Estimated reading time: ~9 minutes
Chapter 93
Is this really something we should include with the giant robots? Looking at the risen Apollyon Fusion, it seems more accurate to call it a monster. Within 10 seconds, the metal components that were referred to as parts spread throughout its entire body and it stood up. The cockpit panel indicates with a blue signal that it is an ally.
The Apollyon Fusion was oddly dressed in a rather standard appearance. It looked like a gray, truly unmodified mass-produced Apollyon that had been enlarged. However, the glimpses of the Machine Beasts carved and stitched together through the gaps in its peeled armor eloquently told the story that this Apollyon Fusion was not a proper one. Amidst this, Teo’s slightly hoarse voice is heard along with the SoundOnly display.
「Can you hear me, Kanji? It’s me, the startup was successful. And I have some sad news.」
「Already?」
「I confirmed it on the radar, but currently an additional 4 Strains have started moving to surround us. We don’t have time to wait for reinforcements, we’ll go with the strategy you mentioned earlier.」
「Can’t we win against the Apollyon Fusion?」
「It’s absolutely impossible to face 5 of them, including this one. Not only will we be exhausted, but there are too few survivors. It’s more likely for just us to fly rather than properly reforming our formation.」
Damn, 4 more are coming? There’s no way we can win, it’d be better to aim for the center at top speed. And while I’m glad there are other survivors, I think as I look at the Type-17. It doesn’t move.
Why doesn’t it move? And in the first place, how did the Apollyon Fusion survive? How did it continue to exist unchanged when it could have become food for the Machine Beasts? Is something that convenient possible? There were stories that the Strains wouldn’t approach if there were corpses of Strains, but that shouldn’t apply to the Type-17, and what we should be seeing now is an Apollyon Fusion that has been completely preyed upon.
I have a bad feeling about this. I start running toward the feet of the Apollyon Fusion, which must be several dozen meters tall, where the liquid metal is still flowing, but as expected, the Type-17 doesn’t move and silently points its red-hot turret at the Fusion. Is it hesitating? What is there to hesitate about? The Apollyon Fusion is clearly an enemy.
「Orange, over here!」
Kurage, who had somehow grabbed onto the Apollyon Fusion’s waist, waves at me. Advancing through the strange space where there is nothing but that voice, the squirming sound of liquid metal, and the footsteps of the Falschblau, I reach the feet of the Fusion. Coming to its feet, I realize it’s not like a parent and child. The mass-produced Apollyon, which had looked so large, now appears as a mere dwarf in comparison to its immense size. When I touch its foot, metallic tentacles emerge from the gaps in the Apollyon Fusion’s giant armor and envelop the Falschblau. Looking at those metals, I remember, ah, these tentacles are exactly the same as the ones from the hunt for the UYK.
However, these tentacles seem to be for protecting me rather than hunting me. With only a slight view remaining, the Falschblau is completely fixated to the Apollyon Fusion. As I extend my vision, the tentacles distort and melt, and standardized metal armor is created, just like Reina did. At the same time, metal flows out from the hands of the Apollyon Fusion. It spreads up and down, defying gravity, and the tentacles become the skeleton for the creation of improvised armor plates.
「Let’s go, Kanji.」
「Wait a second, this is strange. Why isn’t it attacking? It’s ignoring me even though I was an enemy until now, and even when I deploy my weapons, it only shows caution.」
「Shut up, you lying gamer. We, who have survived in this world, give our stamp of approval. It’s fine, so hurry up.」
「What harsh words! But you’re right!」
Inside the cockpit, in the darkened space except for the limited view, there is silence. Yeah, I guess that’s right, I don’t know though. But even though I brought it up, it feels kind of awkward to strongly change my mind, so I cover my mouth. Only Teo’s muffled but slightly excited voice echoes, and through the gaps in the armor, I can see the shield of the Apollyon Fusion swinging at the Type-17.
At that moment, as if to ask what the earlier silence was for, the Type-17 ignites its turret with vigor. Scattering a large amount of white smoke behind it, the deafening sound of gunfire reverberates. And Teo, who understood this, captures the gunfire at the center of the shield and shouts.
「NMM full power…!」
My entire body is enveloped in acceleration and I slam my head hard against the wall. Belatedly, my body understands the existence of the explosion sound after the impact, and I realize it was successful as I see the view through the gap infinitely rotating.
…Is this success? That thought is interrupted by the dizziness caused by the spinning world, threatening to make me VR sick. I try to stop the dizziness by looking at the fixed comment section of the livestream.
『Let us hear the girl’s voice, no muting allowed.』
『Flying nuclear away successful!』
『It was too gory so I unsubscribed from the channel.』
『I came flying when I heard Orange was in the middle of tentacle play.』
『Congratulations on entering the trending words within a few dozen seconds! The 3 words ‘Orange’, ‘livestream’, and ‘tentacle’ are included!』
The last two lines make me suddenly sober up from the dizziness. I feel an urge to log out quickly. Reina and Momiji both know about this account. I don’t want to be called ‘Kanji the tentacle player’ starting tomorrow.
While I’m gazing at the near 600,000 concurrent viewers count as if it’s someone else’s business, the rotation slows down and the number of times I’m slammed against the wall begins to decrease. It seems I took a bit of damage, with blood flowing from my head, but it doesn’t seem to affect my actions, so it’s safe. I might get banned, but it’s less gory than the Apollyon Fusion, so I should be forgiven.
As the rotation stops, a large load is applied to my body along with the sound of several gunshots. Looking at the radar, although it’s quite messy and has terrible accuracy, it seems to be able to change direction.
Towards the destination, the center of the Infinite Horizon.
「Ah, so that’s how it is. Our future only looked expanded, but it was just an illusion.」
Amidst the increasing impact of the descent assaulting my body, Teo shouts those words. Nothing obstructs our fall. The same acceleration as before, and shock absorption by the NMM. Now that it’s the second time, there’s no room for sentiment. Breaking through the armor, I saw the truth.
That’s why the Type-17 doesn’t attack and only shows caution. That’s why neither the Machine Beasts nor the Strains attack it. There’s no way there would be anyone reckless enough to do such a thing.
Countless cracks have appeared on the gray earth, and tentacles are squirming densely through those gaps. But even that is just a decoration. They thought about it. About the threat of the Apollyon Fusion, and how to deal with it in less than 10 years. How to protect themselves from human attacks. How to make the 2055 operation fail.
「This is CCSHW unit leader, no abnormalities to the right front. No abnormalities. No abnormalities. There are no problems, all records have been deleted.」
「Good morning, everyone. Today’s weather is the beautiful cloudy sky where bombings continue, humanity. Display properties and get triple points on intestinal transplant surgery, amazingly 20% made in Japan!」
「Please do not place metal in direct sunlight where it can walk on six legs.」
The communication keeps getting mixed up and a voice that doesn’t exist, stitched together from human voices, keeps flowing like a broken disaster radio. The map, which should no longer be able to display due to interference from countless radio waves, continues to point to the center of a nonsensical ocean area. And they, the source of it all, were there.
Hundreds of human-like figures, about 40 meters tall, surrounding us. Familiar, featureless shapes with featureless weapons. Ah, that’s why the Type-17 didn’t recklessly attack us and why other Strains were coming. That’s help. It kept being cautious to avoid stimulating the UYK, the predatory vanguard, and kept praying for the help of other Strains. That’s why there’s no way it would attack, let alone prey. It’s too terrifying.
The sound of footsteps, layer upon layer, resounds. The Apollyon Fusion, which was supposed to be the hope of humanity, hundreds of them, were walking towards us. To annihilate anything and everything that harms their master. The probability of defeating the UYK exceeded 7%, meaning humanity had cornered the enemy to a considerable degree. That’s why, at the last minute, the UYK must have evolved. Thinking they could create their own Apollyon Fusion. Seeing that, Teo’s laughter and Kurage’s apologetic voice break through the noise and reach my ears.
「It’s a huge success! If we hadn’t carried out this strategy, we would have wasted the next week too. Nice job, Kanji!」
「…I’m sorry for calling you a liar.」
Huh? Isn’t this where we’re supposed to despair?
It was a story about how the UYK would make a serious move if the probability exceeded 7%. Don’t worry, this slightly gory description peaked in the previous story, and I won’t do it for many more stories. By the way, the reason it stops is because of Orange’s doing.
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