Lower-tier Samurai do have to mind their matchups against specific Antithesis Models a lot more, as they usually don't have the weaponry to just muscle through everything. Those that focus on wide and fast spread damage may have issues breaking through the carapace of a Model Fourteen, while someone who fights up close will probably struggle to pin down the aerial Model Eleven.

  From what I’m told, if you're a melee Samurai fighting a Model Thirteen early in your career? Good fucking luck.

  -Samurai Helios, 2051

  As soon as my back hit the wall, which was a far from pleasant experience, my eyes moved to the source of the attack. What I laid eyes on was a whole mess of tentacles hanging from the ceiling, all sourced from some sort of multi-sectioned core in the body’s center. It was like staring at a giant squid made of foliage, or maybe it was closer to several squids tied together? Regardless, it was far too large to be any sort of mutated Model Four.

  I clicked my tongue. This wasn't the first time dealing with Model Thirteens; there were quite a number that popped up in Targ. Dealing with the Thirteens though wasn't something I actually did. I left that whole mess to Kevin who had his high tech crossbows and, therefore, an actual range advantage.

  Right now, it was just me who had to take it on. While it was hanging on the ceiling. And then I spotted a second one, hanging just a few feet away from its cohort and looking just as murderous as the first.

  Max, this is a bad matchup for you. Please exert caution.

  “No shit, Sherlock.” I needed to soften them up first before I could even think of assaulting them directly. “‘Nades!”

  A sphere dropped into each hand. Not even bothering to check what they did, I pitched them as hard as I could at the pair of Thirteens. A second later the cave was rocked with the sound of two explosions, blasting directly into the faces of the Antithesis.

  This did not make them particularly happy campers, each sending an irate flurry of tentacles in my direction. My boots were the only thing that kept me from becoming finely shredded, vaulting me just out of range of each wildly swinging appendage with some assistance from Sagesight.

  Room to maneuver was becoming tight thanks to these living weed wackers though, so I needed to make some space for myself. I intercepted a tentacle coming down from above, catching the bladed portion directly with my glove, before striking the rest of the tentacle with an open palm. An explosive blast of heat erupted from the strike, blasting away and severing the entire limb from the body.

  The Thirteen reeled back, then responded more ferociously than before as three more whips of death swung in from my right. Before they could strike, another explosion erupted from my palm, incinerating the tops of the tentacles off and blasting them back from whence they came. I didn’t have enough time to glance at it directly, but as I struck the Thirteen I could see from the corner of my eye the skull emblem on the back of the glove softly glow silver.

  I’d made an opening for myself, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to miss this chance. I lunged forward with the help of my boots towards the main body, vaulting myself over the small tentacles before they could get the chance to lash out. As soon as my fist connected with the flesh of the main body, an entire third popped like a balloon poked with a needle, expelling greater force than any previous punch I’d thrown today and the glow of the emblem returning to its dullness as consequence. Bits of plant were sent in all different directions, and the entire Antithesis slumped down, seemingly dead.

  There was no way it could survive a hit like that, or that is what I thought. As soon as I took a sigh to ease out, the Thirteen shuddered back to life and smacked me with several of its smaller whips all at once. Pain shot through my midsection and I was sent sailing through the air, rolling to the ground whilst curling up around my stomach from the pain. Even with all of the protections I had, I knew that was going to leave a mark.

  “How…is it still alive?” I groaned out, slowly pushing myself back up despite the difficulty of even standing straight through the pain.

  The Model Thirteen is composed of three separate bodies each with their own brain, all of which need to be destroyed to properly execute the model. Your attack only destroyed one.

  “So it's the fucking Eights all over again…” Now that I had a moment to really look at the blasted thing, I saw what Cal meant. There were indeed three bodies instead of just one aggregate mass, a subset of the tentacles set to tightly wrapping them together and each sporting their own sets of eyes and ears and whatever other sensory organs evil plant squids came equipped with. As weird as it was, the Thirteen reminded me of a six pack of beverages, the ones with those plastic rings and all that.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Such thoughts didn’t get a chance to linger as the Thirteen wasted no time bounding at me with deceptive speed. I had to dive out of the way before it could crush me with its weight, and just as I righted myself a tentacle swung down from above. Both hands went out to catch the blade before I could make contact, and I ended up holding it like a martial artist catching a sword in those old movies.

  I was pretty amused by the maneuver, to be honest. “Ha!”

  The Thirteen was less so, what with how quickly it brought the tentacle back towards the main body, whipping it up in the process. My grip didn’t falter, which was to my detriment in this case as it resulted in the Antithesis unintentionally throwing me way up into the air once my hands slipped loose. I nearly hit the surprisingly high ceiling of the cave, and quickly became a bunch of flailing limbs as gravity began to kick in.

  Wait, I can work with gravity!

  Righting myself with a quick puff of my boots, I lined myself up with one of the two remaining cores of the alien and smashed my fist right on top of it as soon as I fell into range. The next part of the body exploded, though not with as much force as last time, causing the Thirteen to recoil in pain. I wasn’t about to get caught unaware a second time, so I chose not to push further and instead jumped back onto solid terra firma in preparation of a counterattack.

  “That’s two.”

  The damn thing was looking damn pissed off at this point, even if it didn’t exactly have a mouth to fully portray that emotion. Conversely, it actually skittered away from me, using one tentacle to wrap around the final core and the remaining ones to climb up an opposing wall. With how those tentacles shuddered with tension, it was definitely up to something and that something wasn’t looking to be running away.

  The Thirteen is very likely preparing to lunge at you with as much force as it can muster.

  “Oh, is that so?” I let out a sinister cackle with as evil a grin on my face as I could manage, and dropped into my own pose of launch. “Well it’d be rude to not respond in kind. Cal, max strength on the boots for this one.”

  A deep, defeated sigh came from my AI.

  Reckless as always, I see.

  The cavern became deathly quiet for a moment, save for the sound of distant gunfire. Probably just the merc squad cleaning up a few single digits that saw an opportunity. Not like I could check at the moment. My focus still sat on the giant spider squid on the other side of this hive, each of us waiting for the other to make their move, western standoff style.

  The alien was the first to relent. The tension in the tentacles released with the force of a rocket and sent the body careening off in my direction, almost not giving me time to react before it could crush me. Luckily almost was the keyword there, and as soon as my augs predicted that the movement would happen I finally threw myself forward fist first.

  I struggled to actually keep myself flying straight with how much force pushed me off the ground, and I didn’t even get a moment to fully react before contact was made with the Thirteen, right in the remaining core. I flew through the body like a bullet, leaving a Max-sized hole from where the two bodies had collided. The Antithesis smashed against the wall dead, its tentacles losing all strength on impact and leaving the corpse looking like the world’s worst pile of gluten-free spaghetti.

  My landing was only slightly more graceful, smashing fist first into the wall and partially lodging it in the stone of the hive, also nearly smacking my forehead into it in the process. That would have been a dumb way to get knocked out.

  Defeated: Model Thirteen x1 - 100 Points

  Point Total: 2013

  With some effort I was able to clear my gauntlet of its stony prison, and as soon I was out I slumped back down against the wall. “Whoo, that was a bit of a sweat. Nanos, please.”

  An inhaler looking device dropped into my hand. With just a hearty huff of the stuff, the pain in my stomach quickly dissipated.

  While your body augments make the Nano-Regenerative Suite less effective at mending any damage to their specific areas, you only suffered bruising to your midsection from the impact, which is within its scope of repair. Be glad it didn’t damage any of your ribs; that would have required a more extensive package to fix.

  “Meh, I have the points to spare.” I shrugged, then realized the inhaler left some waste, that being the inhaler. “Shit, do I have a bag or something I can put this in?”

  Not on you, though there are a few inconspicuous options you can buy for a point.

  One of the monkey-shaped Model Tens in the area decided right now would be a wonderful time to try and jump me with its bony bladed arm and was promptly exploded with a lazy fist to the face.

  Defeated: Model Ten x1 - 1 Point

  Point Total: 1994

  Which you can now afford with little to no cost to you.

  “I’ll consider it, though I’ll just hold onto it for the moment.” I proceeded to scan my eyes across the hive, what with its jungle of leaves, roots, and vines.

  Vines…wait, wasn’t there a second Model Thirteen?

  “Shit, where did that other Thirteen go?” My head swiveled around the room every which way, but no sign of the Antithesis could be seen. I must have lost track of it during my fight with the first one, and it took that opportunity to split off. Which only meant…

  I looked off towards the direction of where I entered and heard an explosion. The same direction that had the distant gunfire from earlier.

  “Oh fuck!” I blasted down the tunnel, as fast as my boots could carry me.