4 4 – An Unfamiliar Device

"I hope the basement door can still be opened," Bonnie muttered as we descended the stairs. She already uses the new dark blue E.E.S., with a machine gun attached to her right arm and a rifle on her back. She also carried a giant backpack filled with instant foods and other things. "I hate this place."

"So, this is where the roots are?" I looked around upon arriving at the basement. There are lots of what look like giant purple roots entangling pillars and futuristic-style cars or just clinging to walls.

In the game, those things are called 'roots of evil.' Its surface was more flesh than a plant, and some of the parts throbbed like the heart of a living creature.

"Please, tell me, Bonnie. Do you know the source of these roots?" I'm asking that because the Project Axiom game hasn't explained the origin of those things.

The armored girl was silent for a moment. "All I know is that these roots appeared in the middle of the war between the humans and the rebel robots. The roots gave birth to various monsters that overwhelmed humans and robots alike, triggering a tremendous catastrophe. For the origin of the roots... Nobody knows."

I see. Apparently, it's the same as before. These roots are still a mystery.

Now that I'm in this world, I'm even more curious about these foreign things. Will I ever get an answer about them?

"Oh no…." Bonnie hissed in horror as we arrived at the big basement gate. It was already covered in so many roots, leaving no gaps.

"I won't give up." A small chainsaw came out of Bonnie's armor's left hand, then she started cutting the roots.

Those things spurted out a viscous purple liquid as the pieces fell. However, just as Bonnie had moved on to cutting another root, the previous root had already regenerated by growing other, smaller but numerous, stronger-looking roots. It went on and on, making what she was doing pointless.

"F*ck!" Bonnie kicked the roots hard. Those things just squirm for a second, showing no damage at all.

At Project Axiom, we needed a big explosive to get through this. The damage to those roots would be enormous, and they would need time to regenerate. So we have time to escape.

Unfortunately, I didn't find the bomb in the armory earlier. Perhaps I could have modified one of the cars here to explode. However, the roots are already gripping the vehicles very tightly. Even with my small body, I can't get into those things.

"What are we doing now?" Bonnie sat with her head down. Her voice conveyed extreme despair. "I don't want to be in this place forever. These roots will give birth to new monsters eventually."

"We haven't completely lost hope, Bonnie." I'm hovering in front of her. "There's a new weapons development section in this place. Maybe we can find something there."

***

The section I was referring to didn't exist in Project Axiom, so when I got there, I felt unfamiliar with everything in that place, especially the giant tube with a computer terminal in the middle of the room.

"Is there anything we can find here?" Bonnie opened a chest in the corner of the not-too-big room. "Huh? What is this? A sword?"

She took a futuristic-themed katana with a mix of white, black, and red colors from that chest. There were also several brackets that should have held other swords, but they were all empty.

A text appeared above the weapon in Bonnie's hand.

[C-7-ES Plasma sword]

"Are you familiar with this?" I asked Bonnie. Before this, I had never found something like this in the game.

"Nope. Not at all. I've never seen anything like this." She tried to pull the sword out of the sheath but to no avail. "It's stuck."

"You search among those things," I asked her, as I found several suitcases in that chest. "I'll check this terminal."

"Roger that." She was still observing that weapon.

I approached the terminal of the giant white tube, hoping for some clue to use the sword or something. That thing is here for a reason, right? It may have an extraordinary power that can save us.

However, what I found was something I never imagined would exist in Project Axiom.

[Artificial Super Soldier Creation Device]

This thing also hasn't been implemented in the game I used to play.