He woke up on a cobbled stone floor.
The man quickly jumped up from the discomfort to find himself in a dark dome with a roundtable in the center. Kade sat in one of the wrought metal chairs set around the table and three other subjects, one wearing a gothic jacket and sunhat over her head, another with a heavy gas mask on, and another in sleek metal armor. Kade noticed the man had woken up and walked up to him.
"Glad you're awake, you were on the ground dead asleep for some time," Kade said.
"Wha...where are we? Am I back in the jungle?"
"Yharim ported you here for a special mission, I'll be advising you."
He looked around for a while, recalling his last steps. The three people in the chairs eyed him suspiciously, the one in the sunhat's glare quite literally piercing through his soul. The dome and paved in crisp black stone bricks and lined with silver accents around every ridge. The roof was fixed with mosaic-stained windows in the shape of dragons and flames, casting multicolored beams of light down on the floor.
"A meeting will be held here in a few minutes, He told me to give this to you for the time being."
Kade took a small rounded metal stone engraved with arch-runes out of his pocket and handed it to him. He explained to him it was a stored armor set for extra protection, which he examined before placing it away. Soon after, the table's runes began to glow a holographic blue. A huge blast of mana projection covered the entire room in a circling blue.
"Oh, looks like it's starting."
On top of the table displayed a mana holograph displaying the division badge. Along came the voice of Yharim echoing from all regions of the dome.
"Hello, execution team, today I have assigned this group to set off on a mission within the southern mesa region with the goal of eliminating the MM-5 Armored Boreing Unit Prototype, located 1 kilometer deep from the surface."
A projected image of blueprints of a massive mechanical worm appeared to the left of the dome. Its head was equipped with heavy hydraulic clamps and each segment of its body was fitted with orbital droids.
The hell...
"This machine was previously constructed to bore huge tunnels for transportation uses, however, it was recently gone rogue and is now taking quarters in the ruins of the ocean kingdom. Its constant excavation of the land has weakened the strata supporting the upper layers and if it migrates it can cause the entire region to collapse. Your goal is to put it out of commission before we lose the many settlements there. A construction team has already set up a makeshift elevator leading to the caverns where it is located.
One of the subjects in the sleek metal armor stood up. "Question, Are we really going on an extermination mission with THAT thing? it caused the destruction of nearly half the capitol, what makes you think it won't just do even more harm to the remaining area?" He said.
"Laurence has been fitted with nanocells that'll pacify him if his mana levels rise over the limit, and for more safety, I give you all permission to kill him if needed. However, he will temporarily join the special division for this single mission. Mason, you can introduce him to the other teammates. Be ready at the pylon by 5."
The subject sat back down with a despised look. The two others stared at the displayed blueprints while kade pulled a seat for him. The gas mask and armored members slightly inched away from him.
"So, let me introduce you to them. He's Liam Harrison, a member of the undercover division, Vulcan Arceneaux, special division member 6, and Taph, special division member 5. You'll get to know them more soon enough." Explained Kade.
The three collectively waved at him softly. They all looked quite strange and not the friendly-cheery type like Kade. Liam stared at him tensely, Vulcan he couldn't tell since his face was completely covered in his mask, and Taph looked as if she barely gave a shit. But the man didn't care if they were friendly or not, just that they don't get in his way. Kade called all the members to start heading to the pylon pedestal. It sat on a stone altar surrounded by the busts of dragons carved in regal gold. Together, they all placed a single hand on the lime crystal as they ported away.
It only took a few seconds to reach the desert, which was very similar to the effects of the mirror. The man's eyes were near blinded by the blazing sunlight of the desert but quickly adjusted to the sudden brightness. His skin suddenly began to gradually lose saturation and became stiffer than before, most likely due to the dryness.
"Looks like we're here, Yharim said the site is around the north of this camp." Said Vulcan.
"Huh, I expected it to be much warmer," Taph responded.
The desert pylon was surrounded by dozens of small shops and tents. The scent of roasted meats and stir-fried peppers wafted across one side, while the other erupted the sweet scent of freshly diced cacti and aloe vera. Merchants strolled around with carts of pyramid relics and jewelry, while a small greenhouse overcrowded the area with hundreds of pots of exotic succulents. Vulcan locked his eyes on much of the jewelry and metalwork and often parted from the group, which was quickly brought back to the point by Liam. Taph shifted her sunhat closer to her head and crossed her arms while Kade led, glancing at the man every once in a while.
"So how big is this thing anyway?" Questioned the man, "I've seen worms that are overwhelmingly massive in the abyss."
"The blueprints say the unit is nearly a hundred meters long, People around here tell stories of it as a legend, saying sometimes you can hear the tremors all the way from the camp. They call it like, the "Destroyer" or something." Replied Kade.
"You told me that thing is built out of hallowed steel, you better be correct." Said Vulcan with excitement.
Laurence, that machine under us is quite the taxing challenge, although it has very valuable mana cells that can be easily extracted. Good thing these division members can help dispatch it.
Upon leaving the camp all there was left was a barren array of curving lines of sand and stone. Occasionally gusts of dirt and debris flew across the group and piled up behind. Towering cacti sprouted from the outskirts and beamed up like metal rods as shrikes impaled their prey on its thorns. Every time Kade stepped over the sands left a tiny mark of pearly white stone.
*(Crunch)*
Something left a huge snap under the man's shoe. Lifting his foot up he found a shattered ridged seashell.
Why would a seashell be all the way here in the desert?
Upon looking in front of him he noticed the entire area was covered in shells and bones. Huge curving arches of stone and dead coral appeared from the gusts of wind, filling the area up like an entire reef. Giant stones were placed randomly and covered from head to toe in dead barnacles and mussels. pillars made out of sandstone were left in a bent position, resting on great boulders.
"These are the remains of the Ocean Kingdom, nobody knows where the sea went and how the region fell. Most of its cities are buried in the sand underneath us right now, where are target is hiding." Said, Liam.
"There's the elevator, right there. Come on guys, let's go.
The group crouched under the forest of arches, avoiding jagged spikes in the formations and small trippable stones. They all stuffed inside the cramped cab and waited for it slide down. Once reaching the deepest level the grated elevator door slid back open in rusted squeaks as they all climbed out. The air of the underground desert caverns was much more cooling than the surface, yet just as dry. The area around the elevator shaft was formed in long stone tunnels, most likely drilled by the unit. The group spent quite a long time navigating through the tunnels, but each way always led back to the beginning like a maze with no exit.
"Have we gone to the right or the right to the right? Uhg, These tunnels are never ending." Groaned Vulcan, "every time we head to one path it just leads just to the other path with just leads us back to the start. WHEN DO I GET MY METAL?!"
"You'll get all the hallowed steel from the unit once it's decommissioned, first we need to find our way to it." Said, Liam.
"Why would this thing bore tunnels that just lead to the start... it's almost like it knew we were coming here..."
*(RUMBLE)*
Suddenly tremors and a huge quake shook from behind them, followed by a wall of dust. They rushed towards the elevator shaft to see it was completely smashed apart in with a huge barricade of sandstone slags and gravel.
"Looks like the cab is completely destroyed." Said Kade.
"How the hell are we getting out?" Questioned the man.
"We all have mirrors, they can port us back to the jungle and we'll ask Yharim for reinforcements."
Kade took out the mirror from his bag and tapped the glass once. He closed his eyes and waited, but to no avail. He tried again and waited several seconds, but not even a single sparkle emitted. The man looked at his arms, his veins were glowing again but a dark blue.
"There's a field, A mana field surrounding this place that's cutting out the signal." Explained the man, "This thing won't let us out until we find it."
"So the only way to get out is to destroy the target. But if this place is entirely made of just tunnels, how do we expect to win?"
"Have we gone to the left closest to the middle?"
"I don't think so..."
From the tunnel sparked a tiny blue light, with the same exact tone as the man's veins. The light slowly emerged from the tunnel as an orb armored with dusky metal. It softly floated towards the group, its giant blue light hovering over them.
In this version of terraria, all weapons from mid-hardmode to early-post-ML have much fewer strength differences to be more realistic. Bosses are buffed to the point where the destroyer still poses a challenge to early-post-ML gear to add danger and conflict, cuz if this was playing by the game's logic the execution members could easily curb stomp destroyer lol.