Chapter 7 ***Complete***

I've unlocked the satisfaction of finally completing mission 1! I'm also being rewarded with my first shift at my new job at 7-11am tomorrow morning! Yay?

This mission originally supposed to be one lengthy chapter ended up being THREE lengthy chapters. I needed a lot more room to say what I needed to say. The completion of the new Chapter 7 is the official mark indicating that a good third of the novel is finished. I can't tell you how good this feels, even though I know a lot of the writing is complete crap. I have the ideas, basic actions and dialogue down and that's what counts. I had so much fun writing about the Ash's battle with the giant minotaur and the Laelaps. Not only that this chapter completely changed events I thought would turn out differently later on in the novel (one of the reasons I don't write out of order...I'd just have to change it). Chapter 8 and 9 need some work now, but I've left a lot of room at the beginning of chapter 8 for this.

As a special treat because I'm in such a good mood, I will post the first portion of the battle with the robot minotaur here. Enjoy!

*PS - This is not edited yet, so there may be a few typos and odd choices of words. Action scenes can get a little crazy/muddled. At least they can for me.

Also, I uploaded this song on YouTube earlier today to show you what music I had in mind when writing this: Metal Mayhem

This piece is mostly for the first part of the battle (what I've pasted below). The piece could technically carry on to the second part, but I had this song in mind instead (the particular music is at 7:46): Baptism of Fire

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“Not bad, but let's see how lucky you are against a military class robot after I take him out of defence mode.”

“He was only in defence mode?”

The general smiled. “C-Delta, offensive mode, target five feet at 135 degrees.”

The semi-circle of guards widened as the robot whirred to life behind Ash. He looked over his shoulder to see the robot rotate the upper half of his body to look at him with its yellow eyes. Before he could think of a suitable move the robot swung one of its arms, catching him in the stomach and throwing him back towards the general. He managed to hang onto his broadsword with one hand as he hit the ground and slid, the wind knocked out of him.

He watched the robot approach, analyzing it's parts and weapons as he gasped for air. It was fast for a machine. He rolled to the side as the minotaur tried to crush him with its enormous feet. The robot followed him with on of its arms and locked on to where he stopped to jump to his feet. A the loud clicking indicated it was trying to use the broken machine gun on its arm. The base of the machine gun popped out and a tiny piece began spinning uselessly on the end. Ash hardly started laughing before the robot took another swing at him, hitting him in the side. This time Ash hit the wall and lost his hold on his broadsword.

He heard laughs and jeers from the spectators as he cleared his head and searched frantically for his sword. The blade had bounced off the wall and skidded beneath the robot's feet, who was closing fast on his position. Again he rolled, aiming for the space between its legs. The robot threw a punch into the ground behind him, missing him by inches. He grasped the sword, swinging it to his right as he came out of the roll and stood. The sword deflected off the side of its leg armour, leaving little more than a scratch behind.

Ash jumped back before the robot could attempt to break his ribs with another swing. He looked for a weak spot, somewhere he could connect a successful swing of his sword. A lack of armour on the neck and joints exposed machinery in favour of mobility. The targets were small and the bot was in constant motion, so hitting the marks would be difficult. He needed to be faster than the machine. Ash glanced down at the coffee machine which had been knocked on its side. As the minotaur began to charge at him again he saw it lay in its path.

Ash raised another small shield around it as the robot stepped directly above it. He felt a sharp jolt surge through his head and spine as the weight of the minotaur nearly crushed the shield. The unexpected presence of the shield tripped the robot and it fell forward. Ash dashed to the left to avoid being hit by the falling heap of metal and struck the robot under its shoulder, nearly severing the arm from the robot. A one of the minotaur's cables leading into its arm broke, spilling think, black liquid all over the floor.

“Try and hit me now asshole,” Ash spat as he kicked the side of the minotaur.

Ash turned and went for the coffee machine on the floor at the minotaur's feet. As he bent to pick it up the robot spun around and kicked him in the small of the back, sending Ash flying face-first across the room into a group of soldiers watching. One of the soldiers broke his fall as the rest dove out of the way. Ash pushed away from the soldier and flipped onto his back. He groaned in pain as he rose.

“Kay, I deserved that...I think.”

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FISH IN THE FACE!