Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Clash in the Sewers
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"What the hell happened here? I want an explanation."
The Crisis Management deputy team leader demanded of Vickers.
His words were a straightforward inquiry into the situation, but his tone was anything but.
It was a clear accusation.
The atmosphere in Team 1's mixed search party turned frigid in an instant.
"Beats me what you're talking about."
Vickers dodged the question with a perfectly composed expression.
Unlike his face, his mind was a whirlwind of chaos.
'What's really going on here? Did Yanek attack them?'
The knights assembled here—especially Team 4 under Yanek's command—had received secret orders from Lord Denver.
Capture the monster.
And if they encountered the defense forces in the process, eliminate them.
'Damn it, can't contact them directly. What a pain.'
Currently, Yanek was listed under Jacob of Team 2 as a reserve unit. To issue orders to Yanek, Vickers had to go through his direct superior, Jacob.
The knights hadn't designed this convoluted chain of command out of stupidity.
It was to cut off mid-level officers in case of disaster, shielding their master from harm.
Like the mess unfolding right now, for instance.
'No. I don't know the exact situation yet.'
There was no need to back down when it wasn't even confirmed that Yanek had attacked.
Vickers feigned ignorance and pressed on.
"What exactly are you accusing me of?"
"Accusing you?"
"Isn't it strange? They could've fled in fear of the monster and filed a false report."
The deputy team leader's face twisted in fury at those words.
And understandably so—Vickers's remark was a blatant insult to the defense fleet's soldiers.
"I can't let that slide. Our defense forces aren't so incompetent as to deserve that kind of dismissal."
"The same goes for our knight order. We're trained to value our comrades above our own lives. You think we'd attack the defense forces?"
The deputy team leader fell silent at Vickers's retort.
He was trying to overwhelm the man with sheer force of presence.
His plan might have worked if the fleeing soldier hadn't interrupted their exchange.
"N-no, sir! The knights attacked us with plasma launchers!"
With that, the soldier presented the neatly severed shoulder guard from his reinforced suit and the cross-section of his Gauss rifle.
There weren't many ways to slice through a standard-issue alloy rifle with such precision—especially not in these sewers.
The deputy team leader sneered at Vickers.
"Ha, so the monster carries launchers now, does it?"
"……."
"Launchers have built-in AI for firing assistance in the first place. They're registered with soldier data, programmed to minimize friendly fire whenever allies are present."
He wasn't wrong.
The plasma launcher was one of Mega Corp's standard weapons that ranked high in raw destructive power.
Because misfires or captures by enemies could lead to heavy losses, it came with multiple safeguards.
One of them was the AI-regulated firing assist system.
The launcher's AI could store soldiers' personal data in encrypted form, preventing it from targeting allies.
To override that required a command code known only to officers for forced firing—or using a launcher without registered ally data.
A launcher loaded with defense fleet personnel data made friendly attacks virtually impossible.
In other words, the weapon that hit the soldiers belonged to someone outside the defense fleet.
And down here, the only others were the Ezerton knights.
"Of course, the deputy commander of House Ezerton would know that already."
"...Ahem."
At a loss for words, Vickers cleared his throat awkwardly.
Plasma launchers were originally refitted ship cannons mounted on warships.
Vickers, from the Ezerton family famous for starship development, couldn't possibly be unaware.
'Yanek! What the hell did you do?'
The launchers given to Team 4 were meant to crack the monster's tough hide—not to fire on the defense forces.
The armament gap was so vast that even plasma bolters alone could slaughter them. Vickers couldn't fathom why Yanek had done this.
'...Should I wrap this up here?'
He wanted to call Jacob for confirmation, but communications were spotty in the sewers.
Even if he could reach out right now, it was a problem.
The deputy team leader would be watching their conversation like a hawk.
'What now?'
This needed careful assessment, but there was no time—or situation—for that.
As Vickers agonized, a green beam sliced through the darkness, ending his deliberations.
"Enemy atta—!"
The soldier trying to raise the alarm didn't finish his sentence before turning to ash. Not just him—nearby comrades burned up in the superheated energy blast as well.
All the freshly killed were defense fleet soldiers.
With the enemy clearly targeting only soldiers, flames of rage ignited in the deputy team leader's eyes.
"Deputy Commander Vickers!"
"Tch. Everyone, battle stations."
Vickers clicked his tongue and gave the order. The knights drew their bolters in unison.
There was no turning back now.
Before comms recovered, they'd have to wipe out every defense soldier here.
'Nice. They're fighting tooth and nail.' The mood had been tense and awkward, so I fired the launcher once more—and they started battling like madmen. As if they'd been waiting for me to light the fuse. The knights' armament was overwhelming, but the soldiers had the numbers. The knights massacred with bolters while soldiers hunkered behind cover, unleashing tungsten rounds. 'Standard rounds won't cut it.' The advanced powered suits on the Ezerton knights sacrificed weight for superior defense. They'd need penetrators to stand a chance. 'Problem is, the knights have counters too.' "Even squads, switch to penetrators! Odd squads, provide cover!"
"Not a chance. All units, deploy shields."
The defense forces' commander barked the order, and the knights countered instantly. A pale purple wave emanated from the knights' right wrists, solidifying into rectangular barriers. Those violet suppression shields were the genuine psionic shields standard on advanced powered suits. 'Not bad, those psionic shields on high-grade suits.' Mega Corp users nicknamed them "buzzcuts"—a silly moniker for gear that offered top-tier defense against physical and psionic attacks. Worlds apart from the fakes the armed police had in that apartment brawl. Without AP rounds, penetrators couldn't pierce psionic shields.
"Agh!"
"Medic!"
As I'd predicted, the knights continued slaughtering the outnumbered defense forces without much change. The soldiers had no path to victory beyond the knights briefly faltering under penetrator fire. As the tide turned further against them, the defense commander bellowed.
"All prepared launchers, fire!"
"Scatter!"
Launcher firepower shredded shields like paper. Advanced powered suit defenses? Meaningless against beams that pulverized warship hulls. Before the knights dispersed, multiple launchers unleashed their fury. Most dodged, but some didn't. One knight lost half his body; others limbs.
"Argh!"
"Pull the wounded back!"
A few knights dragged injured comrades my way. 'Time to make my entrance?' My goals were twofold: sow discord among enemies and fake my death. 'Gotta time the interruption just right.' They weren't idiots. To fool not just those here but the ones above, they needed to see me take a hit and die. Ideally, as many witnesses as possible. As I waited for the moment, a beam aimed at the knights veered toward me. 'This'll do.' I burst from the shadows, hurling a already-dead knight's corpse into the beam's path. It oxidized on impact. The fact that my tentacles had snapped his neck first was now my secret alone. A knight retreating with a wounded ally shouted.
"We've lost one of our own!"
He'd only seen his comrade vaporize—missed me entirely. 'If he didn't see, gotta make sure he does.' I charged, slamming my head into him. No armor could withstand my full-force ram plus the razor horns sprouting from my skull. Two horns pierced his flank.
"Gurk?!"
The knight let out a brief, blood-choked scream. Still impaled, I reared back and shook my head. His abdominal wound tore open, horns slick with crimson. Another knight spotted me and yelled.
"The monster's here!"
I flung the skewered knight aside and whipped my tail wide at the shouter. Spines rained down randomly, embedding in knights' powered suits. Some flew toward soldiers, stabbing their cover.
"M-monster?!"
"Steady! That's our search target! Focus fire on it!"
The initially panicked soldiers quickly regained composure under their commander's seasoned leadership. Penetrators poured into me, but my body—doubly reinforced by flesh hardening and full organic structure—held. The hide punctured in spots, but nothing lethal. The soldiers retargeted to me, but not the knights. The knight who seemed to be their leader shouted.
"Rear units, keep it pinned! The rest, finish the defense forces!"
"Deputy Commander Vickers! Are you insane?"
"We can't hand it over to them. We have to capture it alive, no matter what."
The defense commander yelled incredulously at the knight leader, called Deputy Commander Vickers. 'Huh?' I froze for a split second at those words. Can't hand me over. Not an offer of alliance, obviously—the knights blasting me with bolters proved that. 'Let's think this through.' Faking death could wait. I dodged the hail of fire while pondering. 'They know I'm no pushover. Why capture me alive?' "Die... guh?!"
I twisted aside from a knight's blade claw, seized him with my combat arms, and tossed him into an incoming green beam. He sputtered in shock before losing his right torso to vaporization. 'What I can gain from my flesh.' One knight down, I dove into the water and crawled along the bottom. Muffled cries of "Where'd it go?" echoed from defense soldiers. Then I spotted a submerged corpse. A man's face, half his upper body gone—the knight I'd thrown into the plasma beam moments ago. Even with his helmet shattered and face halved, he was ridiculously handsome. Superior genes blended for genetic modification humans? Expected. 'Geneered knights... genes. Wait.' "It's here!"
Knights spotted me and hosed the water with bolters. I bolted. 'Are they after my genes?' How had I overlooked that? I'd fixated on game lore: Ezertons uninterested in genetic mods, Yujin Family's domain only. 'But this is reality.' No system forced Yujins on genes, Ezertons on ships. Just like me evolving beyond game limits. Enemies adapted and evolved too. Foreshadowing had been there. The Ezerton knights I'd eaten were all gene-modded humans. In-game, random NPC mercs—sometimes non-humans like bolters or cults, but human base. 'Game respawns pretty NPCs, but reality doesn't.' Ezerton knights: House lord's crafted humans, geneered with diverse creatures into combat-optimized Hulk mutants. 'Ezerton's patriarch eyes Yujin territory.' To him, I was a delectable genetic mass wielding diverse abilities.
"Graaah!"
I pounced another knight, snapped his neck, and reached a conclusion. Knights down here and defense forces: subtly different goals. Both wanted me gone as a city security threat, but paths diverged. Knights aimed to capture me alive—or at least intact corpse. For research on my body. 'Attacking defense forces to avoid handing over the corpse.' If T&C learned Ezerton coveted prime research like me, they'd negotiate hard. Allies now, but rivals later—steal any edge possible. 'No wonder the initial fight felt too fierce...' Who knew the backstory? 'Actually works in my favor.' Plan A: fake death publicly, slip away. Now I had options. 'Ezerton route: probably their ship lab.' Then hijack and flee the city. 'Issue: unknown ship security level.' Warships tighter than research vessels. Secret capture plan? Likely to patriarch's flagship lab. 'Flagship: even tighter security.' Tough fight so far; warship way harder. 'T&C then?' Soldiers here seemed clueless about me. 'Post-battle calm, they'll piece it together.' Ezerton targeting something vital—enough to slaughter allies. Military: report up once comms normalize. Higher-ups handle rest. 'Leads to Administrative District likely.' Game: Monument skyscraper there, Special Trade Center Science Institute inside. Perfect for studying me. 'Admin District: Cult-heavy.' Why I came to T&C Special Trade Center: evolution-compatible species galore. 'Downside: board means elite forces from all families.' Pros and cons each way. 'Which one?' Time running out. Delay more, soldiers wipe before I choose. Amid bullet storms and plasma beams, I finally decided.