Page 103 of Journey to the Forbidden Zone

A warrior construct. Simple. Brutal. Designed for one function: obstruction.

The warrior avatar solidified just as the lead watchdog lunged, its gaping maw aimed at the primary avatar’s back. The warrior intercepted the leap, slamming a massive, shield-plated forearm into the watchdog’s midsection. Corruptive code met firewall protocols in a silent explosion of static and shattering data fragments. The watchdog screeched, a raw data-packet of fury, rebounding. The warrior staggered but held its ground, planting itself squarely between the pack and the primary avatar.

Status:Secondary avatar operational. Threat engagement initiated.

The primary avatar refocused. All non-essential processes – sensory input filtering, environmental rendering beyond the immediate door, even the internal chronometer – were suspended. Every remaining processing cycle poured into the energy beam stabbing into the fractal lock. The white-hot lineintensified, humming with focused power. The warped section of the lock glowed brighter, softening further.

Progress:58.3%.

Behind him, the sounds of battle erupted. The warrior avatar moved with surprising speed for its bulk, a battering ram of pure code. It met the snapping watchdogs head-on.

A claw swipe sparked harmlessly off its chest plate. It retaliated with a hammer blow from its fist, shattering a watchdog’s foreleg into dissolving static.

Another attacker lunged low, aiming for the warrior’s treads. Secondary avatar pivoted, bringing its shield down like a guillotine, shearing through the construct’s neck polygon. The watchdog dissolved into chaotic, fading energy.

But they were adaptive. Learning. The remaining two split, one feinting high while the other darted low again, faster this time. Corruptive bursts spat from their maws, not aimed at the warrior, but at the corridor walls near its feet, seeking to destabilize its footing.

The warrior dodged, but a burst clipped its lower leg. A chunk of its dense data-bundle musculature dissolved into static. Its movement stuttered.

Secondary avatar integrity:87.4%.Efficiency decreasing.

The primary avatar ignored the battle. The beam was everything. The lock was softening, warping under the relentless onslaught.

Progress:71.6%.

The watchdogs pressed their advantage. They harried the warrior, darting in and out, their corruptive bursts chipping away at its form. A claw raked across its back plate, scoring deep grooves. Another burst took a chunk out of its shoulder. The crimson sensor slit flickered.

Secondary avatar integrity:62.1%.Threat containment failing.

Progress:82.4%.

A watchdog slipped past a sluggish shield block. It clamped its jagged maw onto the warrior’s armored thigh. Data fragments shredded simulated plating.

The warrior roared a silent challenge, slamming its fist down onto the watchdog’s head. The construct shuddered, its grip loosening, but didn’t dissolve.

Secondary avatar integrity:49.8%.Critical.

Progress:89.7%.

Almost. The fractal pattern at the lock’s center was a molten pool of destabilized code. The dense door vibrated violently.

The second watchdog, seeing its packmate engaged, saw an opening. It lunged, not at the warrior, but past it, a blur of dark polygons and razor-sharp malice aimed directly at the back of the primary avatar, still focused entirely on the beam.

Warning:Primary avatar threat imminent!

The warrior reacted. Abandoning the damaged packmate, it threw itself sideways, a desperate, graceless tackle. It collided with the leaping watchdog just before it reached the primary avatar.

They crashed together into the shimmering corridor wall in a silent explosion of fragmenting data and static discharge. The watchdog writhed, pinned. The warrior, its form flickering erratically, integrity plummeting, raised its remaining fist, poised to deliver a crushing blow.

Progress:94.1%.

The pinned watchdog twisted violently. Its head snapped around, jaws opening impossibly wide. Not at the warrior. At the corridor ceiling directly above the struggling pair. It unleashed a concentrated burst of corruptive code upward.

The ceiling data-structure, already weakened by Zed’s earlier tactic, couldn’t withstand the focused assault. A large section dissolved instantly. A torrent of heavy, destabilized code-streams, like liquid metal mixed with shattered glass, cascaded down. It engulfed both the watchdog and the warrior avatar instantly.

The watchdog dissolved under the deluge, erased. The warrior avatar flickered wildly, its form disintegrating under the corrosive weight, its crimson sensor slit flaring one last time before winking out. Gone.

Warning:Secondary avatar terminated!