Estimated reading time: 8–9 minutes
Chapter 19: Sudden Development 2
Now then, how should I interpret this situation? It’s not like I met Momiji after 5 years, and I don’t understand what 20 years ago is supposed to mean either. That means this probably has something to do with the crappy point number one of this crappy game, that it links strangely with reality.
In other words, she’s probably the NPC Momiji who just happened to survive until 2055 by chance. But I wonder if there would be complaints about using a real person? If the person they were based on committed a crime or something, they might get replaced, but that’s neither here nor there.
It was a gigantic machine beast. So big I found myself wondering how many domes it would be equivalent to, so large I lost all sense of perspective. As I looked up, the tips of its tentacles began to transform. The metal armor at the ends peeled back to expose the fibrous muscle within, twisting and bending itself into shape. And then it fired.
「You should dodge that!」
「Seriously?」
Momiji’s words make me freeze involuntarily. I almost shout what the hell is she saying, but that temporary paralysis ends up saving my life. The cannon fire impacts to my right, at exactly the same distance I just dodged from. Accelerating under gravity, the shells fall like rods from God.
Then countless tentacles sprouting from its body likewise tear their own tips off, mimicking the kinetic bombardment. Deeming the damage insufficient, it gains even more altitude to try again. This enemy has intelligence. The power to predict based on experience, and conceive multiple options. This is…
「A machine beast…!」
「No, it’s not a machine beast.」
「Huh?」
「Of course not, we’d be hopeless if that’s all there was. This thing is the Moon UYK.」
So it’s not a strain or anything, I’m told in a warning tone. Huh, what’s this? Talking about the Moon and stuff, it doesn’t seem like it’s the final boss, but clearly close to that level. In a game, it would be the sort of character you’d fight in a losing event in the early stages of a game.
I dodge the bombardment again, this time at full speed to the left. The shells take longer to impact thanks to the greater altitude, but the shockwaves and shrapnel still shake my machine. I sense more continuous fire coming, and start running. My secret technique, the AI killer. The Inexplicable Step Lv3 I learned to disable cheaters’ auto-aim!
What I’m doing is simple. If it tries to predict my next dodge based on the habits it observed before, I gradually alter the angle and distance, then shift direction the moment I sense it’s found a pattern. That’s usually enough to throw off aimbot cheats that rely on prediction. Cheats with pure aim assist are more dangerous, but they often don’t work well in games with high maneuverability and lag either, so these steps are quite practical.
At the very least, the machine beast or rather “UYK” up there is confused by my movements, missing its barrage. The ground shakes and the dome crumbles to dust once more, the debris swirling in the vacuum to expose the entrance below. A large passage, likely meant for transporting work machinery and such. Momiji shouts over the comm device.
「Get in there!」
「You don’t have to tell me!」
I slide my body inside. Walking down a passage with the same interior design as the collapsed dome, vibrating all the while. This section seems to double as an emergency evacuation route, cracked and crumbled in places but with no dead ends blocking it off completely. After a few minutes it seems to lose sight of me, the bombardment halting as stillness returns. Amidst the silence Momiji immediately begins navigation.
「Go right over there. Then you’ll get to the artillery platform.」
「Hey… what exactly am I supposed to do here?」
Following her directions, I have to ask. I can’t figure out the objective of this game. Just a bit ago it was still let’s work together to beat the strain! but now what is this? Spawning tons of players who can’t participate to create an utterly despairing difference in military strength. And it doesn’t seem we can even reach the thing up top either. Using that artillery platform she mentioned might accomplish something, but this shouldn’t be a single player game, right?
Sensing my doubts, Momiji lets out a “Hmm” then replies in a slightly louder voice.
「Yeah, this is an event battle.」
「That’s kinda meta, is an NPC allowed to say stuff like that?」
「Wro…cough, with the condition of being able to operate in a vacuum fulfilled, the event has started. Come on, isn’t it that common thing where you enter a town with a special item and get a cutscene?」
「So you mean other players could also trigger this if they meet the conditions too?」
「Unfortunately this is first come first served.」
「Trash game.」
It seems capable of rather meta commentary. I wonder if there’d be bugs if a character in the game became aware of their existence as part of a game? Well, that aside. I see, an event battle. That helps me understand the purpose of this fight. I also think it may have served to debut that “UYK”, but if there’s no stream what would be the point?
After running a bit more I reach my destination. Two suns are visible in the east, and hovering above them is that moth. How did I not notice that before? But its gradual movement helps me understand why. I see, so that “UYK” orbits like the other planets. Spinning at a steady rate. And that’s why when I first looked up at the sky, I didn’t notice the gigantic moth there.
The Moon UYK has completely lost track of me. The voice came again from the radio.
「Ya gotta shoot that guy with the cannon there. That’ll save those people and us too.」
「Huh, you sure this thing even works?」
「There’s an attachment connected to your blade now, yeah? Plug that into the panel that pops out when you open the hatch below the cannon. Send me the password.」
She’s talking too fast, everything’s progressing too hastily. But at this rate I’ll suffocate and die if I don’t do something. Though that said, it’s unlikely they optimized this event to be so fast-paced out of consideration for that… Not when they could’ve made a much better event if they had that capability. They simply failed to realize the guidance is lacking. Goddamn, it’s like they’re abandoning the players here.
Digging through the debris soon unearths an enormous tube. As you’d expect of an artillery platform, it’s over 20 meters long. The caliber is around 50cm, but considering tank shells max out around 15cm, that gives you an idea of its power. I pull out the rugged cannon barrel and connect it to the machine’s cable as instructed, which installs something or other, adding new displays to the screen.
「It says ‘1 shell remaining, artillery strike ready’. Power… emergency battery?」
「OK, we were stuck here unable to turn on that emergency battery ourselves. Should’ve made it controllable online… Anyway, try operating it like you do the AP.」
What an absurd demand. But the program works splendidly, smoothly swiveling the cannon to track my movements. With me at the cannon’s base, I watch its trajectory with some awe, accurately mimicking my actions.
――And it’s got that thing in its sights.
「It’s an incendiary weapon so the muzzle velocity overwhelms stuff like gravity, don’t worry too much about that. Just focus on hitting it, though the rate of fire is a bit slow.」
「Roger roger. It’s about to sink below the horizon so I’ll take the shot. Huh…!?」
The instant I move to pull the trigger. Its eyes blaze to life as it rapidly contracts its tentacles, firing in a split second… Of course, that’s UYK, king of the machine beasts! With killer instinct like that, no wonder it noticed…!
My vision turns white. Judging I can’t get the shot off in time, I curl up to reduce my profile, but as if to mock me the impact rages on, mercilessly.
Moon UYK
Due to the circumstances of its birth, it is extremely hostile towards humans. The ■■ UYK of has similar tendencies, but not to the same extent. Its rage was directed at the two artificial planets once called Japan and Britain immediately upon its birth. Like the Machine Beasts, it possesses both the traits of a living being and the capabilities of a machine.
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