The battle ended far quicker than Reever expected. It was not exciting at all. He had hoped for something fierce, something challenging, a fight that would push him or at least make him feel something close to danger. Instead, it was disappointing. Even when controlled by whatever thing lurked in this forest, the bots lacked the true battle IQ that human players had. They had no creativity, no hesitation, no instincts. They followed patterns. They were predictable.
Reever wiped imaginary dust from his armor out of habit, then sat down on another fallen trunk. The forest around him was silent again, as if nothing had happened. The only sound came from the faint hum in his body, the vibration of circuits cooling off after releasing energy blasts.
He leaned back and reopened his conversation with his mind.
"You know," B began in a bored tone, "instead of sitting here and talking to yourself like an old lonely grandpa, you can hunt down the origins of these Zombots. This whole thing is a hide and seek game, and the thing seeking you already knows exactly where you are. It is impossible to hide from it. Think for a moment. Have you ever wondered how it keeps tracking you down and sending ambush after ambush instead of facing you directly?"
A paused. The question echoed in his mind.
"Come to think of it," A said slowly, "you are right. It always knows where I am. The system also warned me before it went silent. It said that I must find it before it finds me. With that, I came up with a conclusion. The system knew about the Zombots. It suspected that I would die many times if I faced them blindly. And, as you said earlier, I must have a beacon on me that attracts them."
Reever felt a bit proud. He loved it when a theory connected nicely in his head.
"So here is my plan," A continued, sounding almost enthusiastic. "I have my drone scouts watching from the sky. The moment this hunt began, I deployed all eight of them. I used them to search the land for any sign of the origins of these Zombots. After all, something must be creating them. There must be a heart, a core, a birthplace. And you know how massive this place is. It feels like its own continent. Luck plays a very big role in survival here."
He smirked a little.
"And luckily, Lady Luck finally sent her regards. I found the origin location. That is why I came to this forest."
B hummed thoughtfully. "But don't you think the thing will notice you heading in its direction?"
"I already thought of that," A replied confidently. "That is why I decided to play by its own rules. Every time I located the source area through the drones, I pretended to retreat. Whenever the Zombots gathered to swarm me, I made sure I ran toward the direction they came from. By doing that, I pushed myself closer and closer to their production site. That is why we keep running into more enemies. We are almost there."
Reever's tone sharpened slightly as he explained.
"Not far from here, deep inside the forest, there is a huge tree in the center. It has a small hidden manhole at its base. Very well hidden. You would never find it unless you already knew it was there. And the surrounding trees also have similar holes. The thing we are playing with is smart. Very smart. It expected someone might find it, so it created many entrances to confuse anyone who dares to search for it. I am sure there is a maze down there. A deep one. And if there is something I am certain about, it is that this thing will never lack resources."
A sighed.
"Think about it. How many people are playing this game? Countless, like grains of sand. And never in the history of this game have bots failed to appear to fill player numbers. So every time a team loses, the bots that fought them are sent here. Every destroyed map, every broken bot, every leftover piece is dumped in this world. This place is always growing. More parts keep coming in. More bots. More scraps. More tools for this creature to keep producing its army."
B stayed silent for a moment, then asked, "If that is the case, then what should we do?"
"Come on," A groaned. "I am not the only smart one here. You already know the answer. You always know. So explain it. I am tired of narrating everything."
B chuckled lightly. "Alright then. Listen. If there is an escape route for us after finding the thing, it means it is not strong enough to face us head on. That also means it fears us in a way. So, what we need to do is simple. Find the beacon. Find what it uses to track us. If we discover what object is exposing our location, we can create a diversion. Lead it somewhere else. Catch it off guard. Ambush the ambusher."
A nodded mentally.
"And I already know what the beacon might be. Do you remember how the sealed auxiliary reacted the moment we received this mission? I am certain that it is the beacon. The thing is using it to find us."
Reever summoned the circular sealed auxiliary. It hovered above his palm, glowing faintly with a dim blue light. He stared at it for a few seconds before unsummoning it again. He did not want to make the enemy suspicious by keeping it exposed.
"We need to move far away," A said. "Very far. Then mount it somewhere distant. If we place it well, the creature will follow the signal and think we are still moving in that direction."
Reever stood, slung his weapon over his shoulder, and began walking. He headed back toward the place where he had died last time. It was a one week journey from his current location.
Along the trek, he fought countless Zombots, but by now they were as easy to kill as chickens for slaughter. He barely had to think while taking them down. His body reacted on its own, faster than his thoughts.
After several days, he reached the open plain where he had been ambushed before. The ground was still scarred with blast marks. The wind carried dust in slow circles. He scanned the area first, checking every angle and listening for the slightest noise. After confirming it was safe, he approached the quicksand pit.
He mounted the sealed auxiliary inside the quicksand, letting it sink slowly until it was hidden. The pit would make it seem like he was still moving in the area, buried under the shifting ground. The enemy would waste time searching the wrong place.
Afterward, he checked his system storage. His armor had finally finished repairing.
The Phase Mirage armor shimmered faintly, its surface bending light around him. It had a camouflage skill that he could use perfectly for this mission. Even better, it allowed him to release five phantoms that lasted fifteen minutes, each one capable of distracting enemies and creating confusion.
Reever put on the armor. The cool metal wrapped around his body, feeling almost like a second skin.
He exhaled softly.
Then he turned around, facing the direction of the broken lands filled with fallen trees and silent winds. This time, he was not walking as prey.
He walked as the hunter.