Chapter 137 - A complicated launch

*( mood song: "The Wanted - Chasing The Sun")

Erik in his huge power armor tried really hard to crawl with it to avoid what he had decided to call steel wolves, even though they didn't look like wolves at all, their behavior looked similar. He took a peek while crouching from behind a hill, and he could see a dozen steel wolves using their long claws to dig at the ice of the gigantic iceberg mountain, while hundreds of other steel wolves guarded their backs, looking around cautiously.

Erik: [...are they digging a cave?]

Rose: [...I'm seeing what you are seeing you know? but no I think there should be something else, when packs move to a new home they take their young with them, but in this case... there's none...]

Erik observed carefully and he really couldn't spot any young between the beast pack [oh! you are right! see what I was saying? I didn't even notice that but you did, experience is important, like the saying says, an old person is a treasure so-]

Rose: [careful!]

Erik: [come on I was just kidding~]

Rose: [No stupid! on your back!]

Erik: [...my back?] he slowly turned his head and twenty meters away, one of the big steel wolves was looking at him, and slowly approaching [should I kill it, maybe it doesn't know I'm a living thing?]

Rose: [start running!]

Erik didn't dally any longer as his power armor bolted forward, the ice cracking under his feet as he activated the plasma reactors to propel himself forward too, helping him run faster than what a power armor that size should have been able to.

*SCRAAAAPPR!* behind him the steel wolf suddenly screeched loudly, like metal rubbing against metal on a rusty old metal door... but way louder and creepier.

Rose: [fly Erik! FLY!!!]

Erik activated the propulsors at maximum power, long plasma jet flames coming out of his back along with a really loud sound as he leaped forward sixty meters in one go.

*BOOM* and the place he had been standing at exploded in a shower of compact green ice shrapnel, as a steel wolf three times the size of the others had just landed there, Erik and the beast made brief eye contact as both of them bolted forward again.

Erik: [DAMN! THAT THING'S HUGE!]

Rose: [and also really fast! keep running I'm going! go back to the hole! that's probably the alpha in that pack!]

Erik looked back and saw the approaching explosions [No, I wouldn't make it back... any other life sources around here?]

Rose: [wha-... yeah! everywhere! that entire iceberg is full of something but this ice is stopping my senses... and at the other side of the ice mountain there appears to be... some of those... tree worms?... strange...]

Erik: [alright! I will use them] he leaped left running in the direction of the back of the enormous green ice mountain.

Rose: [...won't they attack you too?]

Erik: [to hide a tree just plant it in a forest!]

Rose: [what does... you are almost there! but almost the entire pack is chasing after you!]

Erik snickered as he started to see the other side of the ice mountain after circling it for a couple of minutes at high speeds, the steel wolves behind him didn't seem too tired but had slowed down a bit from the initial burst, the alpha was catching up though. He landed again and as he looked back, the alpha was only twenty meters behind him, he could see the four eyes on the head of the beast fixed on him, two at the front and two others at the sides, sharp armored teeth fused together almost like the beak of a caiman turtle, and small trunk like that of a tapir now breathing loudly, lots of metallic scales making a kind of cataphract armor, then on its legs sharp claws to give traction to the heavy body on the ice and to attack 'what a beast... but...' he smirked 'you won't catch up so soon...'

A big strange glowing forest was then seen at the other side of the mountain as Erik ran to it, and with one final powerful jump he landed right outside the killer alien forest of tentacles and ran right at it, these ones were even way taller than the loner he had seen earlier but... he had a theory he wanted to prove.

Rose: [stop! you crazy monkey! they will... huh?] but the attack Rose expected never happened, as Erik turned off his propulsors and gracefully glided through the tentacle forest without touching any of them.

Erik: [I just noticed they don't have eyes and they also seem to mostly feed on sunlight like plants so... if you don't touch or annoy them they shouldn't attack you...]

Rose: [that's just an assumption! dammit! if you didn't keep ordering me to do so many things I would have sent an armoured squad of bots... we are reaching the ice hole, hang in there!]

Erik: [it's fine, the wormy forest will protect me now] he then turned around and saw the Alpha stop just outside the tentacled forest, looking at Erik with narrowed eyes, so Erik showed him the middle finger and shouted "I know you won't get it but... fuck you steel doggy! this clownfish is indestructible now!".

The alpha seemed to have understood he was mocking him though, as it screeched at his pack and charged right at the forest, clawing right through some tentacles, but that single action had immediate consequences, as the entire forest came to life, and suddenly the snickering Erik noticed eyes opening in all the tentacles around him as tentacles started fighting the alpha and his pack.

Erik's face paled as the tentacles seemed to be curiously observing him, and although they were more occupied fighting the steel wolves, even then, some were caressing the surface of his power armor as if to determine if he was a threat to the group, on the other side, the smaller steel wolves were getting crushed as they were hauled into the gaping mouths that emerged from the ground, the tentacled worms were paying a high cost too though, as the steel wolves were really hard to kill, getting closer and closer to the now walking Erik, still letting the tentacles touch and observe him.

Erik: [Rose... please deactivate the tactile sense on the power armor, this feeling is creeping me out...]

Rose: [aren't you used to tentacles~?]

Erik: [not this size and not on giant monsters... these are the size of trees... fearing anything that can kill you is just common sense alright?]

Rose: [move slowly... they seem to have poison covering them so... don't take the armor off...]

Erik was slowly moving in the direction of the mountain [I'm doing just that! don't distract me and I will be-] *SCRAAAAKKK* a sharp metallic roar echoed from behind, and Erik slowly turned to see the alpha ripping the tentacled worms apart as it charged at him [WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THAT THING?!]

Rose: [maybe it's not used to losing?]

Erik: [that's not my problem!]

Rose: [well... now it is... ¯\_(´_ゝ`)_/¯]

Erik: [FUCK! ] he restarted the engines alarming all the tentacles around him who became enraged as the plasma burned them, and jumped off before they attacked [where do I go now?!]

Rose: [go up the mountain!]

Erik: [roger that!] he landed in the middle of the enraged tentacled forest and jumped again quickly, the landings cracked the green ice below as he quickly got closer to the big ice mountain and finally landed on one side of the mountain, and out of the tentacled forest [ haha~! finally!] he looked back at the alpha getting harassed in the middle of the tentacle forest and retreating after looking at Erik with narrowed eyes one last time "SERVES YOU RIGHT YOU STUPID-!] *CRACK* "huh?" he looked down and the ice was full cracks below him "what the hell... it shouldn't be this weak so... Woah!" the floor cracked and he fell, landing inside a big ice cave system.

Rose: [Erik! are you alright?! I have trouble sensing you!]

Erik stood up and looked around, the light from his visors reflecting all over the transparent green ice walls around like prisms [yeah... I'm fine, this is... really pretty... like a cave made of polished clear jade...] he looked up and saw the hole he had fallen from, at least twenty meters high [maybe I could carve some stairs in the ice... or try just jumping out...]

Rose: [hmm... I wouldn't recommend that... if the ice cracks again you could fall again...]

Erik: [...I guess I will look for an exit then...] he dropped a piece of ice on the floor and saw it slide to his back, so he started walking forward [at least I know this way goes up...]

Twenty minutes later he was still walking and finally arrived at an ice cave the size of a football field, inside he saw big worms crawling around and feeding a cyan liquid to thousands of big round cyan larvae the size of horses, that were just laying around as their stomachs glowed with a bright cyan light, giving a magical color to the green ice cave.

Erik started the recording function of his helmet to remember that place and show the others back at the base [Rose... can you see this? it's amazing...]

Rose: [yeah, I guess it's pretty ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

Erik: [just pretty?]

Rose: [yeah, I've seen entire colossal abyssal beasts using big colorful light spectacles to attract mates and prey so... yeah? it's not that pretty, what's really special about this is how they feed, they apparently feed using sunlight, and that's really unique amongst the creatures of this ARK...]

Erik: [there should be algae and microalgae that feed that way too right?]

Rose: [there are... but not an animal... and not like this, this ice floor being a prime example as it contains algae]

Erik nodded [well then, I better search for an exit, this is probably what those steel wolves were digging the ice to get]

Rose: [probably... just follow one worm that has already fed a larvae, it should go back to the surface]

Erik nodded and did just that, following a small, at least compared to the others, car sized cyan worm as it crawled out of the ice cave, he even noticed hooks on the body of the worm that helped it hang to the ice.

Thirty minutes later he followed it out of one side of the mountain as it crawled downhill and back to the tentacle forest down below, he even noticed some worms spewing the cyan liquid over the hole he had made.

Erik: [interesting... this might be more like a termite mound]

Rose: [just go launch the satellite already!]

Erik: [y-yeah, damn... it's easy to get distracted in this place...] and start to carefully climb the ice mountain.

It took him four hours but he finally arrived at the summit, green fields and other green ice mountains in the distance, colorful moss grass covering the green ice as far as his eyes could see, in the sky the sun had now crossed the sky, and he even noticed a brief shadow in the sunlight too, an impressive landscape the likes he had never seen before.

Erik: [what was that shadow Rose?]

Rose: [the fortresses... my fortresses... that's what that shadow is... now launch the damn satellite already! ( ͡°з ͡°)]

Erik: [...right...] he took a big metal cylinder off his back and set it on the floor, unfolding four support legs from the sides that quickly bolted themselves to the solid green ice below [what now?]

Rose: [now? just stand back and guard the launcher, the reaction will take time and be really loud, be warned...]

Then the tube oriented itself straight as some noises started occurring inside, the minutes passed, and luckily no one disturbed the process as Erik vigilantly guarded the launcher, and then...

*BOOOOM!!!* the explosion was immense as the launcher itself sunk three feet into the ice, the projectile exiting the launcher with an enormous cloud of smoke at unprecedented speeds, leaving behind a sonic boom that came right after.

Rose: [hold the launcher straight! it needs one more minute to get to orbit!]

Erik did as told and held the launcher straight, but at that moment...

*KROOOAAAAHHHRRRR* a loud screeching roar that made the ice mountain itself tremble came from the distance, Erik then saw something on the horizon that made his face pale, a mountain... stood up... eight enormous legs stood up as an entire ice mountain crumbled in the distance.

Erik: [Rose... I really need to start running right now!]

Rose: [ugh... okay I will calculate the trajectory myself! start running!]

Colossals steps started resonating as Erik left the launcher behind and started to run downhill.

Erik: [I gotta be fast!]