The Infinity Dungeon [LitRPG]

Michael looked around, frantically searching for a way out.

"Icarus, what's the status of my magic?"

"The battery pack is full, 100 Copper with a max output of 10 Copper per second."

He had a regeneration of a single unit per second if he pushed it, but looking at the giant robot seconds away from his position, he doubted the fight would last that long. He kept the pressure high as he scouted the land, shooting his Force Lance and forcing the robot to deflect the gravitic energies with its shield.

Even though fast and unerringly precise, deflecting the shots aimed at its weak spots slowed it down.

It wasn't much reassurance. One by one, Michael was running through all the locations he could try to bring the fight to, but none seemed ideal. Even with his 100 Copper units of pure mana, he was pretty much a basic human with a couple of tricks and a weapon. He didn't even have fractals or whatever the equivalent for them was going to be in his new magic system, and was forced to use all magic by hand, greatly reducing efficiency.

He could go underground, carve a hole in the city with his weapon and force the robot to fight in close quarters. It seemed like a good idea at first, but then he realized that one wrong move would have him buried by tens of thousands of metric tons of debris. His Force Lance was powerful, but it wasn't nearly precise enough to save him from a cave-in. All the giant robot would have to do was slam its foot in Michael's general direction and he would be toast.

This gave him an idea, though.

Steeling himself, he let magic flow through his body. The enhancement was laughable compared to the heights he was used to, but he needed any edge he could find.

He mentally counted. 80 Copper Mana left.

With the enhancement snapping into place, he broke into a run towards the robot. He gave a couple of instructions to Icarus, directing some magic to the AI and feeling his own enhancement weaken. He wanted to complain, but it was necessary.

60 Copper Mana left.

Then he was close enough that the robot simply tried to stomp him with its foot. Michael aimed his weapon up and fired, not surprised to see the shield arm move to intercept and deflect the shot, bending at its many joints in inhuman agility.

He didn't let up. Running left and right, he fired shot after shot. The giant of metal was larger than a skyscraper, making moving around it impossible, but Michael tried to always alter the angle of his attacks. He jumped over a car, then up a wall with his feet vertical for a moment, burning through his stash of magic.

55 Copper Mana left.

The enraged voice of the Lair rattled his ears.

"You stupid ant, why won't you die!"

It made Michael stumble, losing his footing and rolling to the ground. He came to a stop against a piece of upturned asphalt and concrete, back against the hot debris, face staring at the robot's other arm descending onto him. The mana ticked up.

58 Copper Mana.

59.

60.

He raised the Force Lance, fired a shot that was deflected, and got up. It was enough of a distraction to slow down the other arm punching him, giving him a brief window to move out of the way. The road exploded behind him, caving in as the robot retracted its fist from a smoking hole.

Michael fired again. This time the shield arm was too slow, and he nicked the good arm. A couple fingers flew away, but the robot didn't seem to care.

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"You think you can keep running?" the Lair bellowed.

The robot suddenly changed direction, going towards a twenty story building. It grabbed it, uprooting it from the ground and lifting it up. Michael shot his weapon again, seeing an opening, but the robot simply let go of the building and protected itself yet again. Then it kicked the falling edifice, shattering it into a shower of deadly debris the size of cars.

Michael used his weapon to redirect the debris and then disappeared in the cloud of dust that spread from the impact points.

45 Copper Mana left.

He shot again, never stopping for more than a fraction of a second. This time, the weapon seemed to protest, growing hot enough to make the arm wielding it, which had always felt cool and snug, begin to sweat.

Michael reinforced it with magic.

38 Copper Mana were left in the tank.

He felt his already labored breath quicken. He didn't have many shots left before the weapon overheated, it seemed.

Making use of the dust cover, he pivoted and turned around. He didn't see the robot, but the black silhouette of a foot told him that the robot had seen him, probably using thermal sensors to pierce through the dust.

"Got you, asshole!" the Lair screamed in victory.

Michael grinned. "Nope. I got you."

He shot at the incoming foot. It was deflected. This time, however, Michael also did something he had not done once in the whole fight. He shot at the ground, causing yet another cave-in right beneath the robot's feet. Its inhuman agility saved it, but Michael simply shot again, the weapon growing red-hot against his skin, and the robot tripped and fell.

Its shield arm was still deflecting the shots coming at it from Michael's weapon, but the other was bracing against the ground as the heavy humanoid robot fell deeper and deeper into the hole.

A wild punch almost took Michael down. He dodged at the last second, using magic to pull him away like a puppet on strings.

3 Copper Mana left. It ticked up, second by second, as Michael staggered to the hole.

Peering down from the edge of the hole, he fired at the ground beneath the robot. The wave of force passed right by it, not triggering its defenses because it was not aimed at it, instead parting the stone and bedrock of the foundations of the city and revealing the shimmering shield that surrounded it even at the bottom.

As the robot fell, its arms were finally immobilized. The metal of its feet sizzled and bubbled where it touched the shield, the two rejecting each other, smoke of burnt paint and metal brought to its vaporization point wafting up and staining the air in rancid smells.

"I hope this doesn't give me cancer," Michael muttered.

He took aim one last time, knowing this was going to be the last shot he could fire for a long while. He aimed at the head of the giant, where it could not defend itself.

"Wait–" the Lair panicked.

Michael was about to pull the trigger.

"I would advise you to keep that part intact. I am using it to piggyback a connection to the mainframe."

Michael's finger twitched. As if in response, the whole robot began to spasm, trying to free itself of the stone tomb it had fallen into.

Michael simply aimed at its torso, right above the nuclear reactor. "That's not going to cause an atomic explosion, will it?"

"Aim a bit higher and to the right," Icarus explained calmly in his usual androgynous voice. "That will cut the flow of energy to the main control circuits."

Michael did, fired, watched more than a third of the robot turn into scrap metal that was then flattened against the stone of the city's foundations, then cursed and removed the smoking-hot implement from his arm. His skin was blistered and smoking.

He burned the last of his magic to heal himself. It was a patch-up job, a far cry from his old healing magic. It still hurt, but at least his arm was functional.

On the ground, the weapon worked to get rid of the excess heat.

"I found it," Icarus said, withdrawing from the connection. Even though it had not been Michael doing the heavy lifting, he could feel the presence of the Lair at the other side of the connection like an angry mastiff barking at them.

For some reason, a chain was holding the rabid dog back, but the bolts securing it to the wall had long since rusted over and weren't looking very solid.

"You found the mainframe? Can we get there?"

"Not yet."

"Why?"

"Look at the robot, Michael." Icarus's voice was excited. The most excited he had ever heard the AI be.

Turning around, he didn't see what the AI was talking about until he switched to magic sight. He could somewhat replicate a very weak version of his old sight using raw mana.

The robot's core glowed in sick greens and yellows, distorting the very air around it. Michael took a step back without even being aware of it, such was the power of what he was seeing.

"That is Nuclear Element, Michael. Seize it for yourself, quick!"