Raven, King of the Veterans
Raven, King of the Veterans
The cockpit closed.
Click.
The light from outside was completely cut off.
[Saint entity identification: 7th Saint
Earl Grey Twining]
[Apostle suitability judgment initiated]
[Judgment: Unsuitable]
Kwoooooong!
The impact was transmitted into the building.
{Southern Cross rat, are you in there?}
Damn it.
If this keeps up, we're all going to die.
"Scan me again, you tin can bastard."
[Apostle suitability judgment initiated]
[Judgment: Unsuitab―]
At that moment, unnatural noise interfered.
As if someone were forcibly suppressing the system's judgment.
[―JJudgment: Suitable]
This is...
Is this the will of the Logos?
At that moment, something gripped my spine tightly.
"Huh?"
And dozens of metal terminals wrapped around my back, neck, and arms. I didn't even have time to struggle.
Thud, thud-thud-thud―
The neural terminals pierced my skin.
"Argh!"
My whole body convulsed.
My vision went white.
And
[Neural connection complete]
[Biometric data registration complete]
Dozens of windows popped up before my eyes.
"This is..."
It was the ritual for being recognized as an Apostle that I had often seen in the original work. Experiencing it directly was completely different from watching it through a screen. It was hot.
[Insufficient aptitude]
It felt like my brain was burning. It felt like my flesh was being torn off.
"Ugh, ah..."
I couldn't breathe. And sharp sensations tore my brain apart.
[Neural synchronization attempt]
[Warning]
[Insufficient mental resonance levels]
{So you were hiding here.}
At that moment, I felt a small tremor at my feet.
"Earl Grey..."
She was unconscious, trembling faintly on the cockpit floor. And at that moment. A light appeared above her head.
That is... a Halo? It was proof that a Covenant was being formed between her and me. Advents can only be properly piloted when a Covenant is formed and you board with a Saint.
Beep beep— beep-beep-beep!
[Saint's intervention confirmed]
[Mental resonance levels rising rapidly]
[9%]
[34%]
[38%]
[47%]
[54%]
This woman was forcing the resonance between me and the machine to skyrocket with her Divine Power at the same time she formed a Covenant with me. And she was doing it unconsciously, too.
{Did you think something would change if you rode such a piece of junk Advent without even having the aptitude?}
[67%]
{Die!!!}
The bastard's bullets struck the Logos's cockpit. I was somehow blocking them with the Advent's brute-force defense, but I didn't know how long I could hold out.
[70%]
[Optic nerve synchronization initiated]
[Surround Link—Heaven's Eye]
Tsuuuuuuu―
The darkness before my eyes melted away.
Whiiiiiiing―
The metal walls vanished, and the seat, the dashboard, and the ceiling disappeared. Every boundary that had been confining me was erased, and the outside scenery poured in.
Standing up after tearing through the cargo bay, I was inside the collapsed building. Broken steel beams, a sunken ceiling. The only light was the red glow of flames leaking through the cracks in the broken walls.
The only living thing standing here was the Hayabusa, looming over the flames.
I was seeing through the eyes of the Logos now.
[71%]
A massive sensation flowed into my mind.
The machine's senses. The sensor's perception. The vibration of the drive units. The bundles of artificial muscle spread out beyond the armor. It felt just like my own body.
{Yeah, how does it feel to be helpless?}
[84%]
"This is..."
[90%]
"A real Advent."
Beep.
[94%]
[97%]
[99%]
{Just die already!}
[100%]
[Halo manifestation]
As the final warning sound wavered,
the external scenery illuminated by
Heaven's Eye collapsed once again.
Countless memories intermingled.
A burning city.
Collapsing fortress walls.
Giants of steel filling the sky.
And the Isomers punishing humanity.
The corpses of Apostles who had already died formed mountains.
The madness-filled wails of Saints filled the world.
"This is."
Is this what the Logos wants to show me?
<Eat before you get eaten.>
<Kill before you get overtaken.>
<Forget about your limits.>
<If you want to save your Saint.>
"Yeah... there were never any options from the start."
The chance to save Earl Grey with my own hands in this game had finally arrived.
And I. I have no intention of letting that chance slip away. No matter what price I have to pay.
[All systems operational]
[Main system transitioning to combat mode]
"Die!"
The moment the Hayabusa tried to thrust its laser blade in.
Fwoosh!!!
The form of the Logos vanished.
"What?"
The Logos's movements were so fast that even the eyes of an Apostle, adapted to the movements of Advents moving at supersonic speeds, couldn't grasp them...
By the time the Hayabusa's pilot's eyes finally tracked it, the Logos was already aiming its rifle at him.
"No... this can't be. Me, against a piece of junk like this..."
But immediately after, the Logos lost its balance and staggered.
{Ugh!}
I heard the groan of the Logos's pilot.
The cold mechanical voice of the Logos
came through the Hayabusa's communication channel.
[Pilot inexperienced. Posture control assistance]
"Is this your first time..."
The Hayabusa pilot's shock turned into relief and humiliation.
He, who had been chosen by a god, had been intimidated by a greenhorn pilot.
"Hahaha."
"Hahahahahaha."
"Hahahahahahahaha."
"A piece of junk got up? Fascinating! I guess you had some aptitude as an Apostle after all?"
The pilot's dashboard was telling him that the machine was a 4th-generation model. A relic of the past that had been phased out long ago.
"But so what?"
"Do you think bringing a 4th generation machine that was phased out 500 years ago will change anything against the 5th-generation Covenant machine I'm riding?"
"It's not like someone like you is riding it anyway. You lost little rat."
"I'll teach you. The difference in class."
"How different we properly chosen beings are from you bugs."
"Properly chosen beings, huh."
A truly laughable statement.
It's a trap that those who ride the strategic weapon, the Advent, often fall into.
The power to sway a nation's war situation and erase an entire city. Those who wield the power of a god, which humans could never reach, fall into the delusion.
That they are no longer human, but gods. The brat inside was soaked in that delusion.
{Die!}
Earlier, when I pushed the control stick, the machine had jerked out of control. As a result, I had almost fallen over.
Holding the real control stick, not a gamepad, I hadn't yet adapted to this machine's movements.
But.
"I can kill someone like you dozens of times even in this state."
With the acceleration lever half-pressed, I paused for about 0.13 seconds. And then I pushed the lever again. An absolute acceleration that ignores the laws of physics by utilizing space distortion.
{Don't look down on me just because you're a greenhorn!!!}
The name of the technique is.
Flicker/Gang-Quick.
Fwoosh!!!
The light flickered.
{Huh?}
Before the bullets fired by the Hayabusa could even arrive, I was already gone from that spot.
The effective field of view that a human can instantly recognize in combat is around 60 degrees. I had slipped out of his field of vision. To him, I must have looked like I had vanished.
{Lock-on... but the lock-on is engaged?}
Confusion mixed into the guy's voice.
Of course. He was relying on the automatic lock-on system. Almost all the Apostles in this world are like that. The system bites onto the target, and the auto-aim follows.
That's only natural. Because it's impossible to track this speed with human reaction time in the first place.
ㅡAt least in this world.
But in our world, it was different.
We 'users,' who had honed our skills through tens of thousands of deaths and free information sharing, didn't use things like lock-on.
If you compare it to a bicycle, that was like training wheels, and in the end, you couldn't even make a name for yourself in the top ranks with training wheels attached.
We fought by predicting the opponent's position. We fought by grinding down the limits of human reaction every single day.
Tens of thousands of monsters trained like that.
That was the reality of online rankers.
Aliyaman, who had folded to me,
Dominant,
and Jack-o'-lantern,
if not for the limitations of this body, they would have easily trampled the characters of this world. And standing at the pinnacle of those monsters was me.
Raven.
Flicker.
Pop!
Flicker.
Pop! Pop!
{Why! Why isn't it hitting! The lock-on is engaged!}
There's no way it would hit. Shooting based on automatic lock-on, which only chases the target without predicting where it will go, is always a beat behind.
In his screen, I must have been repeating the process of blinking and disappearing.
The camera snapped around following the lock-on, his vision flipped, not knowing which way was up or downㅡ
He was chasing a ghost that couldn't be caught inside an infinitely rotating screen.
The guy's rifle shots missed every time.
[Assault rifle selection complete]
[Remaining ammo 240]
I didn't look at where he was.
The place to look is where the guy is going. I placed my crosshairs in advance on the spot his boosters would lead him to, and read his next move with a free camera.
As I aimed the rifle myself,
Wooooong―
The Hayabusa concentrated its output, and a maximum-output Sanctuary Field unfolded. It was the very same red light that had blocked the tank division's barrage of shells without a single scratch earlier.
It shows near-invincible defensive power against conventional weapons.
...But this side is also an Advent. The weaponry of an Advent, reinforced with afterglow effects, is in a different class.
Even if I can't completely shut down the barrier itself like a Reverse Afterglow Weapon, I can inflict effective damage on the Sanctuary Field.
And by accumulating that damage, I can strip away the enemy's barrier.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
Sparks flew from the surface of the barrier. Even if I couldn't pierce it in one go, clear damage was being carved into it.
Just as I continued firing while stepping with Flicker.
Crunch.
Stigmata, which appear when the body cannot handle the neural damage generated by the machine, spread across my shoulder. And the taste of blood filled my mouth.
I'd only used it a few times, and I was already at my limit. My hands, which used to step with Flicker infinitely in the game, were screaming after just five times now.
My head is the same. But this damn body just can't keep up.
ㅡStill, I can't stop. For Earl Grey.
Every time I stepped with Flicker, I hugged her at my feet with one hand. Just a little more, and his Sanctuary Field will be stripped away.
At that moment.
{Sanctum Recovery!}
[Re-consecration observed]
Zzzzzzz―
The guy's Sanctuary Field was repaired.
Yeah. Struggle all you want, it doesn't matter. Stripping the Sanctuary Field isn't the only way to take down an Advent.
When I inputted a normal acceleration/Quick Thrust instead of Flicker.
The Logos was already inside his guard.
"Got you."
{That's a lie...}
It was one-sided. I read every move the Hayabusa made a beat early.
When he aimed his rifle, I dove into his guard,
When he drew his sword, I slipped past it diagonally.
{Why! Why isn't it hitting!}
There's no way he could hit me with attacks swung wildly while being swayed by fear.
The biggest weakness of a Sanctuary Field is its low durability against physical attacks that strike at ultra-close range.
Of course, there are few who can engage in close-quarters combat against an Advent moving at supersonic speeds.
Unfortunately for that guy.
I was one of those few. A massive shield was held in the Logos's left arm. The toughest armor on this machine, forged several times with afterglow to block afterglow weapons.
―I raised that up.
The edge of the shield was sharp enough.
"There's no rule that says you can only use it to block."
Towards his defenselessly exposed cockpit.
{I don't want to...}
Just before I drove it down.
The voice of the guy who called himself a god softened.
The voice of a scared young man.
{Not yet... I haven't been able to save my noona who is sleeping inside the machine yet!}
Noona, huh.
Kyungdanryeon raises Apostles and Saints together like family from a young age. Then, when they come of age, they extract only the Saint's brain and insert it into the Advent's control system. And they whisper to the remaining child. If you want to give her freedom, ride the Advent. If you rack up achievements, we'll liberate her.
That brat inside must have ridden it for that reason at first, too. To get back the noona inserted into his Advent. Not because he wanted to become a god.
But this guy is already too late.
Just a moment ago, this guy trampled on hundreds of lives. Calling them bugs. And even now, he was trying to kill the person on my lap.
Knowing the guy's circumstances is no reason for me to spare him.
{Noona...! Please help...}
"Goodbye."
I drove the shield straight down.
Kruuuuuuuuuunch―
The blade of the shield pierced the cockpit and embedded itself beyond it.
The giant of steel that had been desperately searching for his noona until a moment ago fell silent in an instant.
Only crackling noise could be heard through the speaker.
The light that had been faintly emitting particles inside the machine's core faded, and the massive body slowly knelt.
That was the end of the one who became a self-proclaimed god while searching for his noona.
Silence descended. The roar and screams that had been tearing the world apart until a moment ago disappeared as if they were a lie.
In the middle of the burning street, only I and the person on my lap remained.
I felt the weight in my arms. She was the one who always parted from me by dying in the game, but at least now, she was clearly alive and breathing.
Cough.
Blood flowed from my mouth. The Stigmata had already spread to my chin.
"It hurts a bit more than I thought."
Still, I smiled when I saw Earl Grey.
And at that moment, a roar was heard from over there.
Dozens of armored vehicles were rushing in, kicking up dust. What was engraved on the vehicle bodies was the crest of the Southern Cross. It was the reinforcements from the faction Earl Grey belonged to.
"...You're late."
Well, whatever. Anyway, I just need to hand over the Saint safely. To the people who can properly treat this unconscious person.
The armored vehicles stopped, surrounding the Logos. The hatches opened, and armed knights poured out. I opened the cockpit hatch and waved at them.
Will they give me a reward for saving the Saint? If I could get anything, I'd want Earl Grey's autograph.
Just as I was having such idle thoughts.
Dozens of gun barrels were aimed at me in unison.
Click, click, click―
"Huh?"
The knight standing at the very front shouted coldly at me.
"I am arresting you on charges of stealing a sealed machine and attempting to kidnap the Saint!"
Huh?