After having dealt with the two sentries Dax entered further into the seemingly not so abandoned warehouse, finding a cleverly hidden trapdoor which lead to some sort of underground complex. 

(ADVISING CQC LOADOUT FOR ENGAGEMENT.)

(Yeah, no. That would require doing stuff that's way too early to reveal.)

Disregarding ICI's warning Dax entered the underground compound armed only with the cursed sword and a backup knife, immediately picking up the sound of his first opponent. Inside the narrow underground s.p.a.ce which was clad in darkness, Dax was immediately hit by a faint but distinct smell of iron, or blood.

"A demonkin huh? It's been a long time since I've killed one of your kind-"

(Yeah, yeah, your kind is obviously superior and you can't wait to kill me and so on… He sure sounds like one of those obnoxious qiton brats.)

Toning out the somewhat more intelligent homunculus Dax examined his opponent. Clearly it was some sort of intelligent homunculus, which took the form of a humankin youth.

(Eyes, legs arms and especially the hands look modified… As for the weaknesses, well those are pretty clear.)

"- If you start begging now I'll promise to kill you fast- s.h.i.+T! MY EYES!"

Forming a simple light spell and overexposed the overconfident homunculus' eyes as he charged, instantly impaling him through the chest as the qiton's other hand closed in on his face.

(ICI prep extraction.)

(CONFIRMED, READY FOR DIRECT INTELLIGENCE EXTRACTION: ALL OFFENSIVE FIREWALLS READY.)

"You think that would kill me!?"

But killing the creature made for fighting like himself wasn't that easy. To Dax's surprise, the homunculus was mostly fine even after Dax was sure he priced its heart and it quickly reached out towards Dax's face as its nail's extended while mana surged towards them.

(s.h.i.+t!)

Instantly judging that the claws were more dangerous than they appeared, Dax abandoned his sword which was still impaled in the homunculus' chest and stepped back a half a step before retreating further as the homunculus kept flailing around due to it still being blind.

(Those sure are sharp…)

Observing how the homunculus' claws ripped straight through the rock walls without any resistance Dax had ICI start a.n.a.lysing the spell formation which empowered his claws so he could use it himself, or cancel it.

(That's plenty data, ICI can pull it together into something useful later. Sword, do your thing.)

(Sure~ I don't really care what kind of soul this is, as long as it's from an intelligent creature~✿)

As the cursed sword's red and mist like aura greatly expanded the homunculus stopped moving as he felt silent and dropped down to his knees.

"Note to self, a stab through the heart will not kill an intelligent homunculus…"

Retrieving his cursed blade Dax ventured further into the underground complex and reached some sort of metal door.

(ICI move to breach pattern.)

(DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, LOADING FAST REACTION COMPONENTS… COMPLETE, READY TO EXECUTE BREACHING PATTERN.)

Sensing multiple hostile presences behind the door, Dax took no chances this time around and went all in instantly. Forming a high pressure sphere of wind that he concentrated in his fist and struck at the metal door, instantly shattering the door as he charged forward.

"Wha!-"

"GHA!"

As Dax breached the room he instantly tallied his opponents as he prepared more spells to use against them.

(5 targets, 1 partially disabled with a possible hostage behind door #1 from the left. Isolate sound and keep it from leaving the room.)

(ROGER.)

With fragments from the door hitting one of the qiton's opponents in the chest and face he focused more of his attention on the others.

(1 down, ICI blades.)

Tossing the cursed sword into the face of one of the homunculus' face Dax confirmed that its brain activity had flatlined before declaring it neutralized and formed golden crystals in both his hands which quickly took the shape of traditional qiton shortswords.

(And give me full thrust att.i.tude control, handle the script.)

(DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.)

Working his brain in overdrive time slowed down for Dax as he formed a plan of attack, after a few milliseconds he had one and executed it. All over the qiton's body numerous golden crystals formed and were overlaid with densely packed black runes, transforming the entire construction into a rudimentary zero g manoeuvre pack which enhanced Dax's movements even more than they already were.

(This one first.)

Having found the largest threat, Dax closed in on a homunculus which took the shape of a demonkin male with spider like legs extending out from its back. Swis.h.i.+ng one of his shortswords into a reverse grip Dax's magically powered att.i.tude control thrusters lit up as he went into a spin and sliced through the still surprised homunculus, ripping it to shreds. While blood still sprayed through the air Dax tossed one of his shortswords at another homunculus as a new one formed in his hand and he broke part of his momentum by running along the wall of the cramped underground room. Continuing his ma.s.sacre of the hostiles, only a single one remained somewhat uninjured after 30 seconds.

"I-impossible…"

"Now do you want to die fast or slow? Your choice."

Closing in on the last homunculus which was still breathing with his cursed sword in hand, Dax wore a cold expression. The one to survive the longest had only done so at Dax's discretion, as it was the one he had partially disabled by hitting it with the most metal shards when he breached Dax figured it would be the one most likely to talk.

"I-I'm not telling you s.h.!.+-"

"Wrong answer, try again."

Kicking the shards of metal further into its chest Dax waited for the homunculus to stop screaming before he continued asking questions. 

"Where are you from?"

"f.u.c.k Y!-"

(This feels familiar somehow… Oh well, slowly it is. ICI prep extraction once more.)

(CONFIRMED, READY FOR DIRECT INTELLIGENCE EXTRACTION: ALL OFFENSIVE FIREWALLS READY.)

Having kicked one of the other shards deeper into the homunculus' body Dax resigned himself to doing something he really didn't enjoy that much and reached for the homunculus' head. But alas the creature was more cunning than Dax had realized and as he reached for its head it quickly extended its claws and struck out after him. As Dax had expected those claws really were sharp enough to pa.s.s straight through his armoured skin, and as he retreated the homunculus cut deeply into his left arm, almost severing outright.

"Well, s.h.i.+t…"

"Hahaha~ Serves you right!~"

Seeing it's acting had worked, the homunculus fully extended its claws which were about half a meter long and charged the surprised demonkin that it a.s.sessed was in a state of shock due to the pain. That a.s.sessment couldn't have been further from the truth, however, as Dax formed a high pressure sphere of wind that he shot towards the homunculus right after it s.h.i.+fted its centre of ma.s.s and fully committed to the charge.

"GHA!-"

Forcefully knocking all the air out of the homunculus' chest Dax slammed his foot into the stone floor below and challenged mana into it, forming multiple spikes of rock which nailed the homunculus to a wall while he dealt with his injury.

"Guess there's no reason to hide it, ICI engage auto repair."

(DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, TASKING BLACKMATTER FOR REPAIR… COMPLETE, EXECUTING REPAIR.)

Like it was some sort of illusion, the demonkin's wound instantly stopped bleeding as some sort of black liquid started pouring out of the wound instead, then it covered the wound as the blood that had been spilt on the floor below suddenly got a mind of its own and returned it the demonkin's body.

"What… Are… You!?"

With horror clearly visible in the homunculus' eyes for the first time as it slowly choked on its own blood Dax found himself compelled to answer.

"A homunculus, although the term we use where I come from is 'artificially created lifeform'. Tl;dr I am like you, but better. My race was created for a singular purpose a few million years ago, we were made to wage and win wars, but over time we became something else. Like your comrade which I killed first said, artificially created lifeforms are the superior race but he was somewhat mistaken. The era of homunculus has already begun."

Extracting the homunculus' memories Dax took a brief look around at the mayhem he had unleashed with blood spatter and body parts all over the floor, walls and even some parts of the ceiling the qiton breathed a deep sigh.

"This is definitely not something a 'lady' would respond well to seeing… And I'm covered in blood too."

Breathing another deep sigh as mana surged around him Dax started the minimum amount of cleaning necessary to keep the so called 'lady' from screaming as he rescued her.

-

"Of course it's locked… Not that that's going to change anything."

Briefly examining the tightly locked door that hid his prize Dax located the numerous weak points and quickly tore into the metal with his bare hands and destroyed the lock.

"There we are~ You must be this so called lady I keep hearing so much about, my name is Dax, I'm here on request of your ever loyal knight to rescue you."

Opening the door to what turned out to be little more than a holding cell Dax's eyes quickly adjusted to the light within the room which was unlike the complete pitch dark he had fought in and located a bundle of ropes and frills in one of the corners. Walking closer in a non threatening fas.h.i.+on Dax examined his possible further long term employer, finding her to be a sort of young demihuman woman. She had long elaborately braided golden hair which reached a fair bit down her back, blue eyes with a slightly green tint and long narrow ears that had almost the same length as Lilly's. A feature the young n.o.ble lady definitely did not share with the tiny elver Dax knew was a pair of antler like white horns on top of her head, as well as some the faint outline of white scales some places on her skin.

"Ah, sorry for s.p.a.cing out, let's get you to safety."

Removing the woman's gag Dax carefully lifted the still otherwise bound n.o.ble lady up in a princess carry and started walking out of the underground complex.

"... Thanks for saving me."

After a brief delay, the n.o.ble lady quietly voiced some words of grat.i.tude which Dax took to heart.

"You're welcome. I would still like to be paid trough, and a proper explanation would also be nice."