Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 959: Enter Walter Works

Mutually assured destruction, that was the underlying threat Uriel had just casually thrown like it was nothing. Whether Atomic was or not capable of mustering the power of the demon core was not even a question for Aphrodite, who confirmed it with her own eyes. The resulting explosion would be enough to kill most of the population of the Megacity and the radiation poisoning would be enough to turn even the strongest hunters into nothing but cryptid food. That much she knew for sure.

The true question was whether Uriel would be capable of giving the order, but deep down she already knew the answer.

Absolute disregard for human pain, showed no emotion but satisfaction as his plan unfolded and, worst of all, not even when his comrades fell did he make a move which meant he didn’t even care about them. It was precisely that fact what made her doubt, because she had studied Uriel long enough that he cared about his friends like they were family and had risked his own life many times for them. That was her ace up the sleeve as she never even considered him a threat for as long as she could get a couple hostages she was certain they would never intervene in her plans.

"This kid is already dead, correct?" Aphrodite asked and Uriel promptly replied.

"Correct."

"You cannot die and your comrades have already fled." She sighed in surrender.

"You’re smarter than you look." Uriel grinned.

"Then I truly have no other choice..." Just when Aphrodite was about to declare her surrender, just when Uriel’s plan was about to reach its final stage in a complete victory, just when everything seemed to have fallen into place, the Mapple corporation showed its face.

No fewer than fifty high tech zeppelins encircled the city, slowly advancing towards the center forcing the fleeing Dungeon Raiders and Hathaway conglomerate to retreat back into the megacity perimeter. Shots were fired back and forth causing shrapnel to fall all over the city, many fires were started and scorching marks appeared on the alloy reinforced hulls of the Mapple corporation zeppelins, but none was taken down after the first round.

"This can’t be... hail them, I’ll talk to them." Medusa gasped in shock.

"They’re not answering." Miss Dragonfang informed as the ship shook due to the incoming fire.

"Shield efficiency at 60%" Phlox reported as she helplessly watched the numbers in the monitor going down in real time.

"Add more flux orbs to the shield, steer the ship back downtown and... return fire." Medusa hesitated before giving the command as she personally knew some of the people who commanded the other ships. They were, after all, part of her family’s company and while their interest may have not always aligned she never considered them as enemies. Giving the command to return fire was the least she could do in terms of defensive measures, but it came with the weight of knowing that many lives would be lost because of her actions.

Most zeppelins had mostly small cannons and a couple heavy weapons on them since that was the best setup to fight against cryptids in open air, but that was not the case for the Pegasus since most of the times they dealt with cryptids themselves. Instead, it possessed very few small cannons, the medium sized cannon called L.U.N.A. Medusa built almost as a joke and a single large plasma cannon on top which consumed a large amount of flux energy with each shot fired.

It was so inefficient in terms of energy consumption it could be considered a waste if not for the fact that even gods were vulnerable to plasma rounds of that size. It wasn’t just the area of effect attack, but the persistence of the plasma capable of digging deep into cryptids and gods alike.

Time seemed to pass around Uriel while he remained still and only limited himself to witness the air battle that developed slowly but surely into the Mapple corp’s victory, leaving no choice to the allies but to retreat.

Unfortunately to them, the gods were already waiting weapons in hand and they hurled all manners of throwing weapons imbued with enough flux energy to bypass the barriers Medusa had installed. Despite the divine power invested in the weapons due to their small size the damage they caused was low unless they happened to hit any critical device, but with the allied fleet attacked from ground and air level at the same time casualties started piling up at a rapid pace.

Thankfully for the Dungeon Raiders, their only two ships were too small to be considered a threat in such a large scale battle field, though it wasn’t lack of material the reason why Medusa had them built that way. The Pegasus was fairly large compared to the covertte class ships that prioritized speed over haul capacity, but it was nothing compared to the behemoth class ships that composed most of the battlefield.

However, although their newly built zeppelin was about the same size it was named Chrysaor like the giant of the myth and not without reason. It wasn’t because of its size, but rather the single cannon embedded in the bottom of the vessel that was capable of firing a massive plasma round that packed a hole even into the largest Mapple corp ships. It came at the cost of consuming the entirety of their energy reserve which should have caused the ship to crash on the ground, but thanks to Bella’s trait it remained afloat and the only penalty for firing was to shortly lose their protective barrier.

When the Chrysaor opened fire against the Mapple corp’s flagship, the enemy’s weapon was then revealed as a small figure atop the flagship lifted its arms and stopped the plasma round like it was nothing, then seemingly absorbed the light leaving but a scorch mark on the ship’s hull caused by the remnant heat.

"That guy...," Sam clenched his fists as he saw the man’s face despite the distance. "he’s Walter Works. He’s your grandfather"

Medusa already doubted his grampa’s identity even before she met her mother. There were many oddities which she didn’t make much of, but they piled up into a nagging suspicion that he wasn’t the charming old man she thought she knew.

There were many contradictions about Walter works such as his claim to have been an explorer in his youth which he backed up with a large knowledge base that allowed him to discuss about archaeology with even Jon Hunter, who dedicated his entire life to the study of history through material remains as he said it. But Walter rarely mentioned the dates of his travels, or any date whatsoever which made sense now that Medusa knew he was way older than any human should be.

Then, there was the fact that a person who claimed to have spent the better part of his life exploring came up with groundbreaking technology and founded the largest technology corporation in the world, yet he never disclosed the names of the scientists behind their research. That much could be explained as an effort to protect the patents of his products, but it was odd nonetheless.

If anything, the largest clue about his identity came not from her mother who knew him for centuries neither from her own experiences with him which amounted to most of her life, but from the fact that he claimed to be sick yet never showed any signs of illness.

Everything about him was strange, but if Medusa’s suspicions were correct it would explain why she was never allowed to meet her father who eventually became an almost fictional antagonist throughout her life, mostly because he was a figment of imagination.

"He’s not my grampa, he’s Zeus... my father." Medusa’s eyes glinted in the coldest crimson before giving the command to focus fire on him.

All kinds of projectiles including traits were launched at the small figure on top of the Mapple corporation flagship a deep hole in the ship’s hull, but little to no damage to the man himself. Walter made the smallest of efforts to avoid them, but didn’t bother to dodge the shrapnel which meant he didn’t mind receiving damage and only wanted to avoid being pushed out of the ship’s hull.

A smile was drawn on his face when he confirmed what ship was targeting him specifically and lightning brimmed throughout his body as his hair spiked up, then he seamlessly floated on his way to the Pegasus holding an actual lightning bolt in his hand as though it was a javelin.

Watching the scene, all the gods on the ground level knelt on the ground and all humans followed suit as their inner instincts told them it was the only way to survive. They didn’t even dare to look at him directly, but within their minds they knew they were in the presence of the strongest god of the Olympus.

This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶