First Light of a New Age

Chapter 66: The Arcane Storm Launcher

A/n: This chapter could be one of the most intense ones for a mere Infantry unit. Compared to this, it's like fighting the Spider Ant Queen is just easy mode.

Anyway, press the vote button, comment on your thoughts on both paragraph and the chapter, and enjoy the chapter!

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Austronesia Empire, Imperial Majahapit, Irian Jaya, Jayapura Papua, Jayapura Mining Station, Dungeon Level 2

1st Year of God, Thursday, 2nd Week, Month Of Abraham.

The lizard bent its hind legs, muscles tightening as it prepared to launch itself out of cover at the prey approaching it. Its skin tone mimicked the surrounding rock walls, blending it almost perfectly against the background. It dipped its head ever slowly, eyes staring hungrily at the prey standing meters away.

But then, a sudden loud crack split the air, and the lizard stiffened as a part of its head blew cleanly away and toppled backward with hardly a sound on to its side as it died convulsing.

"Damn, those lizards are hard to spot," muttered a soldier from Section 2, Platoon 1, Alpha Company. He switched off the infrared sensor and used the still-warm muzzle of his rifle to nudge his all-purpose vision goggles up.

Approaching the twitching body, he confirmed the kill and waved an all-clear to the rest of his section, who were waiting behind cover.

"Scratch one lizard," he reported to his Section Leader.

"Any traps or hidden surprises?" the Section Leader asked, joining him beside the dead creature as the unit's appointed 'butcher' began the grisly work of extracting the mana stone.

"Just this one. Nothing else," the soldier replied.

So far, they had cleared two of the four doors, encountering mostly giant dino lizards and slimes.

They had also discovered a new creature, which was actually a massive, grayish-white ball of fur with a rabbit-like face. It had long fur that grew in a spherical shape and seemed to feed mostly on small insects and moss. It was docile, allowing the men to pat and cuddle it like a plushie.

So, they had affectionately named it a "fluff ball" or "cotton ball."

There had been only one other casualty when an unlucky soldier was ambushed by a camouflaged lizard and got poisoned. Fortunately, his comrades saved him in time.

Pice had dubbed the creatures "dino lizards," as they looked similar to Terran dinosaurs but with the ability to change their color to blend with their surroundings.

Their tongues could stretch over three meters in length, and they had a corrosive spit attack, using acid stored in a chest sac. The Imperial soldiers had learned not to shoot in that area, as the acid would burst out and spray all over the area. The lizards were masters of their environment, hiding in every crevice and lying in wait until their prey came close enough from them to leap out to attack.

The terrain was much like the first level, mostly with rocky walls and open caverns, but instead of ants, it was dominated by the dino lizards.

Odysseus, overseeing the operation from the safety of the Ops room, commented on the lizards, saying that their species were similar to several others in the outside world, such as Land Dragons.

Scientists and researchers were interested in the lizard's ability to create a highly concentrated bio-acid and clamoring for the soldiers to bring them an intact specimen, if possible alive. However, the soldiers kinda ignored the requests from the nerds and sent back a dead specimen instead.