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(BUS)Chapter 108: Get some
🕑 Added 2025-07-17 14:54:25 +0000 UTCThe part of the Salt flats that we could access easily weren't very large, maybe a bit smaller than the Dahl headlands we had access to. It also certainly didn't help that the base of the abandoned excavator in the middle of it was nearly as big as New Haven and much more vertical as well. Add on a rather good sized bandit camp around that beast of a machine and the actual area you could drive in wasn't very large. As if that wasn't bad enough despite talking all that good shit Flint's camp was locked up tighter than a virgin in a whorehouse.-
"I could jump the fence to open the way but I'm going to get shot the fuck up if I do." I said seriously after we had drove around the camp a couple of times but saw no may in that wasn't sealed.
"No choice, do it." Roland said.
"Wish me luck." I said with a grin as I got out of my badger and rushed the fence.
The bandits watching laughed at this thinking they were safe until I reached the base of the fence and transferred all my forward momentum upwards as I leaped.-
I went up and over the rusted and crude ten foot fence and rolled as I hit the ground. Popping up to my feet I whipped out my gun and domed the slack jawed bandits staring at me. That did it as the whole camp burst into action like a hornets nest having been disturbed. I ignored that however as I dashed towards the nearest entrance which was held shut by a thick chain winch. Taking aim with my gun I shot the chain causing it to snap sending the thick metal "gate" dropping heavily and opening the way for my friends.-
Time to hunt.
The camp was mostly a collection of tents made with scrap and questionable origin leather. Flints status as the "bandit king" was also pretty clear as the camp had well over a hundred bandits in it and they were all after my ass. There was no waiting behind cover for back up as the psychos rushed me from it and trying to fight them only exposed me to their buddies bullets. I stripped off my jacket as I ran and stuffed it in my inventory before stopping to do something risky.-
I flared all of my elemental body traits at full blast out of my entire torso. I lit up like a fucking firework as toxic green flames roared off of me scorching my surroundings and arcs of electricity shot out zapping anything even remotely metallic. The psychos got the full brunt of this elemental maelstrom straight to the fucking face as they melted all the while screaming in agony. Even the hail of bullets screaming through the air at me burnt and melted mid flight before evaporating mere inches from my shield.-
"Not to rush you guys or anything but I can't hold this light show for very long!" I said over the echo with gritted teeth as I felt the strain these traits were having on my body.
There was a damned good reason why I never used them like this. These traits took a serious toll on me not only from the elements themselves causing damage that I had to resist but also because the way they worked meant I was practically burning my stamina to hold them at such intensity. Using the traits on merely a small area like my hands was not a huge strain but my full upper body like this? Like weight lifting to failure, repeatedly.-
Thankfully my friends were quite adept at causing death and destruction as they took off the pressure on me when they burst onto the scene with a series of grenades. Kinda hard to focus on shooting a guy when you are blown to bits. That brief period of relief was all I needed to get behind a metal thing that while rusted was thick enough to stop most bullets. I stopped using my traits and breathed a sigh of relief as the strain stopped and my regeneration got to work fixing the damage.-
My flesh that had melted and burnt scabbed over and began pealing off under my bodysuit which was annoying as hell to deal with but I chose to ignore it for now. My friends meanwhile kept up the pressure with Mordy sniping people and Roland using his turret to provide cover and return fire to the bandits. Lil popped up, shot a couple bandits and then vanished again on repeat making coordination impossible for them. Brick took advantage of this to charge into the thick of it and throw lightning fast punches each punctuated with a death upon impact.-
My regeneration finished it's work so I threw my coat back on and joined the fun. With our flawless teamwork we had the bandits dying left and right. I didn't even bother checking the corpses traits but went straight to ripping out the lifeforce as we fought causing my stores to grow dramatically the more we killed. A wide grin was holding it's place on my face as I felt alive as the adrenaline flooded my body and my powers sang from the feast of lifeforce. I didn't even notice when the energy wings of my powers manifested from my back as I gleefully tore through the terrified bandits.-
"It seems you've beaten a path to my door. Who am I to deny those so doggedly eager for death? Please, come into my humble abode." Flint sent over the echo once we killed the last of the bandits and I drew in their lifeforce.
For a brief moment my powers ravenous hunger turned it's gaze on my friends and I firmly smashed it down.
'Not happening.' I thought with a scoff as my wings faded.
"What's up with those wings?" Brick asked curiously as we grouped up again.
"Siren thing, when we push our powers to a certain point the wings pop out. Not sure if they let us fly though, a test for when I have more free time that." I said frankly.
"So I could do that too?" Lil asked eagerly.
"Probably, should be easier than me doing it due to how your powers work too." I said with a nod.
"Man you sirens are just all kinds of unfair." Mordy said with a chuckle.
"To be fair our powers were made to be weapons so yeah." I said with a shrug.
We walked around looting the piles of corpse dust for a few minutes before heading to the lift located under the main body of the excavator. As the lift rose up Flint sent us another echo that was obviously sarcastic in nature.
"Guests! Please, make yourselves at home. My men will be with your shortly. Never let it be said that the great Baron Flint is short on hospitality!" he said before going silent again.
I noticed that the great machine seemed to actually be in semi-functional condition as the gears were still turning just behind a grate we passed as the lift rose.
'Might claim this thing for myself later.' I thought seriously.
One of the biggest problems with Eridian ruins is having to dig the damned things up once found and this excavator would make that job super easy. Granted I'd probably also need to sink a rather sizeable chunk of change into it to fix it up first but the long term pay out was totes worth it. Soon enough though the lift reached the top of the excavator and we got our first look at Flint in person. He was sitting on a junk throne at the highest accessible point of the whole rig smoking what appeared to be a joint. -
He also had signs positioned around the throne pointing at it and when the lite up one flickered out he smacked it to turn it back on before sending us a lazy finger gun motion. Mordy raised his gun to snipe the guy but he simply moved out of view real fast. As the prick had said shutter doors opened up to reveal more bandits who wasted no time trying to kill us. Most of them were psychos though so I went for melee rather than gunplay.-
There was something profoundly satisfying about punching the lights out of someone permanently. Honestly I totally got why Brick preferred his fists so much. My mood only improved further when some malformed "badass" psychos showed up with buzz axes the size of a leg. They had one tiny arm and shriveled side of their body while the other was much larger than normal and covered in thick muscles. They were fun to play with. Still died like bitches but fun none the less.
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Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 594,720
Integrated Traits: [Gun mastery-Rare grade]X3, [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Demi-supreme body-Legendary grade], [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Energy projection-Legendary grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade]X2,[Lesser dragon breath-Epic grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade]X2, [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade]X4, [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade]X2, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade]X2, [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X3,[Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Buzzaxe expertise-Uncommon grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade], [Pugilist expertise-Uncommon grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Rare grade]X3, [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3, [Elemental body(Corrosive)-Rare grade], [Corrosion resistance-Rare grade], [Mechanical Savant-Epic grade],
Stored traits: [Flame breath-Uncommon Grade], [Tinkering instinct-Rare grade], [Minor regeneration-Rare grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade], [Omega body-Rare grade], [Supreme Armored hide-Epic grade], [Hard bones-Rare grade]
Comments
Christian Jeffress
Thanks for another entertaining chapter
