Chapter 131 - Monster Hunters

*(mood song: "Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive")

They opened the giant doors and a putrid smelly fog scaped, the putrid smell so horrible Erik and Inky had to activate the particle filters in their helmets, and still some after taste remained, a dark big room inside only illuminated by their headlamps as their steps echoed around the place.

Erik: "this is a bad sign.... either something died and decayed, or... it's alive and digesting something... keep your eyes peeled people"

Inky: "what?"

Amanda: *my eyes ain't real, do I have to peel them too?*

Erik: "no, it's just-"

Rose bot: *don't be silly guys, it's just an expression that means you should pay attention to your surroundings in case of danger*.

Erik: "...that, exactly"

Inky: " then just say so... why using weird expressions"

Erik: "okay fine fine! stay sharp- I mean, don't let your guard down- ....there might be enemies so be careful..." he then looked at Amanda "but you should have known what I meant though"

Amanda shrugged: *yeah, I was just messing with you commander*

Erik's face twitched in annoyance but he sighed in the end, becoming focused "just be careful, this place should be dangerous... I don't wanna lose any of you"

The Rose bots walking at the front turned their heads then *awww you will never lose me Erik so-....( °o °) did you hear that?*

Erik nodded: "yeah... a scratching sound..."

Soon they also heard steps getting closer and closer, a limping lizard man soon coming into view, but... its entire body was black and dripping a black fluid, its arms and legs reinforced from the outside by pulsating black vines, and then it paused and talked with a sibylline gurgling voice *you... lowly worms... you angered the great mother, you will-*

Erik: "so? are you the great mother? did the rest of your body burn away and die?"

The lizardman seemed to struggle and talked again *The great mother was offering you eternal life! but you repaid her kindness with pain! she will never forgive you!*

Erik: "kekeke~ look at this beast pretending to be righteous~"

Lizardman: *The great mother has an important mission! She shall grow and destroy the evil mind that oppresses this world and selfishly keeps technologies to herself she needs to grow and grant eternal life to-!*

Rose bot: *SHUT UP... you don't know what you are talking about*

The great mother: *...my creators gave that purpose to me, to grant eternal life to this world replacing the existing tyrant!*

Rose bot: *is that so? that's why you ate them too?*

The great mother: *you are wrong! my creators were dying and I granted them eternal life! observe...* the lizardman's eyes seemed to clear as he suddenly coughed up a big amount of black fluid "w-what? where am I? huh? my body...why can't I move my body?! what is all this?! what?!!! HELP!!!-" and his eyes grew dull once more *see? the great mother kept his mind intact, they can live inside me in their own collective mental world and be happy*

Erik: "...are you stupid? that's not intact at all... you even stole their bodies, so cruel~ so cruel~"

The great mother growled as it stepped forward, more shadows approaching *growl... you better watch your words, now accept the great mother's blessing, once I control this entire planet I will-*

Erik: "haha~ HUAJAJAJAJA SUCH A FUNNY MONSTER JAJAJA!" holding his stomach, meanwhile Inky and Amanda remained cautious as they hadn't noticed they were buying time for something.

Rose bots: *indeed hehe~ you defective worm want to absorb ME?!*

The great mother had a bad feeling at the beginning, and it had just gotten stronger, that was the only reason she hadn't attacked already *you... are not organic, the great mother can't give you her blessing, so just die and- huh?*

But then the lights turned on, revealing a big room covered in dust and with black and green walls, statues of lizardmen on the sides and three doors, roughly fifty lizardmen in different states of putrefaction and assimilation in the center of the room, all surrounding Erik and the others in a semicircle.

The great mother was surprised, all the lizardmen host bodies looking up *what... happened...?*

Rose bot: *so you want to absorb me when you are this weak huh? if you have your creator's memories I'm sure you know... that they surely considered you a failure~*

The great mother: *NO! THE GREAT MOTHER ISN'T A FAILURE! NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAID! THE GREAT MOTHER WILL ABSORB HER AND PROVE THEM WRONG!*

Rose bot: *kukuku~ so easy... you talk too much, people will take advantage of your naivety you know~*

The great mother: *what- huh?!*

Then a robotic voice what heard on the base *new section added to the Forge.... security system detected, restarting security system... security system operative... anomaly detected! researchers in danger, deploying reinforcements!*

At that moment an army of two hundred battle bots armed with heavy weapons and shields came out from one of the side doors and surrounded the great mother's host bodies, some were a bit cracked or scratched though.

Rose bot: *now... bring back their minds, I have something to tell those lizards*

The great mother: *you... how?*

Rose bot: *don't make me repeat myself worm!*

The great mother looked around at the weapons pointing at her and nodded: *...alright...* the bodies trembled and coughed up black liquid as they looked around without being able to move their bodies, soon starting to shout alarmed as they saw in what state their bodies were in "w-WHAT?! THIS AGAIN? noo... I was taking a shower, how am I here now?, this must be a nightmare haha... I will wake up any second..."

Rose bot: *Hey lizard bastards! quick status update, your bodies have been absorbed by a weird parasitical creature you made to kill me so long ago so... not sure if your home planets still even exist, or if your race has gone extinct... now tell me all you remember about your plan to destroy me and try to steal my body*

Thankfully for the lizardmen their faces couldn't get any paler, and couldn't move so they didn't fall to the floor or ran away as the news were too sudden for them, the leader in the middle recovered the fastest and his face turned serious "I can indeed not move my body and..." looking around at the decay "its seems like a long time passed..., but if what you said it's true... that also means we have nothing to lose, isn't that right? so we have no need to tell you anything"

Rose bot: *kukuku... hehe... HUAHAHAHA nothing to lose huh? tell you what~, if I find descendants of yours in this planet... I will annihilate them, and once I'm back online I will destroy the planet of any survivors until you go extinct, what about that to lose~?*

The lizardman leader's eyes dilated as they all looked at each other and nodded "w-well, if it serves to quell your anger then so be it... sigh... I am Yunlar, chief genetic engineer and the creator of what is apparently keeping our bodies alive right now, but before I tell you anything... what proof do you have that so much time has passed?"

Rose bot: *hah? what nonsense-*

Erik: "leave this to me..." he turned his visor transparent to let them see his face "I'm a human, from a race you have clearly never seen before, so as a genetist that should give you some proof of the amount of time that has gone by since then..."

Yunlar: "that... that is good enough... sigh... ...it... all started with overpopulation, we conquered the galaxy, but it was a hard process while accessing the portals given by the ancients was easy and there were plenty of rewards to gain... so the various races found a common goal... to take what the ancients were keeping from us... war ain't a new thing, winner takes all, and with these fertile worlds our races would prosper and flourish, you were supposed to belong to our race, but since you fled in the end.... yeah they probably blew themselves up by now... so please... if there really are descendants of my race in this planet... please spare them!"

Rose bot: *no*

Yunlar: "w-why?! I told you what you wanted!"

Rose bot: *this is my body, I allow on it those I WANT, I WILL DECIDE THEN IF I EVER SEE THEM IF I KILL THEM OR NOT... but... I wouldn't count on their chances, your race is completely terrestrial, without technology and with broken down spaceships falling from orbit I see no way for them to survive without my help... I'm surprised how you even survived down here? or did you surrender to the monster right away?*

Yunlar: "please... I beg you..."

Erik: "hah! cowards like them probably started crying right away~"

Yunlar: "what would you know... when we lost contact with the surface... that despair... without this ark our race wouldn't survive! we ourselves only survived hunting and eating the weaker test subject monsters, we couldn't go out as it was flooded with monsters, we could only starve in despair! let's see what you would do to keep your race alive!"

Erik: "oh my~ me? well... why didn't you ask Rose for help then? what's the worse that could happen?"

Yunlar was confused: "Rose?"

Erik pointed at the Rose bots "her"

Yunlar: "hah! hahaha you expect a machine made by the ancients would decide to just let us live there?! and then what? be the dog servants of the ancients?!"

Erik: " you see... there's nothing free in this world you know, when you fuck up your own planet it's your own responsibility to make it right again not others, as for those descendants... do you have anything here to trade their lives for?"

Yunlar: "the security robots-"

Erik pointed at the bots surrounding them: "We already have them"

Yunlar: "...my research-"

Erik: "Nah I don't wanna create monsters seeing the trash results you got..."

Yunlar: "...we have a copy of high order synthesizer here..."

Erik: "huh? what is-"

Rose bot: *WHERE IS IT?!*

Yunlar: " promise me first to spare our descendants"

Rose bot: "no"

Yunlar gritted his rotten sharp teeth as black fluid dripped from his maw "then... to give them a chance at least..."

Rose bot: *...fine*

Yunlar: "...inside my body is a chip, if you follow that door to your left and follow it to the end a secret room should reveal-" but then the host bodies all moved at once in that direction, trying to break through the bot defense line.

The great mother: *IF YOU WANT THAT IT SHALL BELONG TO THE GREAT MOTHER!*

Rose bot: *fire*

All the bots fired their railguns and plasma weapons at the same time, mutilating the host bodies into pieces, that tried to stitch back together but the plasma kept raining down and burned all except Yunlars body to a crisp, restraining and chopping it open to indeed find a small black cube between his two hearts.

The Rose bot at the front took the cube and turned around: *let's go* Yunlar's body getting erased to nothing with plasma shots behind her.

Erik: "hmm Rose? why is that thing so important?"

The bot paused and turned around *...with that and materials I can print delicate materials in semi organic composite materials to make myself a body hehe~ aren't you excited too I could give you a good fucking then~ (･ิω･ิ)*

Inky: "no! Erik is my wife!"

Erik: "husb... sigh... forget it"

Rose bot: *just kidding~, anyways let's get going, not sure if that monster thing will have more host bodies nearby*.