Near Human

by Element of Power

Chapter 10

By the time E-30 made it to Onyx's mine, it was around the middle of the night. He had been extremely wary of his surroundings while he ran through the forest, since he didn't want to encounter any wooden wolves, or some other monstrosity. His empty cart was kept on his shoulder, to make sure that it wouldn't get caught on anything.

He ran up to the clearing, coming to a stop at the edge. Around the center of the clearing, where the entrance to the mine was located, there weren't any Diamond Dogs in sight. 'Maybe they're sleeping inside.' he mused.

He quietly made his way to the mine, feeling like something was wrong. Halfway there, he noticed a flame coming from the clearing edge to his right. It was a Diamond Dog, waving a torch frantically. E-30 quickly crept to them, moving away from the mine. Once he got there, he saw that it wasn't just one Dog. It looked like the entire pack was there, in a large camp setup.

The Diamond Dog with the torch grabbed his hand and pulled him into camp. "No go mine, not safe!" He was led deeper into the encampment, up to a small wooden tower. "Onyx up there" the Dog said, before scampering off. E-30 put down his cart before climbing the surprisingly sturdy ladder up to the top.

Once he made it to the top, he had a much better view of the clearing before him. Sitting at the top of the tower were two Diamond Dogs, a normal one and Onyx himself, surveying the clearing. Onyx got up and approached him. "You came at a bad time. That's unfortunate for you, but maybe it's fortunate for us. We could use your help."

"What's the problem? Why are you guys hiding in the woods?" E-30 asked. Onyx waved toward the moonlit clearing. "We cannot return to the mines, because we will all die. Something else inhabits the depths. We broke through into a cavern, possibly connected to a different series of caves leading to the surface. It had only been minutes until the creature revealed itself, tearing through the hole and into the mine. It looked very similar to a dragon, except it only had two back legs. Its front legs were joined with its wings, like a bat. I have never heard of a dragon breed like that, but it was just as destructive as a normal dragon could be."

'That sounds like a wyvern... why are their so many monsters here?' E-30 thought to himself. He turned to Onyx and said "I'm not sure if I could fight something like a dragon, I almost got torn apart by the wooden wolves in the forest." Onyx raised an eyebrow. "You mean the Timberwolves? They can be very deadly, no matter who you are."

'Timberwolves...okay...'

E-30 nervously looked at the mine entrance. The dark entrance stared back menacingly. 'There's no way around this. I need their metal, and I don't know if I'll be able to get it elsewhere, or by myself.'

He turned back to Onyx. "Are... there any important things to know about dragons?" Onyx shrugged. "Not much that everybody already knows. Fire-breath, heat resistance, tough scales. Obviously, there are small openings between the scales, but it's not easy to do enough damage using the openings. Also, certain breeds of dragons can have something like snake fangs, venom included."

The more Onyx talked, the worse E-30 felt about his current mission. It just seemed to keep getting more and more impossible. Onyx must have noticed his growing despair, since he patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, some of my pack will be going with you, myself included. Maybe we can distract it while you try to do something to kill it."

E-30 looked up at the Diamond Dog leader. "Thanks, I'll try to think of something before we go in." Onyx nodded, before looking back at the clearing. E-30 climbed down the ladder, sitting at the base of the tower to think. He took off his backpack and emptied its contents; the two bottles he brought. One labeled "Blind" and the other "Acid"

"I'll definitely need to use these, but it would be all too easy to miss my shot and lose any chance of winning. I need to get it inside of the wyvern, but I don't want to be eaten to do it." He thought back to Onyx's list of dragon facts. One stood out to him. 'Snake fangs...'

Miraculously, he got an idea. He tried to visualize it as best as he could, giving his little robots an overview of what he wanted. They came swarming out of his body, coating the bottle of acid he had and dragging it over to his arm. They began opening his arm up, and he was thankful they seemed to turn off his artificial nerves somehow. His arm looked like a mangled mess as they rearranged metal, making sparks fly while they cut and re-welded. Eventually, they finished their job, returning to his body.

He flexed his arm, searching for a difference. He found it, something that felt different in is arm and on the back of his hand. When he activated it, a segmented 14 inch blade unsheathed from his hand. It looked too thin to be used like a sword or knife, but it was perfect for his intended purpose.

"Snake fang..."

E-30 sent the blade back into his arm, disappearing with a series of clicks. He thought about the acid that was being contained in his arm, ready to be injected. "That was a small bottle, compared to what I'm facing. I wonder if I could make any more?" Testing the limits of his robots, he gave them the command. This time they didn't emerge. They seemed to churn inside him, but they didn't attempt to leave. "I guess chemistry like that is outside their functions." He would need to go back to that hut if he needed more.

He put the "Blind" bottle into his backpack, and climbed back up the tower. At the top, he tapped Onyx to get his attention. Onyx turned around, alert. "Are you ready to go?" E-30 nodded. Onyx walked over to the ladder. "Then so are we. Let's go."

The both of them left the tower, and Onyx led him to a large tent near the center of the camp. Inside, there were multiple racks filled with spears, swords, and shields. "We don't usually need weapons for most things, but we do occasionally use some metal make some, to be prepared for the worst." There was a group of 10 Diamond Dogs, grabbing weapons and shields. "I don't want too many of us to die if this goes wrong, so I won't be bringing many of my pack. Only enough to be a distraction or cause some injuries, so I hope you have a way to kill it." Onyx grabbed a spear and shield as well, specially built for his larger stature. They all left the tent, following their alpha.

E-30 and the group got closer and closer to the dark mine, leaving behind the lights in the camp. Soon enough, they passed into the mouth of the entrance, swallowing them in darkness, except for the glow that a few of their torches emitted. He listened to the air, trying to notice any identifiable noises. Very faintly, he heard the shuffling of something large.

They crept down, deeper into the winding mine, ready to attack. He glanced at the Diamond Dogs, and noticed that they didn't seem scared, just cautious. 'I guess they were picked by Onyx for a reason.' Onyx walked with them, the torch light partially illuminating his body. Despite his bigger size, he made almost no sound at all.

After a few more tense minutes, Onyx stopped everyone. E-30 followed his lead, looking at where he was pointing. Onyx's paw was pointing toward a big hole in the wall, with shattered rocks all over the ground in front of it. 'This is my moment now...'

He went through the hole, the space before him becoming an enormous cavern. The Diamond Dogs followed him inside, on guard at all times. E-30 kept moving, and suddenly froze. The faint shuffling he heard at the entrance to the mine started up again, except it was much louder. They all huddled together and watched as the scaled body of the wyvern emerged from the shadows. In the dim light, its scales looked stone grey. It huge back legs boomed as they came down on the ground. Its front legs were much lighter, and similar to a bat's like they expected. Spikes protruded from its head, just as sharp as the teeth filling its mouth. E-30 had assumed that its eyes would glow, but they didn't. They were wrapped in darkness, the torchlight not being bright enough to illuminate its stare. Suddenly, it crouched lower to the ground. "SCATTER!" Onyx barked, as they all ran in different directions.

The wyvern launched forward, crashing down where the group had once been. They were all sprayed with crush rocks as they scrambled to stay away from the looming threat. As E-30 watched, the Diamond Dogs quickly regrouped and swarmed the beast's back legs, moving away whenever it stepped near them. The wyvern took swipes at them with its wing-claws, but they were able to dodge and keep attacking. Unfortunately, they weren't able to do any real damage either.

E-30 looked down at his hand, activating his fang. He steeled himself with determination before retracting it and running into the action. From his bag, he grabbed the "Blind" bottle and aimed for the wyvern's head. The head was low to the ground, as it tried to rip into the Diamond Dogs, who evaded it. Once he was sure of its trajectory, he threw it. It sailed through the air, before shattering against the wyvern's shadow-hidden eyes. The liquid started shining with a bright white light, like a star on earth. It stuck to the beast's face and eyes, preventing it from seeing anything other than white. The beast's roar shook the cavern as it thrashed about, desperate to hit anything. The Diamond Dogs had retreated from it, since it was now much less predictable..

'Now's my chance!'

He ran under the wyvern, avoiding being stepped on by its massive claws. He grabbed onto its tail, trying to climb onto its back. The wyvern whipped its tail, sending him upwards to the ceiling of the cavern. He barely missed being impaled by a stalactite before coming back down, and crashing into the dragon's back. It left big scrapes and dents on his body, but nothing seemed too broken. He gripped the spikes on the wyvern's back as he got closer to its upper back, and then its neck. At this point, the wyvern must have felt him on its back, because it suddenly roared: "GET. OFF. NOW!"

This stunned E-30 for a moment, enough time for the wyvern to slam its back to the Cavern wall. Rock crushed around him as he was trapped between a rock and a scaly place, parts of him getting more and more damaged. The wyvern pulled away from the wall, getting ready to do it again. E-30 quickly hauled his damaged body onto the other side of the wyvern's back, narrowly avoiding being crushed again. He made climbing spikes on his hands and feet as he scrambled the rest of the way to the head. At the edge of its head, right next to its forehead, he prepared what he hoped would be the final strike. He unsheathed his fang, and brought the blade down into the flesh, between the scales.

Acid poured in from its container in his arm, immediately working to dissolve the flesh of the wyvern. His blade had only gone halfway through the tough skull, but it was enough for the acid to work through until it started eating through the front of its brain. The wyvern screeched in pain as it shook its head side to side, its movements becoming jerky. It brought one of its clawed wing-arms up to its head, quickly finding E-30. It grabbed onto his leg, crushing it as he was flung into the wall.

It wasn't long until the wyvern began to slow. It didn't try to find E-30, since its thoughts were scrambled as its body shut down. Its legs bent, and the beast crumpled to the ground, pushing up a dust cloud.

E-30 was sprawled on the ground, processing the moment. His body was in bad shape, the Diamond Dogs were rushing toward him, and across the cavern was the corpse of the wyvern. Its forehead leaked blood and black, dissolved brain matter from the puncture wound, made by the snake fang. He let his head hit the ground. "Fuck."

Author's Note:

"Although, for one of you, the darkest pit of Hell has opened to swallow you whole. So, don't keep the Devil waiting, old friend."

Comments

[Dogman15]

I could point out all of the spots in this chapter where you used "it's" when you should have used "its", but there were so many (mostly in reference to things belonging to the wyvern) that I won't, and instead suggest you go through and check for that yourself. As a reminder, "it's" always means "it is", and "its" is what you use when describing something in the possessive form.

"but such it'll be all to easy to miss my shot" this is worded oddly. Also, I think you meant "too easy".

"as it tried to rip into the Diamond Dogs, who evading it." I think you meant "who evaded it."

---

Man, killing a sentient being is going to weigh hard on his consciousness.

[Element of Power]

11050266
Thank you for the suggestions. Grammer corrections are always welcome

[Tempest_Flare]

Might I suggest that E-30 have his nano make a staff or sword? (Just as a backup in case any of his systems fails and he can't use his in-built weapons)

[Chaos Blitz]

FNAF quote!

It's from Pizzeria Simulator

[Dogman15]

11050383
Thank you for the story so far. Just wanted to point out that you may still want to correct "to easy" to "too easy".

[Snowkitsune]

Not sure how I feel about this last bit.. Timber wolves are monsters, as are the stoner chickens but The Wyvern spoke meaning it was a person

[Lord BLACKHUNTER]

Time for him to invest in some weapons. With whats available to him some swords, spears, warhammer and shield can easily be made. With a little effort and some copper he can make an electro magnetic projectile accelerator. It wouldn't be like a modern one because of a lack of circuit boards so it would most likely be a steam punk like one. It would use springs and electro magnetic acceleration MAC (magnetic accelerating coils), and guass type systems. Simple battery and capacitors can be made with copper and lead.

[Rubahhitam]

Loving the story!

-Rub

[Green Doom]

Fnaf 6 love the ending with Henry speech to afyom