Alpha Strike: [An interstellar Weapon Platform’s Guide to being a Dungeon Core] (Book 2 title)

Alpha stared at the tiny blue mushroom inside the glass dome. The current Translight system he used to grow the fungi was basically jury-rigged. The mycelium of this species was rather slow to grow, and Alpha still needed to build something proper to handle the load. Even in the current setup, it had taken nearly thirty years of Translight time for the first mushroom to form.

Yet… it was worth it.

A small syringe was inserted into the mushroom, and a tiny amount of milky white substance was extracted. This ‘milk of mushroom’ — actually a type of latex — was then transported via a robotic rail to another room. Inside, an antborg waited, its abdomen swollen with a swirling, golden liquid.

Almost reverently, the mechanical arm holding the syringe injected the milky-white substance into the ant.

Then, the ant shook.

Or rather, its abdomen shook, vibrating at such speeds that it would have blurred in a mortal’s eyes. As it did, the golden liquid mixed with the mushroom latex, and after only a few seconds, the concoction had turned an angry, glowing red.

“SUCCESS!” Alpha said as a dozen party streamers around the room popped at once, showering the antborg in colorful confetti.

The clues had been there all along.

Alpha just didn’t have the context to understand.

After all, both the root sap and the mushrooms were a major part of the ant’s basic diet. That combined, they could prove so… explosive seemed like it would have been a contradiction. Why would a creature intentionally ingest foods that could blow up in its face? Literally!

Well, it turned out the secret was in the ants themselves all along. Analysis of the ants showed that a special enzyme produced by the ant’s stomach could break down certain parts of the mushroom latex. At the right proportions, this digested latex would react with the root sap, forming a natural explosive.

The ants could safely ingest both items safely, because the rest of the mushroom acted as a neutralizer, preventing the reaction.

When the colony was threatened, certain ants chewed on pieces of mushrooms, extracting the latex but ingesting none of the mushroom solids.

Alpha had kicked himself for not figuring this out sooner. The insects of the mushroom grove had been his biggest clue. Their explosive properties were likely caused by their habit of directly ingesting the sap from both the plant and fungi.

Moreover, the resulting compound seemed to have a narcotic effect on the ants, placing them in the strange, calm, trance-like state Alpha had observed earlier.

Not that it made much difference to Alpha. He had plans other than just letting his antborgs blow themselves up.

Alpha directed the red antborg toward one side of the room as the wall pulled back, revealing a long corridor with several targets at the far end. Alpha rubbed his metaphorical hands and grinned a mental grin.

“Activate… [Ant-nihilator]!” he ordered.

Two of the hotspots along the side of the antborg’s thorax bubbled as the flexible nanites shifted and reformed. Then, two long tendrils pushed out and twisted into a pair of cones, the back ends large and bulbous, while the front ends collapsed into fine points.

The [Ant-nihilator]

had been a conceptual design from the moment Alpha learned of the ant napalm. But with no working samples, he couldn’t actually test the weapon outside of simulations — until now.

Almost giddy with excitement, Alpha gave the command.

“FIRE!”

Instantly, two burning lances of fire erupted from the tips of each cone, leaving a glowing trail of red aerosolized napalm in the air as they traveled.

The lance shot across the shooting range at high speed. It was maybe not as quick as an actual bullet, but it was rather impressive for what was mostly a highly pressurized jet of liquid. The best part was yet to come, however.

BOOOOM!

As the flaming lances struck the nearest target, it erupted in a massive fireball. What’s more, the explosion raced backward, down the glowing trail of floating lights, triggering a succession of smaller, if still impressive, explosions along its flight path.

“IT WORKS! HAHAHAHAHHA!” Alpha cheered.

More confetti rained down from the ceiling.

Alpha pulled up the weapon schematics and examined them one more time.

The addition of the crystal rail projectile was a late stroke of inspiration from watching the mortar termites. The arrayed marble, the size of a pea, acted like an anchor for the spiritual napalm, allowing it to travel nearly 30% farther than simulations suggested otherwise. Alpha’s refinement of the mushroom latex and root sap also allowed for aerosolized napalm left in the projectile’s wake to pack a much stronger kick than he had predicted. Likely, the ant’s own rough mixing method included too many impurities and mushroom solids to let the compound fully synthesize.

The [Ant-nihilator] would still need some testing and tweaking, but all the other numbers showed similar results to the simulations. Good, good.

Lucky for Alpha, some eager test subjects were practically knocking at his door to… volunteer. Hey, the termites had started this war. It was only fair.

————————————————————

“Robert! To your left!” Maggy yelled as a glowing blue hamster leapt at another mud-covered ant ‘zombie.’

The distraction was enough for Robert to whirl and backhand the ant with his shield, sending it rolling several meters toward the edge of the forest clearing.

The blue hamster clung stubbornly to the ant’s carapace. It gnawed at several weaker joints, cracking them in several places before a muddy tendril reached down and grabbed the summons, squeezing it until it erupted in a fiery ball of… well, fire.

The ant zombie, now with half its head missing, slumped to the ground. Antchaser rushed forward, a large ‘rifle’ in hand. He knelt down, aimed, and pulled the trigger. A thin, continuous beam of fire erupted from the weapon’s tip and struck what remained of the zombie ant just as it rose.

Instantly, the mud-filled the carcass and bubbled and steamed until a few seconds later, all that was left was an empty carapace and a pile of dirt.

The four trailtakers paused and looked around the clearing.

“I think that was the last of them,” Garrelt said, huffing.

“Oh, thank the Sisters!” Maggy exclaimed, collapsing onto her back. Another small blue hamster creature ran over and sat on her head.

Even Antchaser found his heart racing and breath heavy after the fight, despite knowing there was no real danger.

The goblin sighed, then nearly jumped out of his skin when Robert touched his shoulder. The high-level Cultivator easily blocked the stock strike drilled into him by his training. However, Robert didn’t seem to take offense and instead smiled down at Antchaser.

“Well done out there, Mr. Antchaser,” the team leader patted the goblin’s shoulder. “I’m ashamed to admit I feared we might have to protect. But it seems my fears were unfounded. In retrospect, I assume it should have been obvious, what with you and your people having run this dungeon before.”

Antchaser chuckled nervously and turned away. “Ah, no problem… sir. I… understand.”

Robert smiled, white teeth flashing in the dim light of the forest. “Even so, I would like to apologize. I must say, though, that’s quite the impressive weapon you have there, that… beam emitter, you called it? And you said such weapons can be found deeper in the dungeon?”

Antchaser nodded. “Yes, sir, though much farther in than we should be headed today,” he said, shouldering the weapon.

Robert nodded. “Fascinating. I’m looking forward to seeing what other wonders this place holds.” He then turned away. Antchaser frowned as the Adventurer did. The man’s smile had seemed… odd to him, for some reason, though he quickly dismissed the feeling as just coming down from the battle high. There was a reason Antchaser preferred his traps to these kinds of head-on battles.

Antchaser steadied his shaking hands, then reached up and slid a lever on his weapon. A slot in the forearm slid open, and a small, dull crystal rod was ejected. It hit the ground and crumbled into dust. Antchaser reached into a pouch at his hip, removed a fresh, glowing crystal, and slotted into the same opening before pushing the level back into place.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, sir? Offering such weapons to the Adventurers as rewards? I understand that’s… part of your purpose and all, but it feels like a bad idea,” Antchaser said into his personal comms.

“Na, don’t worry about that. These things are basically fancy welders. They couldn’t even put a scratch on the armor I gave you and the other hunters.” came Alpha’s response.

“Just worry about showing our ‘guests’ a good time and leave the rest to me. I know what I’m doing here.” The mad cackle that came over the comms sent a slight chill down the goblin’s spine.

Most of the time, Alpha seemed calm and collected. The picture of what Antchaser would expect of a Dungeon Core. At other times, however — especially when the Core was scheming or overly passionate about something — Antchaser worried that maybe the Core had gone insane. He shook his head and sighed, his shoulders sagging.

“He’s right, you know,” Maggy said from her supine position on the grass. Antchaser flinched, then turned to look at her as she continued. “That weapon is fascinating. It’s not too different from a [Fire Lance] staff or other similarly enchanted weapons, but I can’t sense even the tiniest spirit or mana emission until the very moment it fires. That could be devastating in the right situations.”

It took a second for Antchaser to realize the young Mage was speaking of Robert. They wouldn’t be able to hear Alpha, as the comms were built into Antchaser’s implants.

Maggy flipped over on her stomach and stared at the weapon with sparkling eyes. “You know… if you let me inspect it closer, I might be able to help with the efficiency issues!” she said, gesturing toward the pouch holding the shaped beast core charges.

Antchaser hesitated. If his actual weapon wasn’t already leagues better, he might have let the Mage. Antchaser couldn’t deny he wasn’t a bit curious himself at how the weapon worked. But all of this was just for show, and besides, Alpha was footing the bill for ammo, so the cost wasn’t really an issue for him.

After a moment, Antchaser shook his head. “Thank you for the offer, but I will have to decline, Ms. Greenwood. It’s rather… fragile to such tampering and difficult to get. Until more is known in general, I don’t feel comfortable letting others tinker with it,” he responded.

Maggy deflated but didn’t push the issue. It had been worth a shot at least, and besides, if what Antchaser had said was true, she could always get her own sometime in the future. One of the things that made dungeons so attractive to Adventurers was their habit of high quality and consistency with their rewards. More so if the dungeon was trying to spread an inheritance that required unique items or equipment.

“Gather up, everyone! It’s time to see what we got this time!” Robert called out after everyone had rested.

Maggy and Garrelt shared a grin, then turned and walked toward the large round platform in the middle of the clearing. Antchaser shook his head and followed shortly after.