Making a mountain out of thin air.

Why did he dissapear? Of course, Kerren knew the answer long before that happened. It was simple, automatons were not strong enough to defend again the attack squad.

But that was not the problem, the problem was... how are they keeping up the pace? Kerren would've understood if all that happened in a span of a few days, but... he was here for more than several months, maybe even half a year.

How is that they're defending themself for that long? Are they not sleeping? Are they taking turns in defending? What exactly is going on? Kerren had a lot of questions and... well, no answers.

It's not like he was wrong, he was unsure. It reality, the only reason to automatons demise was their mercifulness. They didn't want to kill no matter what, that's why, at worst, people got severely infured, never even on the brink of death.

One could say that it was their own fault, and i agree. If they killed everyone who they could kill - they would've won already. More than that, they wouldn't lose even a single automaton.

Sadly, that is what happened, out of 2358 automatons stationed in the facility - only 4 remained by now. Those were namely 1 2 3 and 4. Their names didn't tell anything but their position in hierarchy, 1 was the big boss.

Remember Kerren's favourite automaton? The one that looked like an elf? Her name was 930, Kerren didn't know that, but if everything went well he could receive her as a gift, her position wasn't high at all and since Kerren was a friend, for some reason, they would've done that given the chance.

But... dont ever tell that to Kerren, at least not now. He is angry even without that information in his head. Would you not be? He was finally happy, he felt needed, people, even though they were not people, appreciated him being there...

Yet, it all crushed on him like a mountain. He soon started looking for anybody alive, he had a gist that those there were some automatons left, but where were they? Hiding? Not their style.

With that thought in mind Kerren went to the only place he wasn't allowed to go - to the upper floor.

...

As he approached the entrace to the upper floor a familiar voice rang from somewhere.

- Boy, you're still here? -- it was a voice of the first automaton he talked to -- I remember telling you to leave. -- it was all he said

- I dont want to leave. -- Kerren didn't feel like saying anything else.

- Oh? You dont have a choice, your comrades will soon be here, we cant contain them anymore -- the voice didn't have any emotion behind it.

- So what if they get here? Let me in, i will help you ward them off. -- he said -- It seems like you're not capable of doing so, i will take the lead then. -- he added firmly.

- Why do you think u're worthy of leading us!? -- another voice rang from above -- You are not one of us! Dont take 5's favor as a given, we are not as kind as he is! -- this voice was angry.

- Because i'm sure i am capable of killing all of them -- he stated as he looked at the ceiling -- I will be doing your job, Mr. Protector. -- his voice was full of scorn.

- How dare you! I will deal with you first! -- just as angry automaton was about to say something else...

- I permit it, come in -- new voice added.

A platform descended right before Kerren, there was an automaton standing on it.

- We welcome you to the command center, little man. My name is 4, i am in charge of the research room 1. -- he looked like an old man with a long beard, one could mistake him for a dwarf because of that, but it was not the case.

- Where's 5 -- before moving Kerren asked without a hint of emotion in his voice.

- He is on a mission. Dont worry, 1 did not send him to fend off the attack squad, he will be back soon. -- First part of his answer was not a lie, while the latter... his mission was far more dangerous than that...

- I see. -- Kerren said as he approached the platform -- How are things going with my former comrades? -- he said while looking at the old automaton.

- Not so well, they will be here in approximately 12 minutes from now -- he said with a chuckle.

- Is there a reason for you to laugh? -- Kerren didn't understand the chuckle.

- I will briefly explain it to you when we get to the command center little man -- he said with a smile -- Now, go. Let's not waste time, we still have a way to send you back. -- he added as the platform started ascending.

In a completely different part of the facility.

- How much more automatons do you think there is? -- a man in golden armor said.

- Not many. Their only tactic so far was to lure us though traps. Them sending themselves to death couldn't be called one. -- beautiful lady stated.

- I believe so too. We must've killed all of them. What a joke this raid is. -- man with a beautiful jawline and short hair said, he also lacked a shield now.

- Then what do we do? We dont have any potions left, half of us cant even fight. To we back off while we still have a chance? -- man in golden armor was desperate, he suffered the most as he was always on the front lines.

- Leave? This is out chance to finally end this! -- man without a shield cried out -- We suffered for days, and now you want to leave!? -- he added as he came right infront of a man he answered to.

- Chill out. -- Lady intervened -- We will decide on what to do after we enter the last room, if it's not empty we will have to use our "Sweet Home" potions. -- she said as she took out a potion.

- What if the Dragon Heart disrupts our transportation? -- man without a shield retaliated.

- Then there's nothing we can do about it. -- man in golden armor answered -- Why are you such a coward? We lived through hell and you want to leave without taking revenge? -- he chuckled.

- Imagine all the riches we get from this place, those artefacts the automatons were equipped with already worth tons of crystals, imagine what is in their main loot-room! -- Lady added, trying to invoke greed in man covered in golden armor.

- Hmph... Fine, but if there's any signs of great danger my men will use their escape potions immediately! -- he finally agreed.

- That is only natural, dont worry, we will do the same -- the Lady smiled.

You might wonder why is it that at first, man in golden armor listened to the lady without questions, but as the situation got dangerous - started thinking on his own.

The answer is obvious - they were of different guilds, this raid consisted of 3 different guilds and a "neutral" porters that could simply apply to the job. After i said it, you might wonder how is that possible that Kerren's application got approved... Simple, it didn't.

That is, however, a story for another time, for now let me introduce the major guilds and the political situation in the world.

The beautiful Lady was from "Holy Essence" guild which was the only guilds that had departments in every country in the world, they mainly focused on helping poor people and punishing those that deserved it, it was all on the surface, what happened in reality... well... it's best that you dont know... yet.

The man in golden armor was from "Golden Beast" guild, it was not a high-ranking guild, but they were quite powerful in their country, holding 7th position among all the guilds. It might not sound like something to be proud of, how much guilds there is? 10? Nope, his country had a population of 17 billion and counting, the guilds were so numerous that each day this number grew in dozens, so holding a 7th position was a big deal.

Then why did i say it wasn't high ranking? Because it only had one attack squad, the one that man in golden armor himself led. While it was great for clearing dungeons... gaining influence is somewhat hard when your guild only has 40 or so capable people, hence their influence wasn't great, unlike their clearing-capability.

Last, in both power and standing was man with a beautiful jawline. His guild was called "Tank you"... Yes, people didn't like it as much as he did when he named it. His guild mainly focused on producing high-ranking tanks, he made a fortune on it because in earlier days tanks were so scarse that finding one required influence and some really good friends, thus he made a guild, the only bad thing about it was the name, anything else was great, it was one of the guilds that didn't do questionable thing in the background.

That is the answer to their behavior, of course man in golden armor was worried, if he lost any of his man this loss could be something we wouldn't be able to bear, but to others manpower wasn't imporant, they could always recruit more people.

Soon, they approached the same platform Kerren went up on, of course, it didn't welcome them, so they were stuck for a time being.

- See that platform above? I bet it leads to the boss. -- man in golden armor said.

- That we could guess, but how do we make it go down? -- the Lady said.

- We dont. Watch me -- he said as he jumped high above the rest. He then took some sort of a device that looked like a harpoon and shot it towards the platform.

Of course, the harpoon didn't penetrate it, thus it simply fell down under the silent gazez of the people around it.

- Watch you embarrass yourself? -- the man in golden armor was laughing.

- Oh yeah? Have a better idea, mr. my guild has 40 people that aren't clercs? -- he angrily retaliated.

As man in golden armor was about to start screaming...

- Hey, chill out, we have to work together if we want to get up, Gabrieh, do you have anything you can help us with? -- the Lady quickly tried to mend the situation. Also, yes, Gabrieh is the name of the man in golden armor, but i will continue calling him that.

Exhaling, as if cooling himself down, he said - Yes, this is a mountain scroll -- he said as he took it out -- it can create a mountain out of thin air, if we give it enough mana we will be able to climb up -- he concluded.

- A mountain scroll? Why do you even have that? -- man without a shield said.

This scroll was a limited-use great spell that could conjure a mountain out of nowhere, while it was a rare and expensive scroll, it was rarely used in the main world, due to it's high mana-cost and limited use, it might actually be the first time someone found it as useful as those people.

- I prepared it to make myself a nice mountain in the backyard of my house, but i guess it will have to wait. -- he said with a dissapointed face.

- I think that'll work! -- the Lady said happily, she then turned around and loudly said -- Men! We need your help! Take out your mana crystals and mana potions, we need as much mana as possible to advance further! -- he said taking out a potion herself.

Then, attack squad assmbled around the scroll, channeling all their mana towards the scroll. In a blink of an eye a silhouette of a mountain appeared, it looked like a mirage, but as time went by it became bigger and looked more like a real mountain.

Few minutes later and dozens of mana potions the mountain was finally here, it completely ruined the whole room, anything that was inside of the mirage mountain simply got absorbed by it in the end, of course, it did not dissappear, it simply got stuck inside of it, and because of that many of the places became inaccessible.

A few minutes later people started climbing the mountain, it was not big and had a stairs, since that scroll allowed one to make a mountain that they wanted, the most practical usage of such a scroll was to make a giant statue of yourself somewhere, it was purely cosmetic.

And now, they too are coming up to the command center Kerren and the rest of automatons were currently in...