Chapter 136: Here comes the rain [1/2]
After about ten times, the side effects of teleportation didn't bother me as much. Immediately after arriving, I stood up and started looking around. Unfortunately, I couldn't see a damn thing because it was so dark.
[My Lord, welcome to Zone 1093-3. There were two Wraiths and one Phantom deployed in this zone. All of whom were killed in battle. The enemy force consists of 734 Rank F undead].
Once again, three Reapers died, but as unfortunate as it was, I couldn't be discouraged. It was an unfortunate reality that I had to accept. Then I had a thought. Phantoms could not die even if they lost their head or heart. How could the undead kill phantoms at all?
"Aira, phantoms are extremely resilient. Do you know how they die to the undead?"
[My lord, the undead, or rather all the enemies in Hellsgate, are attracted to souls. It has been observed that they have a natural ability to locate a reaper's Soulgem. Phantoms that become incapacitated are mauled until their Soulgems are destroyed].
"Mauled"? So even if they know, they cannot find it right away?"
[No, my lord, the undead can only tell which limb the Soulgems are in. For those who place them on their torsos, autopsies have shown that the undead will tear the flesh around the Soulgems until they find them].
"Doesn't that mean it would hurt like hell? If Phantoms do not die, they would be alive for the whole thing."
[Yes, my lord, most Phantoms who are incapacitated choose to deny such an outcome by using Soulgears that end their lives. Most female Reapers have something similar to prevent them from being forced to mate with monsters or demons].
"..."
[It is also worth noting, my lord. Phantoms in general regenerate their body parts as long as they have souls. Or to be more precise. The presence of souls in a reaper's soulgem is what allows them to defy death.]
Aira just shared a critical piece of information about the Reapers. If what she said was true, then in addition to destroying a Reaper Soulgem, the option of draining its souls was also a viable strategy.
'Like the hunting techniques of snakes or spiders. Stab your prey with venom and wait for them to die,' Aira continued, ignoring my thoughts.
[Those who are already mortally wounded can choose to end their lives by expending their souls. Once they have none, their bodies would no longer be immortal and would succumb to their injuries].
"Hmm. That is good to know. Thank you for telling me, Aira."
[It is my pleasure, my lord].
"As always, the lighting in Hellsgate sucks. Even with the dim sky, I can barely see anything."
[Ahem. My lord. Please take out the Skydio drone. I will show you the difference it makes.]
"{Retrieve} Drone. Battery pack. I am excited to see what you can do, Aira."
Originally, I couldn't talk to Aira unless I had the GRI in combat mode or my phone turned into an earpiece. Since I started using {Connect} on my GRI, even when I was not in combat, Aira has been able to do things for me.
With the addition of this new piece of hardware, the prospect of what {Code} and its family of {Fates} could do was also something I looked forward to.
In a somewhat familiar move, I once again opened the drone's four rotors and slipped on one of its battery packs. As I held it up, the four rotors all began to spin, causing the $20,000 piece of technology to float.
After a little wobbling, the drone stabilized and rose into the air.
[My Lord, I have connected to the drone. Please use {Connect} and link to Skydio X2E.]
I followed Aira's instructions and suddenly found myself flying in the air. Wait, that was wrong. I wasn't the one flying, the drone was. The drone was flying overhead as it moved rapidly forward.
Despite the limited lighting, I could see things in bright colors, like an Instagram filter. I could see yellows and purples instead of normal colors. I could care about the colors, but what mattered was that I saw dozens of walking corpses that were colored violet.
"Aira, are these the zombies?"
[Yes, my lord, I am using the drone's thermal imaging option, and after some adjustments, even undead can be detected with 97% accuracy. For reference, humans would show up as yellow. Due to their temperature].
"Wow, this is amazing, what are you doing now?"
[My Lord, in the next ten minutes, I will create a digital twin of this zone. The total area of this zone is 26,000 square yards, or three football fields. The Skydio drone has 16x optical zoom and 3D scanning capabilities, both of which will allow me to complete this activity in the time I have specified].
"A what?"
[A digital twin, my lord. In gaming terms, I can fill out your mini-map and mark the locations of importance, such as fortifications and enemy positions. Once I set it up, no matter where they go, I will be able to track them].
"..."
I took my eyes off the drone and pondered. Most games had a mini-map feature. And such an ability was OP if realized in the real world.
Being able to successfully detect and make decisions in real time was an ability most commanders would die for. Ancient leaders used horns, messengers, and even smoke signals to coordinate and gather information on the battlefield.
Split-second, life-or-death decisions naturally hung in the balance of war. Whoever had the most up-to-date information at any given moment would not have an unfair advantage.
And Aira just gave me the ability to gain such an advantage for a measly $20,000.
The number of times zombies jumped me was quite high.
On my first night and during my enlistment, it was because I didn't know where the bastards were.
If I did, I could relax when the mini-map showed no enemies and go all out when there were a lot of targets.