincts to move next. If I had to be honest, my spider limbs hit the platform below me and seemed to glow a dull grey as they moved me forwards, right under the massive spider about to splatter me to bits.

[Lesser Spider Stride]

The giant spider landed hard enough that the entire platform shook and Brian at the force of its weight, as one of its legs slipped off the edge for a moment. It would have lost its balance if not for 7 other legs to keep it upright, but I already had the inkling of an idea being born in my head.

"Wind Blast!"

I hit the opposite leg of the one that just slipped, it buckled to the left. The spell might not be strong enough yet to throw back a massive chunk of steel and flesh like this bloody spider, but it was plenty powerful enough to rattle its base. And in a fight against something that was pretty much more of a giant than you would ever be, you don't attempt to face them head on, you bring them down, straight down to your level and even the playing field.

"Wind Blast! Wind Blast! Wind Blast!"

The second leg buckled along with the other two behind it, forcing the spider to lose it's balance as its entire bulk tilted forwards, and right into my waiting fists and two moving spider limbs. [Lion Strike] [Lion Claw] [Lion Stomp] flashes of blue green mana seemed to light up the entire chamber, reflecting off the pool of acid that was glistening below me and rapidly rising.

Two legs were slashed badly, almost completely ruined as the struggling spider received a massive dent on its face with one of its pincers deformed and bleeding a clear foul smelling liquid. It was a good effort, and I did cause significant damage to the spider, but now I was right in front of, and overextended without a way to protect myself, the giant spider decided to capitalize on that.

A lance of silvery grey spider web shot out of its mouth and straight into my chest, for a moment there was a bit of resistance as the strike broke ribs to fine pieces and threw me backwards across the platform, all the way to the other end where a closed chest was waiting for my back to smash into it.

The chest didn't even budge, and it was its presence that made it possible for the spider thread in front of me to not only just smash and cave half my chest in, but completely obliterate it as it pierced through, and then pulled back looking completely bloody and taking a few pieces of my internal organs with it.

Pain, a lot of it. But that was good, it meant I was still alive and the damn spider had missed my heart, or at least parts of it. Damage like this would have killed me instantly if I wasn't already at the level that I was, which made this pretty good as a development because it meant I've bought myself a few seconds, maybe a minute before everything stops functioning and I fucking die to Spiderman’s mother.

[Light Heal] [Light Heal] [Light Heal] [Light Heal]

The re-growing of damaged tissue, bones, nerves, blood vessels, and all the important stuff the spider had just ruined was infinitely more painful. But 4 light heals and all I was left with was a nasty hole in my chest, and one very big problem.... I was almost completely out of Mana, and didn't have enough left to see my healing to the end... And if I'm not wrong, I'll be dead in a few minutes if I don't do something about it.

The spider would not give me that chance, two legs and part of its face ruined, it was still hobbling towards me. I really couldn't move that much, and I had lost the hand cannon, however the assault rifle was still with me. And frankly speaking there were not enough bullets or power to pierce through that spider, it was just big and metallic and... A cyborg!

Parts of its skull were covered with a metal plate, and the whole of its back was exposed and raised. Putting bullets through it would be easier than when I had to get them through metal. Every shot had to count, and I had enough mana left for a few charge shots, five to be exact, hopefully it is enough.

"Charge Shot!"

I held it, I could feel mana bleeding out from within me and into the gun, straight into the chamber as it wrapped around the bullets. I squeeze this trigger and it's not a single bullet that would come out, it sort of causes a bit of a problem for me because charge Shot only works best with a single bullet or shot. How it would react to being used as an assault rifle was still left up for debate. But there were no questions to be asked, I was dying... And I'm taking that bitch down with me.

I wasn't ever really good at aiming or rather the kind marksmanship that required you shoot the wings off a fly across the room with a sniper rifle. That was a feat only Malkova and the instructors back at the academy could manage. But right now, it was all focused, it was crazy really. The pain seemed to give me a sort of clarity, and along with it a focus unlike anything I've ever seen before as I felt mana travel to my eyes and the world seemed brighter and bigger, and the spider? Filled with so many vulnerable spots it surprised me. But there was no time, it was rearing for another shot, and with barely any mana left, there would be no surviving that; so I pulled the trigger.