Chapter 64 – The Lost Shiva (5)

There was a giant metal building in front of them. There were vines covering the building, but it didn’t hide the size of the structure. The building was domineering. It had this eerie look as it stood quietly. The Templar’s could tell that the thing was foreign. In their life, they haven’t seen such strange construction.

What is this?

Archie thought. He looked at the construction. It was odd. It looked like it has been here for a while yet there were no signs of rust. The building seemed like it was battered and burned but it was standing tall. In the right, Archie could see burned metal. The fallen metal on the ground was intact but the material was something that he hasn’t seen in his entire life.

How can a building be constructed?

It was a question for Archie. He couldn’t see any metal screws on the building. As if the building was combined together with some sort of method unknown to him. In this age, most of them haven’t seen such pure metal building. The building was colored with a stripe of black and white. There was also a marking on the side of the building, which everyone assumed to be a number.

“By the Gods, what is this metal construction?” said a Templar.

“Commander, what should we do?”

The Commander was slack-jawed. He prayed to the Light and stared at the building. “Be careful, this place stinks of danger.”

As if that wasn’t obvious enough? Archie remarked inside his head. He looked at the building again. Approaching it slowly, extending his hand towards it. Cassia watched him. Luckily, the building did not do anything to Archie. But instead, there was a loud alarm that sounded out.

“What is that?” Everyone drew their rifles. They looked around them, scanning the area while trying to keep their arms steady. The sound that was ringing out made them nervous. Their hearts pumped erratically as the sharp alarm digs through their eardrums.

“INCOMING!”

The Templar shouted. Everyone looked at where the Templar was looking. There, they saw a black orb with two metal arms hovering above the ground. Its metal eye stared at them before it turned red. Suddenly, the black orb flipped forward, behind the strange thing two metal barrels appeared out of it.

Everyone looked at the two metal barrels. But they know in their hearts what that was. They scattered around and took cover using the obstacle around the place. Archie and Cassia hunkered down two boulders. The Commander of the Templars hid in one of the fallen metal.

The Black Orb rained bullets towards them. It was a continuous buzzing that made everyone deaf to the ear. The Templars were no fools. They were able to keep their heads down. But the machine suppressed most of the Templars. The other tried to fight back using their rifles. Only for their bullets to be deflected as if was nothing.

The Commander could not sit still. He couldn’t watch his men die at this strange machine that was attacking them. He bellowed, he gathered all the courage he had as he charges out of his cover while the machine was distracted. “IN THE NAME OF GOD YOU SHALL NOT CONTINUE!”

Like a man possessed, he pointed his left vambrace at the machine. It spewed gasoline using the tube and it painted the machine with it, wetting it. Followed by that, the Commander urged his will, summoning a blaze of fire that engulfed the machine.

The Commander scuttled back to cover. “USE YOUR EXPLOSIVES MEN!”

The Templar’s reacted. They pulled and lit their grenades, throwing it at the machine. The Machine created a buzzing sound. Its color suddenly changes as it expelled cold air out of the holes from its body that extinguished the fire around the orb. It scanned the area.

What followed were the red lights that dotted everyone’s chest. The red dot of lights that was on their chest made everyone felt a sense of dread. The Templar’s who were not lucky got their chest caved in. Like a hand cannon, the caliber of that shot was too strong. Five Templar’s died in the first shot. Another two died trying to take cover. Three died when they tried to fight back.

The Commander wanted to face the machine. But the five templar’s drew the attention of the flying orb and told the Commander to run inside the ruins. The Commander could not abandon his subordinates. But they reminded the Commander about the mission. So while the other five held the machine back. The three remaining Templars pulled back along with Archie and Cassia.

They ran inside the ruins. They descended down a flight of metal stairs that lead them to this gigantic hall made of metal. There was a room in front of them. It had a thick glass that seemed like it served as a counter. The insides of the place were covered in a murk and filth. The walls were ruined. There were metal vines that appeared out of the ceiling. It was a strange place. The Commander could not think or understand the place other than this place was not a simple ruin at all. It was far different from what they could have imagined.

“What was that thing?” Cassia could not hold it anymore. “It tore through everyone like nothing. What if there is more of that thing here?”

“Calm down, Cassia,” Archie patted her shoulder.

“Calm down? Are you telling to calm down after that?” She was shouting. There was a panic in her eyes. “That thing caved in their chest! There was not a single scratch with the explosives and setting it fire didn’t do anything to it! Archie, do you expect me to stay calm after seeing that? The dire monsters and mutants can be killed. They don’t have tough shells and they can be felled! And I feel much better if I can hurt them damn it!”

“Just calm down for now okay? I don’t feel good either but panicking doesn’t really help us here,” Archie tried to appease the panicking Cassia.

The Commander who just watched his Templars die turned his head to Cassia. He was about to spew forth words that might calm the panicking Cassia. But before he could take three steps towards her, he and Archie watch as her head explode into many pieces.