Chapter 18
Following Olin's lead to the Digsite
Aloy moved carefully along the ridges of a dry canyon, her boots crunching lightly against the sunbaked stone. The direction Olin had provided led her deeper into the Carja Sundom away from Meridian , where the land gave way to massive craters—wounds left from ancient battles.
Through her Focus, she scanned ahead, picking up movement below. Eclipse scouts patrolled in smallgroups, their armor glinting under the sun. But they weren't alone. Machines moved beside them—Watchers with a strange red-black energy oozing from them like a living virus,and benatge them on the ground there were cables trailing back toward the dig site.
Aloy frowned and said " The Eclipse and Machines , new bestfriends ".
She pressed on, keeping to the higher ground until she reached a cliff overlooking the excavation site.
The Eclipse's Operation
Beneath her she could feel tremors and as she got closer ,she began hearing explosions.The Eclipse were using blaze to blast open huge rocks in the ground that were preventing them from getting what they wanted . She then saw a massive pulley system moving deep into the rocky terrain that was blasted , lifting a machine that she had seen before , a Corruptor.
Half-buried in the sand, surrounded by Eclipse workers, lay the skeletal form of a Corruptor. Its sleek metal body was scarred with age, its arms half-broken. And yet, the Eclipse were treating it like a treasure.
Aloy activated her Focus and scanned the area. The old war machine wasn't dead. The Eclipse began connecting cables to its dormant systems to a nearby control station, and Eclipse soldiers were working to repair it.
She tapped the side of her Focus.
"Adal, I'm looking at an active excavation. They'redigging up Corruptors. Why?"
A brief silence. Then, Adal's voice crackled in her ear.
"Because they have no choice. Corruptors were never built in the present day. They're remnants of the old world, sealed underground , laying dormant for centuries. The Eclipse has no way to manufacture them .So instead, they scavenge. Reviving ancient death machines for their war."
Aloy watched as an Eclipse officer barked orders,directing workers to attach more cables. The Corruptor's body twitched as its systems flickeredback to life.
"They're using old-world tech to restart them,giving them power again." Aloy muttered.She then remembered how the corruptor she took down commanded other machines using the component she now attached to her spear .
She said "So Eclipse bring back the corrupters and the corrupters control the machines , That explains a few unsolved questions actually".
A chime echoed in Aloy's ear, signaling another incoming transmission. This time, two holograms flickered to life beside her.
Sylens and Adal.
Adal leaned against an unseen surface, arms crossed, his green Focus gleaming under his hood. Sylens, as always, stood with his usual analytical stare.
"We have a way to disrupt their operation," Sylenssaid. "But it requires precision."
Adal smirked. "We're taking out their Focus network. Sever their connection before they realize what'shappening."
Aloy raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly am I supposed to do that?"
Sylens zoomed in on her Focus display, highlighting a relay tower at the edge of the site.
"That's their communications hub," he explained. "It links every Focus in the dig site to their command center. Take it out, and they lose everything—coordination, remote commands, even machine control."
Adal added,"That's where you come in JUNO can't destroy it remotely because of HADES' presence hence why we need you to override it through the node at the base of the hub. Once you're done JUNO will take care of the rest ".
Aloy studied the communications hub. "And let me guess—once I do this, the Eclipse will notice?"
Adal gave a mock-sympathetic shrug. "Oh, definitely."
She sighed. "Fine. Just tell me where to go."
"Follow the power cables," Sylens instructed. "They lead straight to the relay tower. And Aloy? Try not to get caught."
Aloy smirked. "No promises."
Sneaking into the Dig Site
Aloy descended from the ridge, her movements swift and silent. She stuck to the shadows of ruinedstructures, watching the patrols closely.
Near one of the workstations, Eclipse engineers were busy decrypting old-world data. Aloy eavesdropped as an officer paced in frustration.
"Work faster. These glyphs and the new information need to be translated,now."
Aloy scanned everything using her focus and thought "I'll check them later, let's finish this first".
She continued moving towards the hub, and as she was getting closer she heard a commotion in the Digsite , she turned around to check what was happening and she saw Olin captured and restrained.
She muttered under her breath " Well that's great,I'll deal with it later and continued towards the hub ".
Aloy reached the base of the relay hub, gripping her spear a little tighter, expecting a few officers inside or near the area but it was completely empty you could only hear the slight buzz of the electricity moving the the machines and cables . She said "Well I guess the goddess of luck is in my side ".
She tapped her focus and said "Are you there" a reply came "were here", "Well here goes nothing ",She set the override component of her spear against the network node, about to activate it—
When a loud mechanical shriek split the air.
The Eclipse had triggered something.
Aloy spun just in time to see one of the buried Corruptors jolt to life.
"Damn it," she muttered.
Eclipse soldiers raised their weapons, scrambling for control as the Corruptor's systems came online. But something was wrong—it moved erratically, its Focus-linked commands failing.
Aloy didn't wait, she began the override sequence as the Corruptor's tail smashed through a crane, sending Eclipse soldiers scattering.
The override sequence completed and she shouted,
"OK, NOW!!"
Electricity surged through the cables as the Focus network overloaded. One by one, Eclipse Focuses shorted out, their connections severed.
The Corruptor staggered, its command signals further failing. In the confusion, Aloy used the chaos to take it and the remaining Eclipse soldiers down, firing a series of well-placed arrows at its weak joints and its weak points highlighted by her FOCUS .
And finally finishing the remaining Eclipse troops that weren't killed by the corruptor .
With the battle over, Aloy freed Olin.
He looked shaken but determined." I know for what I did , leading the Eclipse to your home can never be forgiven but I'll spend the remaining days I have trying to earn it ". Aloy then said "it's not up to me to forgive you when all this is over you will answer to the Matriachs not me".
Before they could leave, another Focus signal came through.
Sylens and Adal appeared again, their expressions unreadable.
Aloy wiped the sweat from her brow. "You could'vewarned me about the Corruptor still being active even after the network shutdown ."
Adal grinned. "Wouldn't have been as fun."
She crossed her arms. "Alright. You got what you wanted. What's next?"
Sylens was already pulling up new coordinates. "There's another dig site. A larger one. And from what we've gathered from the information you scanned from this Digsite it's not just Corruptors they're after."
Aloy frowned. "Then I guess I'd better stop them."
As the transmission ended, she glanced at Olin. "Let's go."