Overload
"......Huh?"
A scream burst from Ayla's pale lips.
"F-Fuck! You fucking lunatic!! Using that here?!"
"Spoiler? What's wrong. How much does that thing even cost anyway."
"It's not about the cost! Boss, that's not just any mana stone! It's the empire's national treasure, the Tear of the Sun!! That psycho Kasian broke the imperial treasury seal just to show off to some girl?!"
Ayla shook my shoulders like a maniac, howling in despair.
"B-Boss! You can't fire! All the mana stones we've shot so far combined wouldn't even compare to that! The battery's full right now!"
That serious, huh? The more I heard, the more I wanted it.
"Seria! Accept my love!"
Kasian smirked arrogantly as he poured mana into the Tear of the Sun.
BOOOOM-!!
The ground in the center of the garden cratered, and a massive golden core rocketed into the night sky like a runaway locomotive. The horrific gust shook the entire statue.
"Boss, don't fire! Got it?!"
Cold sweat dripped down my back too. The bunker's battery was at 95%. Absorbing that mana stone's energy would trigger an overflow and blow the whole bunker sky-high.
No spare capacity.
The rational choice was to lower the gun and hide. But the golden trajectory shimmering through the tactical scope ignited my greed like wildfire.
Just let that massive energy explode and vanish right in front of me? No spare space? Then force some open.
"System."
I muttered low, locking the barrel skyward.
"Convert every last bit of the 95% power in the main bunker battery to SP right now."
WARNING: Emergency conversion penalty applied. 70% loss compared to market rate. Proceed?
"Fucking highway robbery, you thieving bastard. Doesn't matter! Dump it all!!"
Main Bunker Battery discharged. 2,850 SP awarded.
Current Main Bunker Battery: 0%
The emergency lights inside the statue flashed, and the gauge plummeted to zero. The energy I'd sweated blood for evaporated at a trash exchange rate, but who cared.
"Vessel's perfectly empty now...."
I grinned sleazily at the ravenous 0% battery gauge.
"Time to chow down on the main course."
"Boss! Are you insane?! Don't shoot!!"
Ayla's desperate scream rang out just as I held my breath and squeezed the trigger dead-center on the massive golden energy orb's core.
FWOOOSH-!!!
A destructive roar like a solid sun detonating in mid-air tore the sky apart. The moment the golden core shattered against the final absorption round, the world flashed white.
FWAAAAAAAAASH-!!!
The night sky blazed with a radiant golden aurora, as if the sun had descended to earth. Overwhelmed by the majestic sight, the nobles knelt in awe.
But behind it all.
The absorption round that devoured the near-apocalyptic pure mana tsunami began spewing unimaginable capacity straight through the copper lines.
ZZZZZZZZ- BOOOOM!
A massive bolt of energy slammed down like lightning toward the copper line linked to my sniper rifle.
"Grrraaah?!"
Sickening sparks erupted from my hands gripping the barrel. I dropped the gun fast.
The 3cm-thick special copper line glowed cherry-red, then spewed white-hot plasma with a grotesque screech. The statue's interior temperature spiked like a furnace.
The 0% battery gauge started filling like mad in just one second.
"B-Boss...! The line... the copper line's melting!!"
Ayla collapsed to the floor in abject terror.
The copper line writhed like a thrashing anaconda, relentlessly pumping massive mana into the Zone 17 Bunker below.
And in the center of my vision.
A blood-red system warning blinked at blinding speed.
Incoming energy exceeds limits. Distribution panel overload imminent.
The blood-red warning flashed wildly as the Pegasus statue's interior turned into a massive oven.
"B-Boss...! The line... the copper line's melting!!"
Ayla collapsed to the floor in abject terror.
The energy from the national treasure mana stone Tear of the Sun, swallowed by the absorption round, was a regulation-breaking catastrophe.
The 3cm-thick industrial special copper line had lost its copper sheen, radiating blinding white heat.
The writhing line looked like a vein bursting from hell. Wherever it touched the statue's bronze floor, acrid smoke billowed with sickening crackles.
"This is insane! What the hell did that lunatic Kasian do?!"
Ayla, flushed from the heat, gasped and flung down the binoculars.
Her silver hair clung sweat-soaked to her forehead.
"Three times—no, four times the output of the original plan! Even for the crown prince, blowing the national treasury like this just for a proposal?! He's clearly inflating the scale to cover the imperial family's slipping prestige!"
I clicked my tongue at Ayla's screaming exposé.
"Four times? Fucking hell! That insane energy's barreling straight to our home battery down a single thin line!"
I checked the floating system window with trembling hands.
The bunker's main battery gauge, emptied to 0%, rocketed to 15%, 32%, 58%... in mere seconds.
Filling the battery was tear-jerkingly joyful, but the speed was the problem. It was like shoving a fire hose into a shot glass.
Then, an elegant yet nauseating voice drifted through the statue's cracks from above.
"Oh, Seria! Do you see that dazzling golden aurora? That's proof the empire blesses you!"
"Ahh, Your Highness Kasian...! My heart's about to burst!"
Ah, damn it. Up top, the romance of the century hurtled toward climax amid elegant waltz melodies.
But the one about to burst wasn't Seria's heart—it was my bunker's distribution panel, on the verge of overload.
"Boss! Cut that line right now! Snap it! We'll all burn to death!"
Ayla clutched my pant leg, screeching. Her eyes shook with raw survival instinct.
"I want to! But I can't!"
I roughly wiped the sweat dripping from my brow with my sleeve and yelled.
"Cut this line now, and the Tear of the Sun energy in the absorption round loses its path and backflows instantly! This Pegasus statue and everything around it blows!"
"Wh-What?!"
"Then it's instant death, or if you survive, a warm welcome from the imperial knights."
Ayla's jaw trembled.
Burn in the explosion or straight to the guillotine. Perfect dead end either way.
Battery at 75%+. Distribution panel at critical temperature.
EMERGENCY: Manually activate physical cooling system.
The floating warning turned blood-red.
Physical cooling system.
That meant manually opening the valve on the main distribution panel inside the bunker to flood it with sewage water for direct cooling.
Finger-sitting here would mean overheating explosion for sure.
"No choice. Gotta go down and douse the panel myself!"
I grabbed Ayla—still dazed on the floor—by the scruff like a sack.
"Kyaaah! Wh-What are you doing?!"
"Wanna live? Run! No, slide!"
I kicked open the rusted hatch and shoved Ayla halfway into the endless 50-meter vertical ladder shaft.
"I-I'll fall and die!"
"Don't run and the bunker blows—you turn to charcoal! Go!"
My merciless roar vaporized the duke's daughter's fragile ego. Ayla screamed, gripping the rusty ladder and sliding down near-freefall.
I gripped both sides and descended like a maniac too.
SCREEEEECH-!
Rusted metal and leather gloves ground with a burning stench.
Above, nobles cheered "Bravo! Long live Crown Prince!" amid symphony swells painting the night sky.
Below, in the pitch-black vertical tunnel, two rats tumbled screaming for survival.
In this stark contrast, my mind fixated solely: Get to the panel before it melts.
SPLASH! CRASH!
"Uwaaak!"
"Gah, ptoo! Water in my mouth!!"
Ayla thrashed, covered in sewage at the bottom, but no time to puke.
"Up! Run!"
I yanked her arm, sprinting madly through the labyrinthine Zone 17 Sewage.
Splashing mud, ragged breaths. Ahead loomed our bunker's massive blast door.
Beep- Beep- Beep- Beep-!
Bursting into the control room, acrid smoke assaulted our noses. Black fumes billowed from the main distribution room—the bunker's heart.
The house-sized panel glowed red-hot, groaning monstrously, blue sparks bursting like fireworks.
Battery at 91%. Sub-circuit 3 overheating. Fuse melt rate 80%.
EMERGENCY: Open lower manual cooling valve AND replace fuses simultaneously. Single task risks chain explosion.
"Crazy..."