First Battle
The moment a bullet grazed just above my head, only one thought filled my mind.
Fucked. This is completely, utterly fucked.
There was no time to register the gunshot that followed. Fifty meters away, the massive robot—Gopdeung-i—stood firm, its oval-shaped body twitching as if zeroing in on a target. If I stayed put, I was dead. The fact that the first shot had missed was pure luck. The only saving grace was the uneven, hilly terrain I found myself on. A little movement would let me slip into its blind spot.
My heart hammered with terror. Forcing my trembling legs to move, I scrambled down the hill I’d just climbed, half-rolling, half-running. Thankfully, the awkwardness of my suddenly smaller body didn’t register. Maybe the fear had numbed everything. Either way, I was grateful I hadn’t tripped and made a fool of myself.
The instant I got clear—thud!—the section of hillside where I’d been standing exploded. Thick clouds of dust billowed up, and chunks of rock flew dozens of meters into the air. That confirmed it. This wasn’t the destructive power of a rifle round. I didn’t know the exact force, but it was obvious that taking a direct hit wouldn’t end with simple dismemberment.
Grinding my teeth, I scanned the surroundings. Aside from scattered puddles, there was nowhere to hide. The first puddle I’d spotted looked deep enough to submerge this tiny body of mine. But who knew what contaminants were in that water? And even if I hid underwater, there was no guarantee it would fool the Gopdeung-i.
That was when a sound like a distorted civil defense siren tore into my ears. It was a noise designed to provoke raw human terror. Goosebumps erupted across my skin. A moment later—
Boom.
A powerful shockwave hit me, and I realized a massive shadow had fallen over my head.
“What the…?!”
I looked up reflexively and froze in horror.
Fifty meters. That was the clumsy distance between me and the Gopdeung-i when we first encountered each other. Far enough to feel distant, close enough to feel threatening, but at least enough space to catch a breath. Or so I’d thought.
I’d been wrong. The sight before me made the very idea of hiding in a puddle seem like an absurd luxury. High above, slicing through the ashen sky, the colossal Gopdeung-i was flying. No—leaping was more accurate. Those six long robotic legs weren’t just for show after all.
Still…
“…This is insane. Seriously.”
Crossing that distance in a single bound? How the hell was that even possible?!
The Gopdeung-i is right in front of you.
And there it was, practically touching my nose.
Up close, the Gopdeung-i was even more enormous than I’d imagined. Its main body alone measured four to five meters across, with a total length of at least fifteen meters. I couldn’t even begin to gauge how long those slender antennae or the six articulated legs truly were. Every time one of those razor-sharp limbs struck the ground, the earth shook. The sheer mass behind it had to be staggering.
Yet there was no mechanical whirring or servo noise you’d expect from a robot. At a glance, it was clearly a killing machine born from an ultra-advanced technological civilization. A weapon designed, without question, to slaughter humans.
“…Please spare me.”
I held no expectation that it would listen. I hadn’t even hoped it could understand speech. And even if my plea somehow reached it, I didn’t imagine it would respond with mercy. Still, I spoke. It was a desperate bid to buy even a fraction of a second.
That resistance wasn’t entirely in vain. It didn’t immediately open fire like before. Maybe it was analyzing the strange sonic data I’d emitted. Or perhaps it simply hadn’t decided to attack yet. The glowing red sensor, positioned higher than a two-story building, swept over my entire body once more.
But I couldn’t call that an opening. Staying here would still end in my death. So—
“───Please, I’m begging you to spare me!”
I moved first. I sprinted toward the Gopdeung-i’s underside, screaming at the top of my lungs. Several meters of clearance existed beneath its hovering frame—enough space for a car to pass through. Of course, I wasn’t trying to die. This was simply the option least likely to get me shot. The machine-gun turret was mounted on its back. Therefore, the closest blind spot at this range was directly beneath it. I could only pray it wouldn’t decide to sit down and crush me.
As I ran, offering silent prayers to a god I didn’t believe in, the Gopdeung-i swung one of the tentacle-like appendages that had been dangling toward the ground. No—this wasn’t a sensor. It was clearly a weapon. A whip. A tentacle. A lash.
Dodging a projectile coming straight at you is hard enough. But this thing curved through the air in an unpredictable arc. Yet I avoided it.
I don’t know how. Unlike the invisible bullets, this was visible. So I dodged. That was the only way to describe it. A few uselessly long strands of my fluttering hair were sliced away, but I didn’t care in the slightest.
The two tentacles had been aiming for my head and legs. Instead, they slammed into the innocent ground. They were like wires as thick as fingers, yet they sliced through earth and stone like tofu. Shrapnel flew up and grazed my cheek.
And in that moment, I succeeded in reaching the spot directly beneath it.
But now what?
I was in its blind spot, but that wouldn’t last. A few steps from the Gopdeung-i and I’d be exposed again. There was also the very real chance it would simply drop its massive weight and crush me. I had maybe a second at most. I needed to act.
I needed a weapon to restrict its movement. The only thing I was familiar with was the rifle I’d handled during military service, but there was no way something like that would be lying around here. Even a club would be nice. The moment that thought crossed my mind—
A white flash appeared at the edge of my vision, like an optical illusion. And then—
“—Huh?”
Right after, I felt a foreign weight in my previously empty right hand. There was no time to examine it closely. The Gopdeung-i, sensing my sudden movement, was already shifting its legs to respond.
So I swung.
The long, brilliantly shining object that had appeared in my grip—I charged forward and brought it down with all my strength toward one of the Gopdeung-i’s leg joints several meters away.
White Light Blade has manifested.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected much. It was basically just a final struggle. I didn’t think a frail 140-centimeter body could do anything to a leg that looked harder than reinforced steel.
But…
“…Huh. It got cut.”
The targeted leg of the Gopdeung-i snapped apart like it was nothing. More accurately, it had melted and severed. The cut surface glowed a blinding yellow from extreme heat, and the surrounding metal had turned bright red, instantly losing all function.
Naturally, the robot Gopdeung-i didn’t scream. It simply registered the anomaly in its body and immediately tried to retreat and reorient itself. Maintaining balance on only five legs with such cold precision was a testament to its artificial intelligence’s rapid response.
Which meant I couldn’t let it recover.
I had just seen a glimmer of hope for survival. There was no way I could die absurdly in a place like this. The moment I gripped the weapon that had appeared out of nowhere, rage—not fear—surged through me, along with an inexplicable sense of exhilaration. I looked up.
At some point, my legs had stopped shaking. So I could do this.
My target was the joint connecting the body to the legs, four meters overhead. When fighting a giant boss, you always aim for the weak points. Now that I knew the weapon in my hand could deliver effective strikes, I would attack the most vulnerable spot.
I kicked off the ground and leaped.
In that instant, I was vaguely aware that I was doing something no ordinary human could. But the only thought that mattered was eliminating the dangerous machine in front of me as quickly as possible. There was no deeper reason. I simply had to survive.
The target was already right in front of me. Without hesitation, I swung the weapon in my hand. The blade, over a meter long, sliced through its mark without fail. Not the joint I’d already severed, but one of the remaining intact legs.
The weapon, wrapped in a white aura radiating extreme heat, cut through the dense metal with ease once again. A leg with its root severed. The Gopdeung-i’s main body staggered. It had been gathering power to leap away, so the recoil was massive.
Just one more.
The Gopdeung-i had six legs—three on each side. If I destroyed all three on one side, I could largely restrict its movement. At the very least, it wouldn’t be able to perform those ridiculous jumps anymore.
With that judgment, I immediately swung the mysterious weapon at the next target.
──As expected, it was clean.
There’s no resistance at all when cutting.
It didn’t feel like slicing tofu. It felt like the blade had simply brushed against something. Setting my admiration aside, I landed back on the ground and looked at the final leg on the left side. The Gopdeung-i’s body was already tilting more than halfway to one side.
It seemed to realize it was in serious trouble. The twitching tentacles pressed against the ground, hurriedly trying to regain balance. I couldn’t miss this opening while the enemy hesitated. Without intending to, I also sealed off the movement of those disgusting tentacles.
And once again, my actions were faster.
Thus, the giant monster robot—with its incredible leaping power but poor agility due to its massive size—lost even its final left leg. The tentacles that had been supporting it in place of legs were soon severed as well.
Only then did I dash out from beneath the collapsing Gopdeung-i and retreat to the side. I saw the turret spinning toward me as if it had been waiting, but it was already too late. The estimated 30-millimeter autocannon never got to spit fire. Before it could even rotate halfway, the white-glowing weapon I’d thrown sank deep into the center of the turret.
The barrel was sliced clean off. Then the entire turret melted under the immense heat. The whole process took no more than two seconds. With that, the Gopdeung-i had lost all its offensive capabilities.
…Or so I thought.
The struggling Gopdeung-i suddenly froze. Then came that familiar, skin-crawling siren sound. The relief that had begun to bloom on my face hardened instantly.
“Wait, don’t tell me—”
The Gopdeung-i has begun its final attack protocol.
The final attack method of an autonomously operating weapon? It’s a cliché, but of course it’s a self-destruct explosion. You don’t even need to look far for examples. Modern cruise missiles are essentially unmanned suicide bombers when you think about it.
Of course, how common it is and how dangerous it is are two different things. It had threatened me first, attacked first, and now that it was rolling around defeated by one tiny human, what the hell gave it the right to blow itself up?
And what’s more, the bastard didn’t give me even the slightest gap. The moment it stopped moving and began emitting that ominous signal, it gave me no time to retrieve my weapon and retreat properly. The instant I pulled the white-glowing object—now looking like nothing more than a steel pipe without its radiance—from the ruined turret, it detonated in a massive explosion as if to say go to hell.
I don’t clearly remember what I did in that moment. I think I reflexively raised the steel pipe in my hand to shield myself in a desperate attempt to survive.
As for the result…
I survived, at least. I don’t know how, but there wasn’t a single scratch on my body. My hair was still perfectly neat. Not a drop of sweat marred my smooth, delicate skin. The expensive-looking gothic lolita dress didn’t have a single tear, and my shoes were spotless aside from a bit of dirt.
The only explanation was that the steel-pipe-like weapon had protected me. Even as relief washed over me, the sight before my eyes filled me with nothing but dread.
“…A crater.”
It was literally a massive crater. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked at least twenty meters in radius and over five meters deep. It was the scar left behind by a gigantic bomb. And right in the middle of that horrific scene stood me.
With an explosion of that scale, even if my body had endured, I should have been blasted far away. Yet for some reason, I remained right beside the self-destructed Gopdeung-i.
My head spun from the continuous string of events that completely defied the laws of physics. But what came before that was anxiety.
“There’s no way there’s only one of these things.”
I had no idea what other horrors the explosion might have triggered. Most likely, I would end up in yet another absurd fight. Still, the silver lining was that I had already found a place to hide, so I wouldn’t have to wander around lost.
That was when something caught my foot as I hurried away, still clutching the steel-pipe weapon. Thinking it was just a piece of Gopdeung-i debris scattered everywhere, I glanced down without much thought.
And that was when I saw it.
“…A gem?”
A beautiful stone emitting a purple glow—no, was it metal? Either way, it looked like a meticulously crafted piece of amethyst, lying abandoned on the dirt. It was huge, almost the size of a soccer ball. I couldn’t tell if it had been buried underground and unearthed by the explosion, or if it had been inside the Gopdeung-i. But one thing was certain.
“──This is expensive.”