063. Salvation (1)
063. Salvation (1)
Breach the Cradle of Silence and advance to the central computer room at its core.
The plan was set, so we split up the roles.
Luce and Cookie took point, carving a path forward.
Rinne handled both ally enhancement and enemy disruption from the rear.
I kept in contact with Alicia, continuously searching for an infiltration route.
Meanwhile, Laika guarded me from the rear.
That was the result of forcing our way through with numbers in a way utterly uncharacteristic of Krädel.
[The structure visible up ahead is the central computer room.]
We arrived with surprising ease.
We'd arrived, at least.
[The signal vanished immediately after reaching the facility's deepest point. It appears she activated Presence Blocking.]
"But whatever it is, it's inside here, right?"
[That is correct.]
Then that was good enough.
We would rescue her, regroup, and get the hell out of this godforsaken research lab-slash-hive.
At this point, Laika alone was enough firepower to suppress Violetta.
The problem was the Legions pushing in endlessly from outside. It would be best to form a detachment to buy time—
"Luce and Cookie. You two stay at the entrance and handle perimeter defense."
I gave that order, then took the remaining two and entered the computer room.
Before long, Rinne asked uneasily.
"Will those two be okay? They can't perform Phase Resonance right now, so their ability scores must have dropped..."
"Ah, about Phase Resonance. I set up a temporary one."
As I said this, I showed her the portable converter I had brought along.
Using it, I had designated myself as the two's temporary commander, and they were currently resonating with my phase.
Of course, the resonance rate itself was low, and the distance was only going to grow from here, so the effect would drop—but it wasn't as though they couldn't resonate at all.
A loss of that degree wouldn't be a major problem.
"How do you know?"
"Those two specialize in area defense."
"...And how do you know that?"
I could tell that just by looking at their skills.
Luce's skill was Jousting. A skill that forced a compulsory one-on-one duel, specialized for defending a fixed position against multiple enemies.
The same went for Cookie. When her skill Numbness activated, stat penalties from bodily damage did not apply. In short, she could fight at peak condition until her HP reached zero.
That had made the two of them a pain to subdue, but moving on.
"Laika, from here on, you're the only combatant. I'm leaving all combat judgment to you—including whether to activate Rampage."
"Can't be helped~"
Her nonchalance was short-lived.
We reached the facility entrance.
An opaque iron door blocked the way.
There was a high chance that rows of enemies were waiting on the other side.
That was exactly what we had expected.
"Euhe?"
"What's wrong?"
"Nah, there's nothing inside?"
Laika stepped aside, widening my field of view.
Just as she said, there was nothing inside the warehouse.
What had happened?
"Alicia, is the signal possibly—"
I was still speaking.
———Kugugung.
A thunderous roar, as if something was collapsing, spread outward.
Soon, dust cascaded down.
The location couldn't be pinpointed.
I couldn't understand it.
We'd checked more than once.
...Ah.
"Laika! Defensive stance—on the floor!"
The moment I shouted that.
Gunfire erupted from beneath our feet.
Laika was already running over, but the distance was too great. At least a few rounds would punch through my skull.
In the brief moment before I could even fully register that fact.
[Narrative Granting: Ally Protection]
Rinne overlaid me with the narrative she had prepared.
Simultaneously, a barrier formed around me.
Bullets that touched the barrier had their trajectories unnaturally warped, all of them embedding into Laika instead.
Any single one of those rifle rounds, had it hit me, would have been more than enough to blow my body apart. Laika took over a dozen of them, but—
"Eugyak!"
Laika didn't look particularly distressed.
She merely let out a whimper that said it stung like hell.
That was only natural. Projectile weapons that were no longer in contact with their wielder lost their Phase Power.
That was precisely why people in this world—overflowing with all manner of firearms—still bothered with swords and shields.
...But there was no time to feel relieved, as if the immediate crisis had been averted.
The three of us tumbled across the floor together.
Then, emerging from the haze of dust, was a facility that did not exist on any blueprint.
A massive cavern stretching underground.
And packed inside it, mechanical equipment of unknown origin—impossible to tell whether it belonged to Legion or humans—and,
guarding that equipment, a purple-haired biodroid.
"...Don't tell me that's."
Rinne murmured in horror.
I spat the grit out of my mouth and answered.
"Yeah. That's your reader. Violetta."
Rinne was appalled.
"That girl is? But... her condition is completely different from the other two!"
"That's true."
How to describe it.
Ragged, perhaps.
More than that, she looked grotesque.
For instance, her eyes, glowing red. Her jaw, twisted to the right.
On top of that, her artificial skin was torn in multiple places, sparks flying from within.
But what stood out most of all was.
"...What's that on her back?"
Mechanical tentacle-like appendages extended from her back.
The tentacles were connected to the mechanical equipment.
Because of this, Violetta looked exactly like a marionette controlled by those tentacles.
"Strange."
When I'd fought her just moments earlier, there hadn't been anything like that.
What on earth had happened? What had occurred in the meantime?
As I stood there wondering, Alicia quietly informed me.
[Her phasic pattern has completely changed.]
"Her pattern changed?"
[Yes. It appears she is directly connected to Eve through those tentacles, functioning as a part of Eve...]
It was right then.
Violetta barely managed to force out:
—Sa...ve me... please.
——Hel...p me... please.
———Kill me... kill me...
"Looks like she can't withstand it. Eve's Phase Energy."
[That makes sense. Considering the number of brains connected in parallel to Eve, it's like injecting one body with the Phase Power of dozens of people.]
And yet, Eve had injected the phase power.
As a result, various parts of her body had burst open and were still rupturing in real time.
If the accumulated damage exceeded a certain threshold, rescuing Violetta might become impossible.
...Now wasn't the time to worry about that, though.
No sooner had I grasped the situation than Violetta unleashed a hail of gunfire.
The target wasn't me. She aimed for Rinne instead.
I moved into the line of fire.
She blocked them, but it wasn't enough.
Not because Laika was slow. The problem was Violetta's skill.
[Phantom Trigger]
The Phase bullets became completely invisible.
Even Laika couldn't block them despite her reaction speed.
"Watch out! The bullets will be invisible!"
"Euk...!"
By the time I shouted, it was already too late.
A single round struck Rinne's right hand.
It wasn't fatal.
But unlike Laika, she wasn't unscathed either.
One of Rinne's finger joints was broken.
At that, Laika flew into a rage and—
[Rampage]
Her entire body wreathed in crimson aura, she charged at Violetta.
"Euryaaaaaaaat—!"
The distance closed in an instant.
In terms of pure ability scores, Laika already outclassed Violetta by half a tier.
Laika should have overwhelmed Violetta head-on.
"Kgh...!"
Regrettably, an entirely different result unfolded.
Countless mechanical tentacles shot out from behind Violetta's back and began lashing at Laika like whips.
Each strike carried staggering force.
After only a few exchanges, one of Last Bloom's petals was already charged.
A contest of brute force would yield no answer.
So could we win by having Rinne grant her Salvation Narrative?
I pinned my hopes on that, but—
"Oppa! The narrative granting isn't working at all!"
Why?
For the same reason Violetta had become so powerful.
The Salvation Narrative would overwrite the Corruption Narrative.
There was only one conclusion.
Those goddamned tentacles had to be removed.
The problem, however, was how to remove them.
Physically severing the lines seemed impossible.
Even the tentacles Violetta was swinging at Laika couldn't be properly cut—they merely bounced off.
Even Last Bloom's finishing move would only just be enough to sever it.
There wasn't even an opening to land that finishing attack. Laika was struggling just to hold them off.
So what was I supposed to do?
The deliberation was brief.
"...Ah."
I saw the answer.
"Rinne, help Laika!"
"Oppa, what are you going to do?"
What else?
While the two of you gave it your all, I'd rip those bastard tentacles off.
How? By twisting them off.
The "connector," the component sprouting from Violetta's back that housed the tentacles, could be detached by rotating it.
Ah, of course, removing a component from a living biodroid was only possible for the commander.
As the registered Commander, I could do it.
So all that mattered was getting close to Violetta.
That was easier said than done.
Because there was no way Violetta—or Eve, controlling her—would just sit back and watch her own power cord get yanked out.
Even if she paid me absolutely no attention, it was still just as dangerous.
The attacks Laika and Violetta were exchanging—for a human like me, even a graze meant instant death.
But what could be done?
What had to be done, had to be done.
I sprinted around behind Violetta.
As if she'd been waiting, Violetta poured gunfire in my direction.
"Rinne! Keep the protection buff going!"
"It's still on you!"
Good.
Bullets could be ignored.
Her attacks were leaving larger gaps.
Surely I was allowed to hope for enough luck to slip through those gaps.
As if proving that, the distance to Violetta closed.
3 meters.
2 meters.
1 meter.
Soon, 50 centimeters.
At that moment, a tentacle drove in right before my eyes.
Immediately after I narrowly evaded it.
Another tentacle came at me, tracing a trajectory I could never have imagined.
"Commander!"
Laika came rushing in belatedly.
She didn't have the angle.
Instead, Laika protected me in a way I never expected.
[Unique Phase: Frost Feet]
The skill she had acquired from Frost Phantom last time.
She used it to create an ice barrier in front of the tentacle.
...No, it wasn't large enough to call it a "barrier." It was three chunks, each about the size of a large plate.
But it was far larger than any chunk of ice she'd been able to make before, and regardless, that alone was enough to deflect the tentacle's path.
I'd been right to make her practice whenever she had time. Ten centimeters.
The reach I was still short by—
[Narrative Granting: Weakness Discovery—Legs]
Rinne made up for it.
In a way that made Violetta stagger, just ever so slightly.
It was the result of the three of us working together.
—Beep.
[Initiating Phase Resonance with biodroid 'Violetta'.]
The converter operated normally.
Next, likewise, the connector located on Violetta's back.
—Click.
I turned it and detached it.
Then Rinne granted the Salvation Narrative.
Up to that point, we'd succeeded.
It was a success, but.
The very next moment was the problem.
"Huh?"
The tentacle that had come off Violetta shook itself free from my grasp as if it were alive.
The severed tentacle twisted around.
Only one meter remained before impact.
That destructive force—as a human, I could never withstand it.
Within 1 second, no, within 0.6 seconds, my heart would be destroyed.
What should I do?
What could I do to avoid certain death?
The Salvation Narrative activated.
Laika, who could help, had been caught in the shockwave and blown far away.
Rinne had done it.
And yet, despite having none.
Rinne threw herself at me.
She lunged in and wrapped her arms around me.
The steel tentacle drove straight into Rinne's back.
"O...ppa..."
Rinne tried to say something.
But unable to finish, Rinne lost consciousness.