Chapter 12 The Iron Vanguard

Chapter 12 The Iron Vanguard

Alex was on the main platform and was observing the red dot on his HUD. One pixel. Crimson. But it moved with a precision that caused his stomach to tighten. No stopping at crossroads, no retrace. Down the elevator shaft, right through the lockout measures he had implemented.

\[ALERT: SECURITY Violation detected.
\[HOSTILE LEVEL: 6\]
\[GUILD: IRON VANGUARD\]

Jason, said Alex. Get everybody to Sector 4. Now.

Jason looked up from his shotgun. "Why? Another dragon?" He glanced at Efe, sitting cross-legged by a server rack feigning to examine her bandages.

"No," Alex said, eyes fixed on the elevator doors. "Worse. Players."

The room changed. Monsters were scary, yet they were easy. They charged, they bit, they died. Players were different. Players thought. Players were skilled, and they desired what Alex possessed.

"Move!" Steve shouted, and drove Mrs. Adesina and the refugees to the rear of the plant.

Efe remained in her place. She was leaning back against the server rack with a slight smile on her face.

And are you not going to hide, little admin?

"I am the Admin," Alex said, checking his mana. \[10/30\]. This is my server.

PING.

The elevator doors didn't open. They exploded.

A moulded charge hurled them out of the tracks. The massive steel doors flew into the room and struck the floor with a screech that echoed off all the walls. A heavy grey smoke--military grade--poured out of the shaft and swallowed the entrance.

Alex cleared his throat and put his hand over his mouth. He turned on Code Vision.

It generally sliced through the darkness with ease. This smoke was not the same. His HUD was full of static where the entrance was supposed to be.

\[INTERFERENCE DETECTED.\]
\[ITEM: MANA-DAMPENING SMOKE GRENADE\]

"Professional," Alex muttered.

One of the figures came out of the smoke.

No makeshift armor. Slick matte-black battle attire, a fist emblem on the chest, a rebreather over his face. In his hands twin daggers, both faint violet.

\[PLAYER DETected: COMMANDER KALU\].
\[CLASS: ASSASSIN (LVL 6)\]
\[SKILL: SHADOW STEP, STEALTH CLOAK\]

Level 6. Alex was 5. Jason was 3. This man was on another level altogether.

"You're Alex." The voice of Kalu was distorted through the rebreather flat. He wasn't shouting. He talked as though he were giving an order. The one that has the S-Rank unit.

Alex gave the Sentinel a signal to come before him. "I am. And you're trespassing."

Kalu laughed. No warmth, short, dry. Trespassing. Kid, the world died yesterday. Property rights died with it. The Iron Vanguard is repossessing this plant to the betterment of humanity.

He turned one of the daggers carelessly in his fingers.

Give me the Dungeon Core and the S-Rank unit. I spared you. You can even come with us - we need someone to repair the generators.

"And if I refuse?" His hand was reaching to the Rusted Cleaver on his belt, Alex asked.

Then I kill you and strip the loot off your body.

He vanished.

The next moment he was standing there. The following he had disappeared.

\[ALERT: TARGET LOST.\]
\[SKILL ACTIVE: STEALTH CLOAK\]

Alex turned around and looked around the room. "Sentinel! Defense mode!"

The chrome ball was dispersed into a rotating shield, which surrounded Alex.

CLANG.

Sparks. Kalu appeared right behind him, one dagger plunging into the molten metal. The blow propelled Alex a step.

Fast, Kalu said, already fading out. "Not fast enough."

Alex scrambled, heart racing. He was not able to see him. Code Vision was being devoured by the smoke.

"Jason! Fire!"

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Jason, who was hiding behind a crate, fired the Riot Shotgun into the smoke. Slugs ripped through the air and burst out on the floor.

Amateur, Kalu said somewhere above them.

A throwing knife came out of nowhere. It hit Jason in the shoulder.

"Argh!" The shotgun hit the floor. Jason caught his arm, and the blood was already soaking through his sleeve.

"Jason!" Steve scrambled up to him.

Alex was alone.

He glanced about, and had to think. He was unable to fight with a ghost assassin. He had to have the ground shift.

You're the Admin.

He gazed at the server racks. Humming all of them, drawing huge loads of power out of the emergency batteries.

"You want the facility?" Alex called into the smoke. "Come get it!"

He turned and ran.

Running will not help you! Kalu called after him.

Alex ran down the main aisle into the labyrinth of server towers. He had a clear idea of where he was heading. Sector 7. The generator room.

Kalu appeared to his left, slashing for his ribs. Alex flung himself down. The blade flew an inch past him. He rolled, and put his legs under him, and continued to run.

\[HP: 28/100\]

Stop playing games, Kalu said, and came out in front of him.

Alex skidded to a stop. Boxed in. Kalu was between him and the generator, with daggers up.

End of the line, Admin.

Alex stared at the server rack on the right of Kalu. Casing has a yellow warning sticker. HIGH VOLTAGE.

"Sentinel!" Alex screamed. "Phase Shift!"

The Sentinel flew by him. It flew right around Kalu and hit the server rack directly, spilling out into a liquid and drowning the circuitry.

What are you--Kalu began.

Short circuit, said Alex.

The Sentinel connected the live power feed to the metal frame.

ZZZZZ-CRACK.

Blue electricity burst out in all directions. Not targeted. A full area blast. Kalu stood on metal flooring immediately beside the rack and absorbed all the volts of it.

He screamed. The stealth cloak twitched and shorted out, its circuits burned. The explosion propelled him back and smoke was coming off his equipment.

Alex fell on his knees, choking.

\[MANA: 2/30\]

The Sentinel collapsed. All that power drained in one hit, the chrome surface going dull as it pooled on the floor in a puddle of inert mercury.

Kalu was already in motion. Not dead--attempting to raise himself, muscles jerking, hand crawling to a healing potion on his belt.

You... little... rat, he wheezed.

Alex looked at his own hands. No mana. His strongest unit was a puddle. Jasn was bleeding on the floor.

He picked up the Rusted Cleaver.

"I'm not a rat," Alex said, standing. "I'm the one who deletes the trash."

He charged.