Ba-Zi-Ha finally awoke, feeling a mild headache and a sharper pain throughout her body.
She wasn't sure if she had injured herself somewhere, but she quickly realized she was lying on robot debris, which was hurting her back.
On top of that, she noticed she was without her protective gear, the one that was usually attached to her clothing.
Worried, she wondered who had gone through the trouble of not only rendering her unconscious but also removing her vital protection.
She stood up abruptly, struggling to move. She thought to herself: what else might they have done to me?
Could they have harmed me while I was unconscious?
With some effort, she managed to stay on her feet. She looked around for her weapons but realized she would have to make do with a piece of robot scrap—perhaps part of a limb or arm—that could serve as a weapon.
It wasn't ideal, but at that moment, it was all she had.
Ba-Zi-Ha grabbed a larger twisted piece of metal that could function as a weapon and began walking carefully through the wreckage, cautious not to make noise, knowing that any suspicious movement could attract the Corroding Beetles.
She heard strange sounds in the distance but decided to head in the opposite direction, hoping to explore more of the terrain.
Suddenly, she found an entrance to a partially collapsed building. With hope that it might hold answers about her situation, she cautiously approached.
Ba-Zi-Ha knew she would face trouble if she tried to fight a group of zombots—those robots corrupted by the enzymes of the beetles known as Corroders.
There were more than six of them, and the chance of defeat was high. So, her only option was to ambush them. She had memorized that narrow terrain, the hallways that got tighter the further one went. It was the perfect setting to lay traps.
She knew zombots were slow and predictable, but their strength and durability were impressive.
With slight tension, Ba-Zi-Ha quickly arranged some broken wires and metal debris to create a trap that, when triggered, would cause one of the robots to fall heavily, knocking the others down.
The strategy seemed simple—but effective.
Hidden in the shadows, she waited. The sound of metallic steps echoed through the narrow passage, and she knew that soon the first of the six would pass her.
When the moment came, she triggered the mechanism, and with a loud crash, the leading robot fell, dragging the others down with it. Chaos erupted.
Ba-Zi-Ha moved quickly, taking advantage of the confusion to seize the fallen robots' weapons. Surprisingly, the zombots, as always, were not armed with conventional firing weapons but with laser rifles.
Out of the six zombots, only two carried weapons—one red and one blue.
But it was the red rifle that stood out the most. Ba-Zi-Ha picked up both carefully, aware they were a powerful threat—but also tools she could use to her advantage.
She observed the clumsy fallen robots trying to get back on their feet and didn't hesitate—she began firing at them.
Ba-Zi-Ha was puzzled when she realized that the red rifle's laser didn't slice or pierce the zombots' outer armor.
Instead, the moment they were hit, the zombots shut down—falling motionless, but not destroyed, as she had expected.
With each robot that dropped, she felt a strange sensation—as if she had only postponed the inevitable. The zombots weren't defeated, only... paralyzed.
Meanwhile, the blue laser rifle had an even less satisfying effect: it only slowed the zombots' movements.
For a moment, she considered discarding the blue rifle, but then she remembered a certain piece of advice:
"Be open to new experiences, but hold on to your principles."
She decided to keep it—it might prove useful somehow in the future.
Now armed, she had no time to waste. She was better equipped to continue her search for Taratha Thag.
The sound of the fallen robots still echoed down the hallways, and she knew she had to move quickly.
Her only light source was a dim flashlight, barely enough to illuminate the dark corridors ahead.
The low light forced her to be even more cautious—she knew the robots, even if downed, could rise again at any moment. Exactly when, she didn't know.
Ba-Zi-Ha crept through the shadows, using the faint glow to hide whenever necessary.
Now facing another group of six zombots, she quickly realized the blue laser rifle worked more effectively in the light—deactivating and paralyzing the zombots one by one as she advanced.
She then followed up, switching weapons swiftly, using the red laser rifle to deliver a more spectacular blow, giving her the impression that they might never rise again.
The first, the second, the third—each zombot fell with a metallic snap, paralyzed by the force of the blue laser, then brought down by the red one's impact.
She felt a fleeting relief with each fall, though the concern never left her thoughts.
When she finally reached the fifth zombot, she felt victorious. Only one more, and she'd be free—for now.
But something strange happened.
When she fired the blue laser at the sixth zombot, it didn't freeze.
This one was bigger than the others and seemed immune to the laser shot.
Its system remained active, even with the constant laser fire on its shell.
It was at that moment that Ba-Zi-Ha recalled a voice:
"Believe in yourself, my daughter. You are capable of achieving everything you set your mind to."
Ba-Zi-Ha quickly crouched and grabbed another blue weapon she had found earlier.
Somehow, she merged the two side by side. Still hesitant, she gripped both blue rifles tightly, feeling a strange energy while aiming at the large, resistant zombot.
With a swift motion, she fired both blue laser rifles—and to her surprise, the robot instantly froze.
Wasting no time, she dropped them and grabbed another red rifle from the ground, combining it with the one she already had.
Without delay, she unleashed several shots until the energy in the laser rifles ran dry—bringing the zombot crashing down with a loud bang.
Silence filled the corridor. She stood there, still, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
She looked at the blue rifles she had tossed moments ago, still unable to believe what she had seen.
Why hadn't a single blue laser shot affected that creature?
What made that beetle-corrupted robot different from the others?
Ba-Zi-Ha was filled with questions—and the biggest of all:
What was the mystery behind those robots and the different effects of the lasers?
What more would she have to uncover to truly understand what was happening?