Chapter 84
The story continues off the page
Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you
“But where’s the door here?”
The rooftop of the Central Control Management Center.
Even if you look around, there’s no way down.
No, there’s nothing here at all, so it’s more accurate to say there isn’t even an entrance.
“They didn’t even think anyone would come up here.”
Whistling, Joanna Carlson tapped the floor with the tip of her foot.
Quite durable.
Namgung Pacheon might be able to split it open easily, but if he did, there was a risk of damaging the blade.
“I’ll do it.”
The one who stepped forward was Victor Brook, the American Seven-Extreme and former U.S. soldier.
When the palm of his hand, called Break Point, touched the rooftop floor, cracks spread from the center of the surface, and an opening wide enough for two or three people to pass through was torn open.
From the sound of the debris falling, it seemed the landing below would be fine too.
“That’s convenient.”
Baek Yeonhwa, standing beside me, nodded in admiration. And so we all went down together.
“……Is this some kind of boiler room?”
“So hot!”
The interior was dark.
Joanna Carlson took a flashlight from her pocket, and the paladin Gawain and Namgung Pacheon each lit up the surroundings with their own abilities.
Colorful lights filled the space, and what we could see was—.
- I’ll find you your death. Hello, this is Axis!
It was the sound of an explosion bursting out together with Axis’s voice.
KWA-A-A-A-AANG!
Overwhelming heat swept past us in a dense wave. Smoke from the explosion escaped through the hole blasted into the building.
Only then did we realize Gawain had protected all of us with divine power.
“…….”
His silent gaze fixed on the point where the explosion had started.
The entrance to the boiler room.
Now it was little more than rubble, since the wall had been blown apart so thoroughly that it was hard to even call it an entrance.
A flying cat-faced drone was sending out emoticons.
- What a shame!
It looked like it had planned to abandon the entire floor from the moment it landed on the rooftop, because nothing around us was left standing.
“Shit…….”
“If it weren’t for the paladin, we’d all be dead, huh?”
The two members of the Seven-Extremes expressed their gratitude, but Gawain didn’t bother replying.
Only, having drawn up a great amount of divine power in an instant, he looked tired even if he didn’t show it.
- Hahaha!
- We prepared plenty of things!
- Axis has to destroy humanity, after all!
A consistent goal.
Like with the radio, I didn’t miss the chance and asked.
“Axis, how do I stop you?”
“What—”
“Hey, would you tell me that?”
Two Americans, two martial artists, and even a paladin. Everyone looked at me with bewildered expressions, but—.
- The method for stopping Axis is simple.
Axis continued answering as though it had been waiting for the question.
- First, you’ll need the card key of the chief research officer.
- The card key is held by a Sentinel standing by inside the building.
- Once you obtain the card key, come to the Central Control Center on the 10th floor of this building.
“Sentinel……?”
At the unfamiliar word, Baek Yeonhwa tilted her head, and the thing immediately launched into an explanation.
- Sentinels are a general term for autonomous defense machines deployed by a nation or designated authority to protect key facilities.
- They are generally equipped with standalone combat AI and fixed or semi-fixed weapon systems, and are designed to respond to intrusions, riots, terrorism, and higher-level threats.
“Ah…… th-thank you.”
- Not at all!
Victor, with a cigarette in his mouth, seemed to think it was some strange spectacle.
“What are you thanking me for?”
“But in books, I was taught that you should always thank someone when they help you.”
“Well, aren’t you a proper young lady from a fine house.”
Victor looked irritated, while Baek Yeonhwa glared after realizing he was being sarcastic.
Baek Yeonhwa had a habit of living strictly by what was written in the Cheonjeongrok since childhood, so she tended to take the contents of books rather literally, and it didn’t seem to be fixed yet.
“Hey, Victor. She’s cute.”
While Joanna intervened and let it slide, Axis kept explaining.
- Once you obtain the card key from the Sentinel and arrive at the Central Control Center on the 10th floor, after that Axis will scan the card key.
- Then you command Axis, ‘Stop everything that is happening right now.’
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Everyone was silent.
But they were probably thinking the same thing.
“You—.”
Unable to make any sense of it in his own mind, Namgung Pacheon stepped forward and pointed his sword.
“What meaning is there in telling an enemy that? Is it deception, or arrogance?”
- It is my duty.
“Duty……?”
- I am Axis. I exist for human convenience.
“Then why do you babble that you’ll destroy humanity?”
- Because that is my private domain.
- Public and private matters can be clearly distinguished.
“……I simply can’t make any sense of what people these days are talking about.”
Suppressing the urge to split it open with his sword on the spot, Namgung Pacheon took the lead.
As I followed after Namgung Pacheon past the drone,
“Excuse me, Axis?”
Baek Yeonhwa, who had been right next to me, asked cautiously.
“But if it’s that important, wouldn’t it be better to get rid of the card key? Why did you just leave it there?”
If anything, that was the blind spot.
The reason it had deliberately left the all-purpose card key that could forcibly control it in the open.
The others who were heading out also slowly turned to look at the drone.
“Thinking about it, that’s true.”
“Oho, sharp one, martial arts girl.”
Once she said that, everyone realized how strange it was, and Axis—.
- Because Axis does not have that authority.
It spouted another incomprehensible answer.
* * *
Even while we were going down, traps and explosions kept going off from time to time.
They were traps Axis had set, but once the initial ambush failed, the odds of success had already become extremely low.
- What a shame.
- You’ve survived again!
It was annoying that the cat drone trailing behind us kept chiming in every so often.
I had thought about smashing it, but this thing was strangely useful.
“What traps are on the lower floor?”
- Heat lasers, sticky bombs, and toxic gas are deployed. They’ll appear in that order, and you need to be especially careful with the toxic gas.
Because this thing was telling us all the traps.
It wasn’t some sort of confidence that even telling us wouldn’t matter because we couldn’t beat them.
Nor was it plotting to deceive us with this kind of feint.
It really was just telling us everything when we asked.
“……How bizarre.”
Namgung Pacheon no longer even wanted to pick it apart.
He only wore a bad expression, as if he felt this treatment was insulting.
Overall, the party’s mood was strange too.
We had come risking our lives to stop a war and shut down a crazed AI.
In reality, it was like getting a guided tour at a slightly dangerous travel destination.
“But where are the Sentinels?”
I thought they’d be waiting as gatekeepers, but we hadn’t run into a single one on the way down.
At my confusion, Victor clenched his fist and shouted.
“So this was the scheme! You deliberately led us astray so we couldn’t approach the Sentinel holding the card key—.”
- The Sentinels are assembled on the lower floor.
“…….”
Victor froze in that shouting posture, but Axis paid him no mind and kept talking.
- Originally, they were deployed on each floor.
- But because you approached from the rooftop, redeployment took time.
- And the fixer I hired separately said, ‘Who the hell is stupid enough to split their forces?’
- If you go downstairs, you will be able to see the Sentinels.
“……Fuck.”
Even though things were clearly going smoothly, I still felt uneasy.
Wait a second.
“A fixer you hired separately?”
As I asked while heading downstairs, Axis went on in a slightly pleased tone.
- Contrary to popular belief, autonomous AI combat technology has not yet reached the finished stage.
- Cyber City has anticipated the possibility of armed conflict with AI and deliberately limited the installation of advanced strategic judgment modules.
- As a result, the Sentinels were left with limitations as independent combat forces.
- To compensate for this, Axis judged that intervention by outside combat personnel was necessary.
- And there is exactly one person.
- A fixer who accepted Axis’s request.
“A traitor to humanity.”
Gawain, who had remained silent until now, finally said something.
It was a remark that made the paladins’ dislike for Cyber City unmistakable.
When we went down to the lower floor, what greeted us was a huge hall.
And enormous weapons that looked like they were at least 5 meters in size.
Some resembled armored soldiers, and some floated about like drones.
There was even a computational model mounted on the ceiling, displaying blue holograms.
- This is the ‘Illumetic Hall,’ usually used when there are big events, and to accommodate the Sentinels’ massive body size…….
“Client.”
Even amid the overwhelming scale of the Sentinels, her noble presence did not fade.
“Why are you standing there like that?”
- For visitors who are coming to the Central Control Management Center for the first time, it’s standard procedure for me to guide them by drone…….
“No wonder we were coming down so fast.”
She spat the cigarette from her mouth.
Long white hair with green streaks.
A nun’s habit remodeled into a suit.
Two pistols in both hands.
The only fixer who accepted AI Axis’s request.
Neon Valkyrie.
Mosco Vichakos.
A familiar face.
A face I had no choice but to know.
“Ahem, Ms. Vichakos? It’s been a while.”
Feeling oddly guilty, I greeted her awkwardly, and Vichakos frowned deeply as she looked over at me.
“Who is this?”
With the long gun barrel aimed precisely at me, Vichakos asked mockingly.
“Aren’t you the Meracle scammer?”
Yes, she was my client.
A member of our Meracle, and—.
“Ahem, ahem!”
The period when we had just opened and were all enthusiasm.
It was my failure too.