Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Hitori jerked his wand, aimed at the robot behind Kyoryu. Kyoryu ducked the beam of ice, then turned to watch.

The beam of ice turned into spikes of ice. One entered the rifle at the same time the robot pulled the trigger—the first two or three bullets blast inside the gun and the next on the shield.

Due to the bullet being fired inside the rifle's muzzle exploded with bam and took the robot's arm with it. As the heated, metal arm fell on the floor, it melted the wood.

​ The spikes went into the robot's head, but could not pierce through it. But the tiny fragments went into slots and in the robot's joints which caused the electricity to malfunction.

Electricity sparked from the robot before it made a wheezing sound and collapsed on the floor with black smoke erupting from it.

More robots came late to cover their friend (no, stupid, they are colleagues). They raised their rifles and started firing.

Hitori's eyes fell on the metal arm, then widened when it slid into the floor– as if it was eating the floor, second by second.

Suddenly, he felt a hard shove from Kyoryu. He looked down and saw Kyoryu facing him. "Bend down! It is going to explode!"

Hitori lowered his eyes, ignoring the pain in his chest. The robot he had taken down was leaving smoke more than ever. It was just like the exploding car scene he had watched in an anime. The car smoked like crazy, then it exploded– the robot was no different.

"Remove the shield, Eya; everyone, take cover behind your own shields." Kyoryu spun, then rolled into a ball– a big one, for his age and size.

Hitori rolled down and created a shield. Reon bent down, too, but without a shield– and he was not letting her create a shield, which she WAS trying to do. Hitori grabbed her arm and pulled her.

He had to increase the size of his shield to cover them both from head to toe. His eyes fell on the people behind him. Eya had not removed her shield, but she had reduced it in size. Her shield covered Kakashi and herself while Akira created his shield, and squatted right in front of them.

Just as Kyo had said, the robot exploded. But before it did, the other robots had started firing. Kyoryu and Eya took most of the bullets, but Hitori and Akira were greeted with one in five.

They held their ground and due to the tension, that one minute of blocking bullets felt like an hour of standing them before the robot exploded.

Hitori ducked when he heard the explosion. He closed his eyes to avoid seeing the little pieces flying all over the place. He just extended the shield to cover the top of his head– after seeing that melting arm, he was not taking risks.

"Akira," Kyo shouted, "wash them away!"

Hitori opened his eyes. He first saw Akira rising from his shield. Then he saw a flying piece of metal land beside him, and one behind him.

Reon was clinging to him, and the aftermath of the explosion was unclear, so he put up with her for another minute.

The landing was now a mess of smoke and fire. The other two robots that were standing at the corner of the staircase were swallowed in the explosion– well, somewhat.

The fate of the robot standing near the exploded robot was somewhat the same as the exploded robot. But the one standing afar was half burned.

It lost its arm and half side of the body, but the left side was still with him– with which, it tried to grab the rifle. Shit, the robots have no idea of when to stop, and when to give up and just fucking die– well, metaphorical dying.

A wave of water washed the smoke away and extinguished the smoke. It took another minute for things to clear up.

Hitori first pushed Reon away, then rose to check the situation. He sighed when he saw nothing was left of the landing– which was expected, that is why he sighed.

The robots were destroyed to nothing but pieces of metal, but the last one was still trying. So for the final blow, Hitori dropped the shield, raised his wand, and sent a ball of flame to melt the melting piece of metal.

With another explosion, the last robot was sent to ashes. And NOW nothing was left of the landing. Kyoryu glared at him and he could hear Kakashi groan at the back.

Hitori shrugged, then leaned on the railing. It creaked at first, then gave up. Hitori jerked away from the railing, then turned to look it collapse downstairs.

On the collision, the heavy railings took down the staircase with them, and a little part of the railings downstairs. Form the other side, Hitori saw another set of robots coming up, and the ones that were left behind from the first group.

Reon leaned over Hitori, then stumbled back. "God!" she gasped. "W-We need to find another way. We can not fall enemies to those robots."

Hitori frowned. "Why? Do they have some kind of poison in their guns—?" He paused when a sudden realization hit him. (Oh, crap) He looked downstairs, at the robots with no guns.

"Now you know why." Reon gulped.

He found his voice somehow. "T-They do not have guns. W-What are they?" He turned back to Reon.

"Special robots– specially constructed for killing– in your words, they are what we call the 'killing machines."

"No, shit. "Akira shook his head. "What do they use to kill us? Their legs or their hands?"

Reon glared at him and opened her mouth when Kyo interrupted her, "Do we have another way, lady?"

Reon thought for a short moment, then shook her head. "Stairs and the elevator– but we sure as—"

"—hell is not taking the elevator," Hitori completed. "That is not even an option, Reon." He glanced at the robots again. As they climbed over the stairs and the parts of their (colleagues) mates, they jerked their arms back, at the same time, and launched some sort of rifle's muzzle from their forearms– or, it would be safe to say, they turned their forearms into the muzzles of rifles.

"W-What is that?" Hitori asked, but she turned to Akira.

Looking into his eyes, she said, "Gas and machine guns– mostly the gas– Hitler style, you know."