- I see. I would help you fix all of the machines, but just a small favour. If you are chased already, try to lure all of them at once and hold your position until I can come for help. - Can. But please be quick. The message signal turns off. I stand in front of a humanoid, cybernetic Intruder holding a gun. - Finally, I found you! The higher-ups have planned to isolate the ship and assassinate you, but it seems that you are a step ahead. And you also waste not a small number of our forces. What an accomplishment. - The Intruder injects some sarcastic tone in his speech, but I know that otherwise, they are genuine. - Thanks. I have heard that countless times from your comrades, and you know their fate already, I assume. The Intruder seems unaffected by my boasting. - That is just a fluke. Right now, you are effectively trapped here. Just accept your fate. Straightforwardly, the Intruder points his gun at me. A red light beam i
After escaping the losing battle with the help of Mirai, we manage to sneak into a small, abandoned cabin, maybe at most ten metres square. Mirai seals all of the doors and sets up a barrier to deflect any signals toward the cabin. Then, we sit down in the centre of the room. We take out the protective suit. - What time is it up there, Mirai? - Late afternoon. About six o'clock. Now that she says it, sudden exhaustion strikes my body, quickly spreading throughout my body. I have been staying awake for quite a long time, and it is only now that the effect kicks in. - How long have I been running around? - Three hours. I am impressed that you can last for that long. And thanks to that I can finish the hacking. No Intruders are around. - Lucky. I almost get killed. - And you must thank the fact that I have encountered this type of Intruder before. Mirai takes out a bullet that resembles a metallic needle, with a blue li
I am forced to wake up by a rumbling that makes the whole cabin tremble. Then, I find my head lying on Mirai's lap. The weird softness makes me startled and sits up directly from the sleeping pose. So it is not a dream. - Good, you are awake. I think there is no need to explain right? - Besides the lap pillow, I would assume that the Intruders decide to level the whole central area. - Yes. Quickly gear up, we will bring this place down today. I wear the protective suit and put on my backpack. As soon as everything is ready, Mirai dismantles the barrier and we get out of the cabin. The place is like a mess, which is not what we saw before we entered the cabin. Besides the small buildings and stuff, the roads and plots of land have been completely ploughed up. They even go to the point of searching the underway. It is a miracle that they do not detect us. - Move with the way highlighted on your spectacle vision. We will head to the biggest
- How come all of them have red numbers on their heads? - I whisper to Mirai who stands right next to me. - You step into their territory, what do you expect? - I thought, should you have accounted for this in your plan already? - Who said I have not? We are surrounded by nothing but the big, flashing red numbers taking over half of our vision and a seemingly impenetrable formation of the low-level Intruders. My brain is burning itself, trying to find a way to stay alive, yet Mirai is just calm. As calm as the water surface of a pond. Mirai takes out two sealed canisters. After brute forcing to unseal, she throws the canisters into the air and shoots them with two bullets. They pierce the metal cover of the canisters, causing blue smoke to emerge and spread in every direction. The smoke quickly disperses throughout the town, blending into the air. - I have told you, the moment I know that I have encountered them before, the town b
A snap? As I hear the weird sound, a submarine appears between us and the boss whose sceptre is on the way to slamming the Force Field. The sudden appearance of the submarine makes the sceptre hit the submarine cover with full force. Bonk! The submarine is still materialising, so it does not move, sending all of the slamming momenta back to the boss. The stronger the force of the sceptre, the more the boss is sent backwards. The subsequent vibrations from the metallic clank make its whole body tremble, and it becomes unconscious. It falls onto the ground. The shock waves also render all of the other mobs neutralised. The water level has risen sufficiently for the submarine to safely land in the water and float. Mirai wakes up and dusts her suit. - What the hell? I thought you passed out already. - Even if the Intruder forces completely outperform humans, I still have a fifty-year advantage. At, least, for the next twenty years, they are harmless. But
The video footages are a few years' worths of content showcasing Mirai's collection of items that she crafts, from the photon series with over a hundred weapons and typical support items to the aerial units, drones and the stuff that if not observed from the footages, I would never believe that they exist. "Here is the final version of the submachine gun SMG-01, with a fully improved stabiliser system and better weight efficiency. I realise that I can just copy and paste the design from the Battle Royale tournament. Their designs utilise physics concepts to simulate real-world guns. By the way, I win the 2,543rd tournament, making it the one-hundred streak of consecutive wins. The theme is not about the wealth gap, so I secure a win in just ten minutes.." Wah, it is impressive that the tournament lasts for almost fifty years. If I am not wrong, they organise that once every week, and the year's top players will be invited to a grand tournament. But what the hell? A hundred suc
In exchange for the crosses immediately disappearing from the map, the angled firing of the torpedoes causes our submarine to rotate. Adding up with the fact that Mirai has lost bearing, we take another hour to adjust our course and catch up with the cruise ship. It is midnight again, so that makes nearly two full days. As the submarine ascends to the water level, the barometer shows falling pressure, and air from the submarine is slowly pumped out of the cabin to help us adapt to the changing pressure. Mirai steers the submarine around the cruise ship to find the exact spot where we departed. After scouting for some time, she turns to me. - Yuusha, we have some bad news. - Yes? - The scouting drones are still here, although the density is less. The map on the control panel shows crosses that overlap with the dot representing our submarine. - Wait... Are they supposed to be retracted already? Why are they still here? Right as when I s
- Emergency! The central square has been destroyed. Emergency! The central square has been destroyed. Cabin crew, please assist the passengers in evacuating. The siren has been set throughout the cruise ship, stealing the chill atmosphere away. I glance out the room window, giving me a fairly clear view of the whole ship. As expected, there is a large hole in the central square. Water starts to pour in like a flood. - Mirai, have you detected the source of the missile? - I turn to ask Mirai. - Not yet, but I have circled down the possible locations based on the missile's trajectory. But we will talk about it later. The ship will sink in five minutes. At this point, the drones should have evacuated, but just in case, I reload my photon pistol with another full round. We pack our luggage into the tablet's storage space and take our leave. The way to the nearest lifeboat is highlighted by the yellow lights along every nook and cranny of the ship. We u