Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG-Chapter 168

I checked the fitting one last time, ensuring the line wouldn’t detach if it was jostled too much. The first time I ‘fixed’ a Prowler’s fuel line, I hadn’t secured it enough. They barely got out of the camp before the AE3 ‘eroded’ the fitting once more and I had to fix it. At least, that's the excuse I gave to make it look like I wasn’t entirely incompetent. Yeah, wouldn't be messing up that again.

I gathered up my tools and rolled out from under the Prowler, smearing grease all over myself in the process. I used the vehicle as a support, forcing myself up to a stand as I heard several bones in my spine pop. Kicking aside my beat-up tools, I hopped into the driver's seat and hit the ignition. Everything sounded alright. Just in case though, I should do a final check over. Would suck for them to get to the city just to have something break.

After a couple of scans, both technologically and through Technical Expertise, the Prowler was good to go. There was some slight wear here and there, though the most worrying thing was the fuel tank itself. It wasn’t quite to the point it’d fall apart, but it was having a similar issue as the fuel lines. By my estimation, as long as we weren't out here too long, it'd hold up. Sure, it’d need to be replaced when we got back to the city, at that point though it’d no longer be my problem.

I returned to my worktable, wiping the grease on my face off with a spare rag. Just as I got everything cleaned up and put away, a visitor dropped by to see me. A familiar visitor at that. Lia smiled as soon as she saw me, though, from the slight tension throughout her body, I got the feeling this wasn't a social visit. “Zuku!!”

I eyed her as I wiped my hands. A new long, jagged scratch from the temple down to her jaw marked her face. It was red, like a fresh scar. “Hey, Lia. That looks painful,”

“Yeah, a scavenger closed the gap and got me with a piece of his gauntlet. Silver ripped that bastard's head off, so I guess we’re even.” Lia rubbed at her face with a depressed look in her eyes. It quickly faded as she shook her head. “Anyway, Captain wants to see you. Now.”

“You know what about?” I eyed her, noticing a particularly vivid splotch of dark red on her clothes. I should really try not to piss her off. Ever.

Lia shook her head, though it was a slow shake as if confused. “Negative. We just got back to camp. Uh, looks like something kicked the hive though. Half the Squads are being mobilized. The rest are breaking down camp.”

“Damn.” That’s not good. What could’ve happened to set everyone off? They’d been just fine with their voyages into the city thus far. If we were breaking down camp though… were we finally going in? Was I finally leaving behind this damned desert? Seriously, I couldn't wait to take a shower somewhere sand wouldn't immediately get into my clothes again.

“Right then, Renold needs help packing everything up. I’m off.” Lia stepped away, pausing for a moment before glancing back. “You know to avoid the dummy command center and head for the tent, right?”

“Chek.” She think I was some kind of gonk? I'd been here far more than she had, so I was intimately aware of the layout of the camp even without assistance from Eidetic Schematic.

“Nova.” With that, the Magus left me to my own devices. I looked out past her tall figure, catching sight of hustling movement as the Crimson Company rapidly broke down the encampment. Was it finally time?

I headed out, grabbing my bag just in case as I went. I made a brief stop by Triss’s squad to inform them the Prowler was fixed. As I walked, I couldn’t help but notice a certain nervous energy in the air, which was dwarfed by a layer of excitement. I nearly ran into several bustling people as I made my way to a large tent set up near a corner of the sandstone walls. It was one of the few places not being packed up.

Captain Roger stood leaning over a table set up in the middle of the tent. A massive map of the city was laid out on it, covered in various markers and small toy soldiers of various colors. Sergeant Hampton was with him, as well as one other man. Sergeant Ysmor, I think. Leader of Red-One. They were discussing something quietly, though their conversation came to a stop as I approached.

“Ah, nova. Just in time, Zuku.” Captain Roger waved at me, motioning to a side of the table nobody occupied. As he shifted, the plating of subdermal armor moved under his synthskin tightly. His movement was rather relaxed, though there was tension in the air as if a fuse that could ignite at any moment.

“You need me for something?” I asked as I walked up. My eyes glanced down at the map, fully memorizing each and every inch of it as well as the various markings all over. The city was big, though maybe only half the size of Aythryn City. The markings and toys set up all over it made it seem a bit bigger though. Or at least more inhabited than I would expect of a supposedly abandoned ‘cursed’ city.

The Captain nodded to me. “Chek… you see this?” He pointed towards a small toy of a red truck. Several red toy soldiers surrounded it, though they were being pressed in on by a group of yellow soldiers and green ones. “That’s T-1. At the moment. They were ambushed by an enemy. Something broke, and the APC is stranded. You can fix it, right?”

“I’d have to check its condition to know for sure.” I could probably fix it. If anything, the past week had been a nice reassurance that my Tech skills were a bit more advanced than what I gave them credit for. There was a bigger kicker though that made me hesitant to just say yes. “I might not have the parts to fix whatever is wrong though .”

The Captain nodded, his brows furrowing as he stared at the toy soldiers. “Hmm…”

“Should we take a few squads to reinforce their location, sir?” Ysmor asked, drawing the Captain’s speculative eye. “We can meet up with the rest of the convoy if things are going well, and if not, part of the convoy could pick up the stranded members of T-1.”

“Maybe… they might be trying to lure us out though... Any movements from Triton?” Captain Roger asked. “The Growths and Urjune bastards are already going to be enough of a pain without him getting into the mix.”

Ysmor shook his head. “Red-Four hasn’t reported anything yet. They probably don’t know yet since it's on the far side of New Tress City from their stronghold… What’s the plan?”

“Hmm…” I felt a bit like an outsider as so many new terms were thrown around. The feeling grew even worse as the Captain just stared at the map for a while, deep in thought.

Hampton pitched in, standing straight like a beast facing its demise as he rushed the Crimson Company’s leader. “T-1 won’t last long without any support. What’s the call, Captain?”

Captain Roger sighed deeply, running a hand down his face before the atmosphere shifted once more. If before there’d been a nervous tension, now felt like the moment of the explosion. “Red-One, Red-Two, and Red-Six head out to reinforce T-1. We’ll be fine missing you lot and the APC since the Deseran Nomads can fill the gaps. Zuku, go with them and see if you can’t get the APC back up and running.”

“Chek.” I nodded my head as nerves seemed to fill me. It was finally time to get out there. I was… nervous. It was my first foray into New Tress City and I was headed for an active combat zone. Not how I saw this going. Whatever happened to a nice ease in? I’d almost prefer being back with the Crusade at this point- no, actually. Nothing was worse than the Crusade's chaos.

“We were already planning on making a move for the Laurus Theatre, so we’ll move up the timeline. If it is an attempt to lure us into an ambush, we'll already be entrenched in the opera house before they realize something went wrong. If you aren't moving by the time the rest of the Crimson Company passes by, we’ll abandon the APC. Your job is purely to buy time. Set up a defensive line and keep the aggressors back. Full retreat once we're set up.”

Hampton’s face pulled into a deep frown as he stared down at the city map. “What’s the call if we get overwhelmed?”

“Pull back early. I hate to abandon the APC, but I’d rather keep all of T-1 alive. Hmm... try and lead them toward Triton's territory to buy us more time. Then we'll send the rest out to support you once we're done. Oh, and take Melas and Troy, two of the Nomads, with you. Melas’s Kinetic ability might be of help to Zuku.” The Captain nodded his head to me then leaned back over the table. “Dismissed.”

”Sir!” Hampton and Ysmor said at the same time, giving off a certain militaristic vibe that faintly reminded me of Uncle Ezra. Then they left the tent to prepare.

I followed a few steps behind them, splitting off to the workshop and my tent to gather up my stuff. Just as I finished grabbing everything, a Prowler drove up. The heavy churning of the thermoelectric engine sent a slice of nerves through me as I mentally tried to prepare myself for what was to come.

— — —

My nerves, as usual, were for nothing. It took nearly fifteen minutes before we even hit the city’s borders. Up close, the place felt like an entirely different beast. I found myself constantly sweeping my surroundings as if we could be attacked at any time.

”Hey, relax.” Lia reached over and patted me on the shoulder, her double elbow mutation making it rather easy to reach around Yonrow. “We’re still several miles away.”

”Chek.” I tried my best not to flinch back from her pat as I allowed the tension in my shoulders to drop. I turned my gaze back out the window, this time looking just to look instead of scanning for threats. Or, at least, that’s what I told myself.

The city up close felt entirely different from the city at range. At first, I wasn’t sure what it was as we rode up onto vine and grass-clogged streets. If anything, I should feel more at ease with all this life around. Or maybe not considering recent events. And then I flicked on Aetherial Perception.

The entire place felt like a wasteland under my enhanced vision. For the Aether, that is. Usually, the Aether overlayed reality like a veil, with some places being incredibly thick and others being thinly veiled. From what I’d seen of Fox’s shrine, and could make an educated guess about the rest of the eidolon's shrines, they were places with thicker veils. It was a bit hard to put into words though since the Aether was non-Euclidean.

Anyway, New Tress City was one of the places thinly veiled. No, that wasn’t quite right. The Aether wasn’t just thin. It was pulled back. The entire area felt like the Aether was trying to retreat, and yet it was slowly being pulled back into the city as if being sucked into a vortex.

What was present in the Aether felt heavily polluted, appearing dyed dark green as if a plague had infested it. As my eyes flicked from one place to another, I realized it was a familiar contamination. The entire place had the similar sickly vibe that the plants of the Circle had, almost as if there was a certain layer of malevolence in the very air itself.

A warning from Insight sent a chill throughout my entire body. Every part of my flesh felt cold as if the very blood running through my veins was made of liquid nitrogen. A frozen tear seemed to loudly rip through my ears as the dark green shades of the nearby Aether seemed to pull back.

I caught the barest glance at… something peeking through the sundered Aether. It looked like an eye made from thousands of tentacle-like vines, each one of them slowly reaching out to me. They crawled through the air, each one closing the distance-

I cut off Aetherial Perception, barely holding a rasping breath as the cold contaminating my body slowly eased off. I glanced around the Prowler to see if anyone else noticed that- that horrible presence, but everyone seemed as they had been. Just what the hell was that?

「Request - Stop - Received

Don’t use Aetherial Perception while in New Tress City

Reward: None」

Yeah… yeah, good idea. For once, I think it’d be for the best if I followed this request without a reward. I ran a shaky hand through my hair, breathing slowly to try and calm down my erratic heartbeat. No wonder the Magi and Adepts had been having so many issues with that- thing. I don’t even know what to call it. Hell, I don’t even know what it could’ve been.

I dropped my hand onto the comforting grip of my gun. Doubt it’d do anything against that something that could tear apart the Aether with apparent ease, but at the very least it gave me some level of comfort as we drifted along.