Chapter 117 - Stealing A Mecha
After the speech by General Ro, they were guided toward the storage rooms where each squad made another line waiting. As words circulated, they heard that The Runes Association had provided artificial artifacts to combat the Calamity Spider.
Arthur had no plans to take any, and it wasn't mandatory. So, he left his squad after the leader reminded him that he needs to be at the gate in three hours. Although there was a lot of time left, they were afraid some would desert at the last seconds.
Too bad that it was Mistletoe's plan all along. That's why he wanted to meet with Ivy and the rest to see how their plan would unfold. As he walking through the fortress, a hand grabbed him from the shadows and pulled him into a corner hidden from view.
It was Ivy, a few inches away from him, holding his mouth so he wouldn't scream. Seeing he wasn't startled; she removed her hand and grinned.
"You're getting less-newbie-like, Newbie." Ivy, with her long curly hair that Arthur wasn't used to, dragged him away from view to another storage room where Zas and Li were waiting. It seems they have sneaked away already and were waiting for Arthur to arrive.
"Aren't you scared we might be found out if we meet like this?" Arthur asked after he unsnarled his wrist from Ivy's grip.
"Relax, even if we are, it's not that uncommon for guild members to meet before the battle. The only reason they separate people is to avoid emotional attachment in deadly situations." Zas waved his hand.
It seems that if guild members joined the same squad, they would either risk the whole squad's formation collapsing or just disobey orders if things turned worse to help their friends.
"When are we leaving?" Arthur asked after nodding to Zas.
"Well, we thought we should do it now. However, Ivy says she has a better idea than wasting our energy." Zas glanced at Ivy who smirked. "I think it's better if we just use my ability to teleport us a distance away from the Calamity Spider, but Ivy says…"
"That wouldn't be fun!" Ivy interrupted. "I heard something while the Vetus-ranks meeting. There's underground storage that has pathways leading outside the forest into the woods."
"And?" Arthur didn't understand, and he saw the others sigh.
"Hehe, they have a secret weapon to fight against the Calamity Spider. It's Mechas!" Ivy's eyes were glowing with excitement.
"They're the first line of defense against the spider. As normal awakeners would just die if they're sent out there, the mechas and mana-guns would be used first to slow it down. The squads would spread in the surrounding and on top of the walls to attack the spider if it gets close."
"How is that related to stealing a mecha?" Arthur asked with genuine curiosity. He always wanted to see an actual mecha since the first time he learned about them. They were mechanical artifacts, as they used both machinery and runes to achieve optimum mobility and firepower.
"If we wanted to get close to the Calamity Spider, we need to steal a mecha!" Ivy tsked and waved her finger as if Arthur didn't understand. "They're better than waiting in ambush amid danger."
"You're scared of wild monsters with Li with us?" Zas asked with an 'I know your game' scowl. Ivy glared at him with Li nodding with their squared face.
When Arthur asked Ivy before, she said that none of them saw Li's face before. They also didn't know Li's gender since they couldn't talk and never revealed it. However, she assured him that Li was quite the amiable character once you befriended him.
As Arthur looked at him nodding his head with his slits-like eyes and square face, receiving Zas's praise with a pleased expression, he thought it might be true.
"Fine, I just really want to ride a mecha!" Ivy pouted.
"Well, this is just extra work for us. They're usually encrypted and stealing them would send the whole army after us. It might be easier to use, but it would be hard to acquire."
"Well, I think the reason Ivy thought about it is because of me." Arthur laughed as he looked at Ivy with a side-look.
"What do you mean?" Zas was confused. He didn't understand how having Arthur would change things. "Even if you have a way to decode the protection encryption, we still can't do this just because it's fun. It would take so much time." Zas started coughing as if he wasn't used to talking for so long.
"But… I also want to ride a mecha." Arthur's reply left Zas and Li speechless and Ivy jumping with joy.
This way, their plan changed. They would decode a mecha to steal it. However, they wouldn't take it out before the Calamity Spider was nearby, to leave no luxury for the army to chase after them. After all, mechas were highly valued by the army, as it was considered to be semi-artifacts. Grandmasters and teams of runes master worked on it as well as engineers to make it possible.
This was concerning humanoid mechas, as for other types of mechas that were used for transportation and the so-called 'Mecha Tanks' with mana guns and tank-like structure were considered of a lesser degree.
Ivy and Arthur started walking toward the underground storage rooms, but they were heavily guarded. Luckily, Ivy used her ID and charm to convince the guards that they were just taking a tour of the fortress.
As for Zas and Li, they would try to handle the security cameras so that Arthur and Ivy wouldn't be found out. It seems that Zas's ability was related to teleportation and he was able to sneak into places. This way, he would disable the cameras for a while.
At long last, they reached the storage room's door. However, Ivy asked Arthur to wait behind a corner as she walked toward the guard. As he waited, he heard flirtatious whispers followed by a smacking sound. He glanced through the hallway and found Ivy waving at him.
"What have you done to him?" As he walked by the guard, he found him to be listless as if he wasn't registering any of what was happening. "He looks lifeless."
"It's one of my special effects," Ivy said as she tried to open the door. "Dammit, it's locked by runes." She started rampaging through the guard's pockets. However, nothing like IDs worked to open the door.
"Move away for a bit," Arthur walked toward the door and touched the runic plate. There was an alarm system in case someone tried to use force and only a special artifact would resonate with the lock to open it.
"Can you do it?" Ivy asked, hesitant. After all, she was so reliant on Arthur's ability after seeing how he opened the second layer that easily.
The door made a rumbling sound as it started to slide away before Ivy got her response. As the light illuminated the hallway and shining on Arthur, he turned around and grinned.
"I told you to trust me." It took nothing more than moments for Arthur to unlock the door. They slipped inside and closed the door behind them. If the security companies knew how easily Arthur decoded their encryptions, they would feel true despair.
After all, runic security was still a new thing. It was mainly used as a precaution against digital hackers. A runes master would be needed to decode these locks since they weren't available to the public like programming languages were. Even a runes master would be stumped if the runes used to encrypt the security locks were one that they haven't studied or never seen.
Arthur and Ivy walked around the facility where many mechanics were working alongside runes masters. They were immersed in their work that the duo was able to slip inside. After crossing the maintenance section, they were finally able to arrive at the storage.
However, the storage itself had many guards around it. The two hid behind crates and machinery as they tried to think of a way in.
"I think I have a way," Arthur suddenly said and slid to one of the mecha parts on the ground. They were a pair of legs that had tires installed underneath them for the mecha to move on flat land. As he touched the runes on the legs, Arthur found himself in the familiar sensation of being inside the runic map.
After a few minutes, Arthur backed away and led Ivy in another direction. The legs then started to move on their own as chaos ensued and the staff tried to stop it.
However, the legs started to jump upward all of sudden. It was Arthur's doing as he had used Force-II rune temporary runes on them to create even more chaos.
After a while, the guards had to hurry to help the staff in taking the legs down. In that brief seconds, Arthur was able to decode the door and gain access to the storage room.
The two stood in awe as they registered the giant and majestic sight of the whitewashed humanoid mecha in front of them. It looked like something out of a sci-fi novel, machines that would battle in space, but they were real thanks to magic.