Chapter 406: Who Said You Can’t Teach an Old God New Tricks?

Hmm. Not in there. The monsters didn't come to life immediately so Ares flipped through his notebook and was left as clueless as he was before he checked it. These statue monsters really were unique and likely hitherto undiscovered so, unless Tom Tom was gonna cough up answers, and maybe a furball while he was at it, Ares was gonna have to wing this fight the good ol' fashioned way. When next he visited Transmit he would transfer his memoires of these monsters to the lady behind the desk and ask her if she was willing to jot everything down in the notebook for him. This was the sort of job he would like her to do back in the sect as it would be especially valuable in the long run when exploring the unknown. After Ares pioneered and charted a course through unknown domains his disciples and the elders of the sect could venture along it more safely with inherited knowledge. A data bank constantly updated, as high in quality as this notebook, would do wonders for the sect overall and so he definitely wanted that lady to come along to Heaven's Path if possible. Pilfering her and Sandy from Xasca was pretty evil, as they were seemingly some of the more talented gems hidden in this place, but it's not like they'd be needed going forward if Ares dealt with the Riddlemyd, the monsters plaguing the desert, and any and all Torchbearer plots all at once! He was like a Xascan janitor sweeping up their many troubles so he deserved some kind of reward for his hard work and stealing the local talent that wasn't needed anymore was perfectly fine.

Ares left the fearful group, still cowering around the statues, behind him as he made his way over to Tom Tom to ask him a few questions about this room on the off chance he might get any answers about what was to come exactly. "Yo sphinx, what's the scoop? And I don't mean a scoop of whatever's inside your litterbox!"

"First of all, fuck you. Second of all, not telling! These bad boys are top notch monsters that haven't seen the light of day in Xasca for thousands of years! I can give you their names, maybe a bit of background, and little else so your just going to have to learn the hard way through combat, bucko!"

"Alright, that's not bad actually. I was expecting literally nothing. I'll gladly take their names and whatever else you don't mind sharing. Lay it on me."

"These two 'Anubis' were originally kings of the west of Xasca before any other newer monsters showed up. Sevorus has created many monstrosities that have taken their place since but they still pack a respectable amount of might in them and wouldn't struggle to survive out there even today as they once were. Basically they're relics from the past that would still hold up today... But Sevorus wanted to get some more use out of them so he spruced them up a bit after finding them wandering the desert, killing one of his creations, one day. He stole them out of their natural habitat and conducted all sorts of experiments to enhance and modernise them a little. As they are, if I let them run rampant in Xasca, there's only one or two other monsters that could feasibly stop them! Though 'Anubis' was their original name, their new name is 'mecha-nubis'! You've seen the kinda stuff that comes out of this place and everything is either techy or an alien mish-mash depending on what mood struck Sevorus at the time. These guys were the pinnacle of the former and have technological advantages that mere Sheryashkans could only dream of! They are light years ahead of anything you can comprehend and more than capable of combining their new hardware with their old might and magic. Sevorus revolutionised the concept of an ancient creature fully with these two and brought them up to speed with the kind of tools necessary to thrive in this new era!"

"Mecha-nubis... Right... Don't suppose you've also got any 'robo Ra's' tucked away?... Not that I mind but... Don't you think the Anubis are a bit much for a floor this early? If they're as strong as you claim they are then what will you even do for the rest of the floors? Blowing your load early is no good! There are treatments for that you know?"

"... I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that! Tsk, relax, I've toned them down a bit. They'll be a challenge you face in full later, if you ever even get that far, for now I'm just testing you. Dominus can be one heck of a liar but he also weaves in the truth sometimes when you least expect it. I don't know how accurate his assessment of you was so I'm finding out myself by splurging a little with this Riddlemyd's unused monsters! Besides, ever since the Riddlemyd first became available to challenge for the public, nobody has ever gotten to the floor where these things rest and first appear! Even that version of them is not their true form either so I've lost all hope I'll ever get to throw these guys into the ring and watch them duke it out at full strength. I wanna play with my shiny toys damnit! So what better chance than now? It sucks I have to weaken them a bit, more than they already were, but I wouldn't be allowed to bring them to a floor this early otherwise. I'll be adjusting future challenges based on my personal opinion of how much of a problem you are so let's find out, shall we? Whenever you feel ready to get your ass beat, come and beg this regal sphinx and I may permit it! Muahahaha!"

"Bad kitty!"

Bonk

Lilly didn't like it when the cat was acting evil, apparently, so she chopped Tom Tom's head with the side of her palm. "Behave!"

"O.. Ow? Ok... Sorry..."

He gave up so fast?! Ares was stunned! Pushover! Not that any of this saved Ares, he was still going to have to fight these things. Tom Tom would stop acting like some cheesy comic book villain but that was as far as his leniency went... Although maybe if Lilly were in danger he would end the trial and boot her out of the Riddlemyd for her own safety...

Ahem

"Oh mightiest of misbehaving kitties..." Ares couldn't help but chuckle at the glum glare he received from Tom Tom but carried on nonetheless. "... I am ready to take part in this challenge so, if you would be so kind, unleash the hounds!... Or jackals I guess..."

"WAIT. WAIT." Marcus had spoken up with a sharp yell and come running to the front of the room to air his, and his party's, grievances. "Is there seriously no way the rest of us can leave this place?! We aren't really cut out for this and shouldn't be here..."

"And who's fault is it that you're here to begin with? You could have taken the portal back and restarted the floor of even just waited for Ares here to go on ahead." Tom Tom raised a pretty valid point.

"But Lilly..."

"Don't you dare blame the cutesy little girl!" Tom Tom's reverse scale had been touched! "Yes she went ahead and made her own decision but I fail to see why that would impact any of you? I'm not going to direct the mecha-nubis to attack her nor would I have let her die anyway so you could have just let her do whatever she wanted without following along! You just wanted a free ride and now that there's trouble on the horizon you're trying to flee with your tail between your leg! Shame on you! Just for that I'll be directing one of the mecha-nubis to exclusively target your group and ignore Ares!"

Thud

Marcus fell to his knees and begged profusely. "PLEASE DEAR GOD ANYTHING BUT THAT!" He knew well enough that his group, and everyone in it, wouldn't be able to handle that at all! Forget two of the mecha-nubis, they couldn't even handle one if they combined their might and tried their hardest! Back when Ares was going to be the main target of both mecha-nubis it was still conceivable they'd survive but, now?"

"Oh get up already, you'll be fine." Ares was displaying a level of lacking empathy that blew the socks off Marcus. He really didn't look like any of this was a problem whatsoever! Marcus was about to try pleading again but he was stopped when Ares took out a shadowy dagger and tossed it over to Aejaz who caught it, stared at it for a few seconds, and then began shaking his head profusely! "Nuh uh, none of that head shaking! It's on you to deal with the mecha-nubis that isn't focusing on me! When was the last time you had a difficult fight anyway?! You've been coasting for far too long! The fire tank back on the Federation was dealt with by me before you could land the final blow and you weren't doing too hot against it either! I wanna see results! Plus you'll have access to my magic and the Nyxian Prowler here so I don't wanna hear no excuses! Get it done!"

Marcus heard this and could piece two and two together but he wasn't feeling any more confident! Sure he knew a few things about Aejaz here and there, he was a package deal with Ares and had also been mentioned whenever Ares came up, but he just looked so damn unreliable! Why was he on the verge of tears?! Could he really do this without running away? Not that there was anywhere to run in this room but he looked like a legendary coward to the point he would sooner attempt to dig a tunnel out of here than fight either of those mecha-nubis! Was this guy really capable of protecting the group? They'd do what they could to help him, obviously, but he seemed kinda flaky... Maybe they could all hide in a corner behind Lilly as Tom Tom wouldn't let any harm befall her? This was all doomed!

"Now that all other matters are settled, let the challenge begin!" Evidently Tom Tom was fed up of delaying things just to listen to more of Marcus' sniffling and whining. He was a weird old man! Tom Tom couldn't care less about whether he lived or died! The reason Tom Tom liked Lilly so much was because there were TV shows he enjoyed back in the higher domains about magical girls that made him feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. He'd rest inside a lab with the lights off, and all the shades drawn, and watch multiple series in one go for a year or two straight while sipping on noodle broth and Lilly brought back pleasant memories! He kinda wanted to see if he could put an outfit on her and recreate the scenes but that was unlikely given his clone's inability to really move much or procure such things. Still, her optimistic and bubbly personality was more than good enough for now! Tom Tom missed his TV shows but the Riddlemyd was a decent enough replacement and people like Lilly did show up every now and then too so he was reasonably content with the status quo.

Tom Tom aside, the two mecha-nubis came to life with a sharp dark blue glow in their eyes. The walls all around them had neon lines pulse through them and race along every sandy brick until the whole room, including the ceiling, was decorated in an eery blue hue. The statues shook off their stony exteriors as they stepped down onto the ground with a loud BANG and their true forms were revealed. Their bodies were mostly still that of a humans but they were pumped full of strange oozing green liquids and had clearly been experimented on so that they could be turned into bulky behemoths. They presumably had a more graceful and elegant form at one point but now they were musclebound-monstrosities but, surprisingly, their heads still showed a calm expression. Their body looked fit to burst, contained only by thin blue wires that funneled an unknown liquid to various injection points on their back, but the heads were a serene and stark difference, wise beyond measure and capable of rational thought and judgement. Judgement that would be delivered promptly by the herculean might they'd been bestowed. The mind of a brilliant genius and the body of a brutish crusher of frailty. Perhaps they were accepting of this arrangement given their upgrade having granted them even more strength than they ever once possessed. None of this is to say their heads were completely normal, however, as there were various details from the shoulder up that signified things wren't as they seemed at a glance. If it was just what had been mentioned so far then they would be physically strong powerhouses with a a good head on their shoulders and maybe some convenient magic to round things out. That was much too simple for such a legendary creature, especially one that had transcended the limits of its flesh.

The mecha-nubis' shoulders opened up like a mechanical compartment, releasing a swarm of small nano-scarabs. The hum of their flight could easily be confused with the sound of a machine processing complex algorithms as the liquid cooling struggled to prevent overheating by working overtime. Buzzing, beeping, and all the works as the groups of twenty to thirty tiny-but-deadly scarabs hovered around their masters. This was not a plague, it was a virus! Ares didn't know what these things were capable of but it didn't end there regardless as that wouldn't be enough to classify these Anubis as 'mecha' on its own. There was still more technology buried around inside their neck region and skull but only some of it was readily visible. Ares was going to have to discover their capabilities in combat for the most part!... Maybe... Some functions might have been locked away currently due to the mecha-nubs' weakened state given what Tom Tom mentioned previously. What was noticeable, however, was a small red glint in their eyes which meant they almost definitely had the same laser type attack the fish and Qwaker possessed at bare minimum.

The shoulder compartments that released the scarabs seemed to be capable of functioning like missile pods too so that was something Ares was going to have to keep an eye on. The ears were radars and could locate targets that were either invisible or hiding and were likely capable of unleashing sound based attacks too like a kind of speaker. No wonder these things were putting out so much pressure, they were abominations combined with the height of all technology in Sheryashka. Only Mako's mech could realistically compete on the tech front so Tom Tom's praise had not been excessive or misplaced. These guys meant business and would no doubt be tough. The resilience of Sandy, the tech of Mako's mech, magic that was basic but potent, and they seemed to be very capable of wielding their canes, which were also packing convenient technology in them too no doubt, in combat with expert proficiency. They had it all and weren't lacking in any department, or easily exploitable, so the fact that this was their weakest form, of three if what Tom Tom said was accurate, meant these things were trouble!

And what was is it Tom Tom also said? That these things weren't the strongest in Xasca currently? Ares had his work cut out for him with the promise he made to Sandy... The stepper brood mother, maybe Tom Tom himself if he as included in the list... And what else? The rumoured corpse eating monster that was potentially stalking the Riddlemyd corridors at night? And maybe even something else lurking somewhere that hadn't been mentioned as of yet? It was for the best if Ares assumed there was always more to deal with then there actually was so, though that last guess was purely random, he believed in it anyway. At best it wasn't true and he had one less problem to deal with but, honestly, he knew his luck well enough to know there probably was some ancient monster lurking somewhere out of sight and out of mind that he was going to stumble across at some point...

Ares' hands were already full with the damn scavengers! This place was way worse than the God-damn Federation! Ares was almost certain Garmr was going to make an appearance at some point because Ares had his limits! He didn't know which monster would push him to the brink but the chances of none of them doing it were slimmer than slim. None of that mattered right now, though, as it was go time with these mecha-nubis. They weren't going to wait patiently forever and one of them, the one that had been commanded to ignore Ares, was already on the move and darting towards Marcus. Before Ares began his own fight he did check to see how quick the mecha-nubis moved and wasn't surprised to see it being incredibly swift footed. Again these things were capable in every way so it wouldn't make sense for them to have the fatal flaw of being slow as molasses. If Ares had to guess he would assume that either these two Anubis, or the lurking corpse eater monster, were Sevorus' greatest creations during his time here. Everything he learned over all his years of experimenting could be condensed into these two, three technically if the Anubis were counted individually, monsters. The mecha-nubis went down the tech route whereas the corpse eater thing just sounded like a disgusting alien if it even really existed. 

Though Ares would like to watch Sevorus' prized creations be pit against each other, and maybe have Tom Tom thrown into the mix as well for good measure, it was him who was currently up against the Anubis so he put everything else to the back of his mind and concentrated. This wasn't the end of the floor just yet so he had to make sure he was in a position to keep exploring afterwards even if only for another room or two! Ares circled slowly around the Anubis but it seemed intent on making the first move... Well it itself didn't but it sent out a hazy blue hologram in its place that rushed Ares down and took a single swing of its cane. Ares jumped back to dodge the projection and watched it dissipate after it missed. Apparently these things could only launch one attack before disappearing for good but that meant little when the mecha-nubis could send forth multiple projections rapidly one after another. Ares had just dodged the first one when a second rushed out from the Anubis' body and was already swinging at him again. If Ares took a passive approach he would be run down by endless holograms and eventually get caught out in a big way so he had to bring the fight directly to his foe and not give him time to do this freely. It didn't look like this costed much mana for the Anubis either so Ares really had to stop it manually rather than try outlast it and cast Grim Cessation.

Ares ducked under a hologram swinging its cane for the fences, leap frogged over another one that tried to use its burly frame to tackle his waist, pivoted to the side to avoid a grapple from the third hologram in line, and kicked off the nearby wall to jump over and around a fourth hologram attempting to block his path. These damn things were persistent and deadly but they were just programmed to perform specific actions and not actually capable of adjusting their preset plans on the fly. As long as Ares could correctly identify their actions ahead of time avoiding them wasn't too difficult, just a tad draining on the old brain. Thankfully Omniscience aided with this by analysing the potential outcomes and limiting the theoretical options Ares had to guess between. As such, his approach to the mecha-nubis was swift despite the army of holograms attempting to barrage him with sheer numbers. He disappeared amid a sea of ethereal blue but emerged scratch-less seconds later with graceful steps, weaving his body in and out of danger to accommodate his path to the real monster.

Eventually the mecha-nubis was forced to give up on this hologram strategy and let out a short howl which caused the liquid flowing through the tubes on its body to bubble and flow faster. It's body spasmed and grew larger as more chemicals were pumped directly into its veins and it was now more than well enough equipped to crush an entire steel boat with nothing but its arms and brute force. The wielder of this might was neither slow and sluggish nor stupid or simple. The mecha-nubis knew how to use this strength properly and wasn't weighed down by this raw power so it was a highly dangerous foe and potentially even more so than Sandy. Sandy's magic was definitely stronger, and she was tougher overall, but in terms of who could hit the hardest with a simple punch that award went to the mecha-nubis hands down and so Ares made it a number one priority to avoid sustaining damage. It would not be a light tap he received if he made a mistake, his entire body would get blown apart wherever he was hit... 

Ares brought out his scythe so as to keep a small distance between him and the Anubis but, with a single swing, he realised this fight was going to be a little problematic because his scythe was swiped aside by the Anubis' cane. Sure scythes were tricky to gauge but these Anubis likely had data in their minds, thanks to Sevorus, about all sorts of unusual combat styles and scythes were very clearly on that list. They seemed to have a good grasp of how to fight against them without getting caught up on their uniqueness so Ares didn't have the element of surprise here like he usually did. He would have to fight for every inch of ground at range with his weapons, his magic might not be enough to guarantee a win as the mecha-nubis definitely had defensive options up its sleeves, and a head on confrontation against those muscles was a death sentence... These Anubis were going to be tricky to beat for sure. It would take more effort than beating Sandy did but, then again, he didn't have to hold back here and could go somewhat all out. This room's size was still limiting for him but, other than that, it was go time! Plus there were two of these monsters and, though one wasn't interested in him right now, it sure as hell would be when the Anubis he was fighting started losing!

Tom Tom clearly wasn't expecting Ares to win here, and must have assumed the only way these monsters were beatable was with a large group of experts, but Ares was going to flip that expectation on its head! He almost wished he could fight both Anubis at once because that would be a challenge worth his time! It was often when he was struggling the most that he could really tap into his potential and dredge up the bare minimum needed to survive. Still, just fighting one Anubis was a valuable experience and more than enough to keep him occupied for now so he swung the scythe again, coating it with disintegration this time, and resorted to a blitz of awkward angles rather than one quick sneak attack to catch his opponent off guard. This netted him better results and the Anubis couldn't find a moment to breathe or launch a counterattack so easily against the flurry of blackened metal. Ares was parried on occasion but he was able to retreat safely thanks to his weapon's range advantage. He couldn't move too far, lest the Anubis fired holograms at him again, but so long as he made a perfectly evaluated retreat he wouldn't be subjected to a counterattack in any way as things stood currently. The Anubis simply didn't have time to punish Ares for overly aggressive strikes and it didn't seem too pleased about that. The Anubis were still clever creatures with many thoughts running through their head so it was trying to adjust its plans on the fly here for this annoying opponent. Its response was to tap the cane against the floor and create a bluish zone in the immediate area. Ares couldn't tell what exactly this did but he felt exposed for some inexplicable reason... Like he'd been locked onto by a fearsome predator and, actually, he was half right. This blue zone did in fact allow the mecha-nubis to lock onto him and now Ares was about to get a taste of this thing's full arsenal... Or at least what it could fire in its weakened state anyway but it would still be a considerable assault nonetheless! Out with the old, in with the new. It was time for technology to take centre stage!