I Found a Forbidden SSS-Rank Nanosuit After Being Abandoned

Zion stared at the hole for a few seconds, not sure whether it was smart to head in when his hearing was still impaired from the blast.

'I don't think I really have a choice,' he thought, his time severely limited by the small amount of food.

Having decided, he slowly slid down the cracked earth from the crater, only coming to a stop a few feet before the massive hole.

Zion stepped carefully to the edge, peering down into the vast, dark tunnel.

"Uriel, is it possible that Deathcrawlers made this?" he asked quietly, not seeing the end of the tunnel.

[Yes,] Uriel said slowly. [But their intelligence shouldn't be high enough to realize the pod's value.]

Alarm bells rang through Zion's head.

"Can you pick anything up on the scanners?" he asked silently, getting a bad feeling.

[Negative.]

Zion stared down the hole and shook his head. His blade pushed through his knuckles as scales spread over his arms.

"Then there's nothing left but to go down there myself," he mumbled, carefully climbing down into the tunnel.

Once his feet hit the ground, he turned around.

The tunnel sloped straight down, disappearing into darkness far away from him.

Looking at the scratch marks on the sides, he raised an eyebrow.

'Got it,' he thought. 'So it's not some rare diagonal sinkhole.'

Zion started walking down into the dark tunnel, tracing his fingers on the wall beside him as the visibility got worse.

Minutes passed as he walked deeper and deeper into the tunnel, with even the air thinning significantly around him.

[Host, I can detect the pod up ahead now,] Uriel's voice echoed through his head.

Zion immediately slowed down, narrowing his eyes as he carefully examined the situation up ahead.

'Is that a cave?' he thought, seeing thin rays of light fall into a massive open space up ahead.

Massive stalactites hung from the ceiling, stretching all the way down to the ground. In the middle of it all, Zion spotted a faint blue light, lighting up the metal around it.

'The pod,' he thought, a wave of relief washing through him.

Scanning around, he made sure nothing was around before silently making his way over to it.

Zion snuck through the dark, using several stalactites as cover until he finally reached the pod.

"Uriel?" he called out quietly. "Can you open the pod?"

[Opening pod now!] Uriel's voice echoed through his head.

Meanwhile, Zion kept looking around.

'I don't know what dragged the pod here,' he thought. 'And I don't want to find out.'

'I just want to get these damn resources and get off this death planet.'

The hatch on the pod behind him opened, the noise of the trapped air escaping echoing through the cave.

"Shit," Zion cursed, quickly looking around as he stood completely still.

He held his breath for an entire minute as his eyes darted around the place, searching for any creature that might've come for the noise.

Letting out a quiet sigh of relief after confirming nothing was around, Zion turned back to the pod.

Inside, he could see several high-end electromagnetic coils, compressor blades—but even more important were the loose sets of basic materials he could use to create missing parts.

'I can actually get off the planet with this,' he thought, hope appearing in his eyes.

Before he could continue his thoughts, he heard a soft scraping noise echo through the cave.

Zion froze, spinning around.

[Host, one enemy has been detected,] Uriel's voice echoed urgently.

'Thanks for telling me,' Zion thought, his eyes darting through the cave.

He couldn't see much because of the darkness. Only the few dozen feet around light spots and the blue light shining from the pod gave him any visibility.

'Where is it?' he thought, slowly walking in a circle with his blade raised.

The rattling noise had completely disappeared, making it nearly impossible for him to know where this creature might be.

Suddenly, he heard the noise behind him again, this time far louder than last time.

Zion spun around, his instincts screaming at him.

'Nothing?' he thought, eyes narrowing.

That's when he heard it again.

Behind him.

A chill rolled down his spine as he quickly spun around and swung his blade.

But, nothing.

'Something's watching me,' he thought. 'Even playing with me.'

Taking a small step back, he suddenly heard Uriel's voice.

[Heat signature detected above,] his voice echoed through his head. [Be careful, host!]

Looking up at the darkness above him, Zion felt himself go crazy.

That's when the blue light from the pod flickered, revealing a creature hanging from the ceiling with curved metal limbs.

[Dodge now!] Uriel's voice shouted.

Zion managed to jump back just in time as a metal figure crashed into the ground he'd been standing on.

Another flash of blue light revealed the creature's slim body with multiple knife-like claws that pierced into the ground behind him.

'What is that hideous thing?' he thought, keeping his full attention on the creature as it yanked its knife-like claws out of the ground.

[It's a D-rank Shadeleecher!] Uriel said, panic in his voice. [That wasn't supposed to be even close to this side of the planet.]

The Shadeleecher let out a high-pitched scream, pouncing towards Zion with its claws pointed at him.

Its claws just barely managed to scratch his ankles as he jumped aside.

'What speed!'

The Shadeleecher's claws pierced into the ground behind him, but this time, it immediately yanked them out and leapt upward.

Mid-spin, it flung two razor-thin needles directly at Zion's chest.

Fortunately, he saw them just in time and stepped back, letting the needles stab into the ground in front of him.

[Shadeleechers are stealth-build creatures,] Uriel said. [Be extremely careful for any tiny needles it might throw your way as they contain paralytic poison.]

Hearing about the poison, Zion's expression darkened immediately.

As the Shadeleecher crashed into a stalactite in the darkness behind him, Zion took a few steps back.

'How am I going to do this?' he thought, his brows furrowing.

Before he could think any further, he heard the familiar rattling sound again as the creature circled him within the darkness.

A slight panicked feeling set over Zion as the rattling noise disappeared like the Shadeleecher had.

'It's fast… poisonous and nearly invisible,' he thought, sweat slowly dripping down his brow. 'If I hesitate for even a second… I'm done.'