Chapter 386. Locating the Target.

  I was able to squirm a bit, moving just out of his line of fire. The man cursed and then stomped on my chest to keep me in place. Before my assailant could fire his crossbow, the man suddenly lifted his leg and started to scream in pain. My addled mind took a moment to figure out what was happening, but then I saw the slimy sheen on the man’s leg. Melvin had jumped in, using the man’s foot as a path to move to my defense and have a snack at the same time.

  A burst of healing energy hit me from behind, and I could feel my mind clear a bit more. The blood dripping down my face stopped flowing and I regained enough focus to cast Health Bloom. My assailant collapsed, screaming even harder as he tried to pull Melvin off his leg, which only succeeded in allowing the gelatinous cube to begin devouring his hands.

  Wiping the blood from my eyes, I sat up to take in the state of the battle. It was pure chaos. Around a half dozen of the ninja-looking kidnappers were engaged with the drone and crab. Elida had fallen back from the fight, but I could see a dead or seriously injured assailant at her feet. My halfling Battle Mender could hold her own in melee, and now that I had been healed, she swiped her mace down on the head of the man at her feet. A sickening crunch was heard, and a small burst of healing energy flowed from her mace and into me and the other minions.

  Stumbling to my feet, Melvin sent me a warning, another attacker was coming up from behind. As quickly as I could, I cast Switch and Replace, targeting Elida. There was a moment of disorientation as I was teleported to her location, and the attack aimed at my neck missing as the much shorter Elida appeared. Wasting no time, Elida began to smash her foe with the mace, each strike converting a bit of the damage that she dealt into healing for us.

  A quick check showed the fight was now heading in our favor. Three attackers were clambering over the crab, jabbing daggers into its thick shell. Another attacker was held in one of its claws, only to be snipped in half like the first enemy we’d encountered. My drone was showing some damage, as a few of the dagger strikes had managed to pierce his armor, but the long, bladed arms were carving through the enemies squaring off against him.

  The drone had even added a pair of hand crossbows for his shorter arms to wield, copying one of the weapons of our foes. Targeting the man attacking Elida, I cast Life Tap. I could see him stagger as I stole a portion of his life energy. Elida took advantage of the distraction and crushed the man’s head. My injuries weren’t hampering me now, but looking around, there wasn’t much else for me to do.

  The drone and crab finished off the last few attackers, and I had us all gather close enough to cast a Health Bloom over everyone to top up our health. At some point during the fight, Elida had burned another spell slot to heal the crab, but nobody was in the danger zone at the moment.

  “Take a spin around the factory floor, and check for any hidden foes,” I ordered the drone and crab after my Health Bloom ran its course. At the far end of the factory floor, I could see a rickety-looking metal stairway leading to the next level of the factory. The second floor looked to be much smaller, with a walkway running around the entire building, and several rooms built out in the corners.

  “Thanks Melvin, you saved me back there. I didn’t even know you could move like that when you’re in armor form,” I said as Melvin slid over from his meal and returned to reinforce my armor. He sent me a mental thumbs up, and a feeling of fullness from his snack.

  “You get stronger, Melvin gets stronger. We fight together, friends. Maybe buy tacos on Earth again for reward?” Melvin said to me through our connection.

  “You got it, buddy. Tacos are on me once we find some. I’m sorry to tell you there probably isn’t a taco stand within a thousand miles of here, though,” I replied. We were sort of in the middle of nowhere, though the presence of mobsters indicated civilization was within driving distance. Melvin sent a feeling of disappointment tinged with anticipation for a future meal.

  Looking up at the stairs, I could see a problem. There was no way the crab was going to make it up there. I even had doubts that the drone was going to reach the next floor without bringing the whole staircase down with his wait. All I could do was order the crab to stay below and look out for anyone trying to slip past us.

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  I still had my Duplicate ready to go, and with Elida having Revive, I wanted to cast it on the drone. Just in case there was an issue with the stairway collapsing, I held off on the spell until we all could make it up to the next floor safely. The drone would lead the way up, that way, if the stairs weren’t strong enough, we’d find out before Elida and I were stuck up there without backup.

  Counting the first guy we ran into inside the drug lab, a total of nine enemies had been eliminated by my team. I didn’t know how many more were left, but I figured we had to have put a good dent in their numbers. There was no way to know if the Russian mobsters had made any kills, but I found it unlikely that they hadn’t at least injured or killed a few of the kidnappers.

  The drone began his ascent up the rickety stairway. Rusted metal stairs creaked ominously but seemed sturdier than they looked. Maybe the Russians used the upstairs offices for part of their operation and had reinforced the stairs without giving away that any work had been done on them. When he got to the landing at the top of the stairs, the drone immediately swiveled his grenade launcher and fired.

  Glass crashed and then a muffled explosion blasted out the rest of the room’s windows. I moved up behind Elida, and saw that the room in this corner of the building was a large breakroom for the factory employees. A pair of kidnappers, dressed like the others we had already dealt with, were blasted to bits on the floor.

  Whatever tier and rank these guys were, they didn’t seem to have any abilities or armor that could stand up to a grenade. I sent a reminder to all my minions to watch out for collateral damage. It would go very badly for me if a stray grenade or spell killed the very person we were here to rescue.

  With the stairway landing and employee breakroom clear, that left only three possible locations they could be holding the student at. Looking closer, it turned out there was really only one option, as the far corner of the building had partially collapsed from neglect in the recent past.

  On another corner of the building, the walls had only partially collapsed, and inside, I could make out a few of the kidnappers. They were focused on the Russians outside the main entrance, firing crossbows and hurling daggers down at them. Occasionally incoming fire snapped through the broken windows before burying the slugs in the factory’s roof. The kidnappers wouldn’t leave a valuable commodity like the student kept in the middle of a fight, so the final option was another large room closest to where I was now.

  There were no windows in this room, just a small glass panel near the door handle. I cast Duplicate on the drone, and had the pair lead the way. A quick peek showed that nobody was looking out the door’s window at us, so I had the drones kick in the door so we could storm inside.

  A shout of surprise and the clang of a weapon striking a drone greeted me as I pushed inside right behind Elida. I felt a wash of heat as the two drones began to fire their plasma beams as I took in the situation. There, lying on the ground near the door, was Sharog. She was wearing the same class uniform I’d seen on the image that the headmaster had shared, and while she wasn’t tied up in any way, it appeared that she wasn’t able to move and had been magically frozen in place.

  Frightened eyes looked back at me as the fight continued around us. A lightning bolt slammed into one of the drones and I knew that I had to get Sharog out of here. Both drones continued to fire their plasma beams, and I watched Elida summon her shield and charge forward to engage.

  “Hold on, the headmaster sent me here to help. I’m going to pull you out of the room so you’re safe,” I said. Sharog wasn’t wearing armor, but an orc’s body was naturally dense, so I was happy my strength rating was enough to quickly pull her outside the doorway and out of the enemy line of sight. Charging back into the room, I took stock of the enemies arrayed against us.

  The duplicate drone faced off against an eight-foot-tall troll in heavy plate armor. With an oversized shield in each hand, the troll was bashing furiously at the drone. Battered, but not taking much in the way of damage, the duplicate drone continued to try and burn through the armor of the troll, succeeding just as the last second of his weapon’s energy ran out.

  With a howl, the troll fell back as the plasma beam tore into its chest. Not missing a beat, the duplicate tore a shield out of the troll’s grasp with all four of the drones’ arms. That fight was well enough in hand, but the real drone was in trouble. He was facing a small, halfling mage that was cooking up another lightning bolt. A second armored and shielded troll was holding back the drone and Elida both, buying the halfling time to cast.

  I wasted no time, firing off my plasma beam at the mage. The beam struck a magical barrier of some type. Just as the barrier collapsed, the troll fighting the drone and Elida raised a shield to absorb my attack. Frustrated, I reached into my belt and pulled the kobold warband figurine. It has recharged since I’d last used it to help the Sentinelese, and in the close confines of the room, I could summon them just behind the troublesome halfling mage.

  Completing his casting, the mage blasted the mana slayer drone with another lightning bolt. The drone staggered, his stomach armor smoking and partially melted from the strike. This mage was a powerful one if he was able to burn through the tough armor of my drone, despite its innate magic resistance. Immediately, the mage began casting again, making me wonder just how much mana this guy had. Unfortunately for me, the mage was glaring in my direction, and I knew the next spell was going to be heading my way.