Chapter 257
Personally, I don’t like Team Leader Hank.
Although he is certainly a competent Escort Team Leader, it is not easy to feel human affection for someone who ruthlessly slapped my cheek.
However, my feelings aside, his absence felt incredibly profound now that he was gone.
Furthermore, the last image I saw of him… If only I hadn’t heard his voice from beyond the crystal wall, I wouldn’t have felt this drained.
Had I grown accustomed to considering him the Leader and following his orders in such a short time?
My head was a mess without him, the one who would calmly make a judgment about the situation without batting an eye even when serious and dangerous situations like the slap Incident or a terrorist attack broke out.
What should I do?
Team Leader Hank told us to stay still, so should I keep waiting like this?
If we just stay in place blindly, we would be an easy target. Still, if Team Leader Hank or Ms. Kali were looking for us, staying still rather than moving would be the right choice for the sake of regrouping.
But what if they are in a situation where they can’t come looking for us? Right now, there isn’t even a guarantee that Team Leader Hank is still alive…
Smack!
At the crisp sound that burst out unexpectedly, Alexandra looked over in surprise.
Seeing me suddenly slap my own cheek in the underground, she looked genuinely worried that I might have eaten something wrong.
“Ah… fuck, that hurts so much.”
Of all places, I ended up hitting the exact same spot where Team Leader Hank had hit me. I should have slapped the other cheek.
But thanks to that, my head cooled down. I think things are a bit clearer now.
Is judgment difficult because Team Leader Hank isn’t here? That’s nonsense. Since when did I take out my brain and rely on others for every decision?
The Team Leader isn’t here. Now I am the first-Priority Escort Person in charge, and I have to think.
Thus, I reached the conclusion.
We had to move.
We couldn’t just stay still like this with only vague hope. It was too dangerous.
It was literally leaving our lives to luck. I couldn’t do that.
First, we had to get out of here. That was the way to secure at least minimum safety.
Regrouping with Team Leader Hank or Ms. Kali was something to think about later.
“We have to go, Young Lady.”
“But didn’t Hank tell us to wait still? I don’t think we should scatter like this.”
“The Young Lady’s safety comes first. Staying still is too dangerous. First, we need to move and get out of the Main Hall. After that, we can look for Team Leader Hank and Ms. Kali at the rendezvous point.”
“Still, wouldn’t it be better to wait just a little longer? Hank knows we are here, so we don’t know when he might appear.”
No. I suppressed my frustration and spoke.
“We don’t have time for that. We’ve already wasted a lot of time. We have to move right now.”
“But―.”
“Please trust me. Like last time. Didn’t I tell you? For today at least, think of me as the Young Lady’s samurai.”
A brief silence flowed. Alexandra soon nodded.
“Right. You are correct. I should trust my samurai, or else who would? …Let’s do that. Lead the way. I will follow.”
Fortunately, the persuasion ended quickly.
Although she might still be immature, Alexandra was by no means a stupid person.
“Stay right by my side.”
The path we originally intended to take was blocked by a giant crystal shard, so instead, we moved forward by the light of the Cyberwatch to find another exit.
Even when we heard the sounds of fighting nearby, we didn’t stop and instead moved even faster. It was a battle of speed and time.
We couldn’t afford to fall behind for even a moment.
Rather than moving forward carefully step by step, it was better to have the mindset of smashing through whatever obstacles lay ahead.
Like this.
Bang-!
A shape was caught in my sharpened senses.
Simultaneous with the recognition, I pulled the trigger of the standard issue pistol I was holding, and the bullet flew and pierced a head.
From behind, Alexandra tightly grabbed my collar.
I killed a person. But it couldn’t be helped.
It was what needed to be done. It was also a task my hands were slowly getting used to.
I used my foot to flip over the shape that was hard to see due to the darkness and checked it.
A diode prosthetic eye soaked in blood, a sparking Mechanical Face… It was from a Dead Cell Organization.
“A terrorist… You knew. You startled me.”
It seemed she was startled, thinking I had shot someone I didn’t even know just because they appeared.
I answered calmly.
“Actually, I didn’t know.”
“…!”
I had a vague guess. It was because the superhuman perception ability, which had developed as I got used to the microchip’s effects, naturally drew the swaying shape and the red leaking eye light in my head.
However, even right before shooting, I didn’t have 100 percent certainty. I just did what needed to be done.
Alexandra didn’t ask further, and I didn’t bother explaining my judgment at length with words. We just kept moving forward.
Ignoring the sounds of a call for rescue asking for help, and the screams that sounded chillingly similar to Ms. Kali’s, we continued straight in one direction.
Eventually, debris appeared. The crystal shards that fell when the ceiling collapsed formed a small hill on the broken stairs, blocking the path.
It looked like it would take a long time to bypass it.
“Let’s go up.”
Although there were sharp shards stuck here and there, it seemed there wouldn’t be a big problem if we went up carefully and quickly.
If my prediction was correct, the exit wasn’t far once we crossed The Deep.
Fragments broke in the middle, and one side of the hill crumbled down, putting Alexandra in danger of her foot slipping, but thanks to my quickly grabbing her hand, we were able to climb safely to the top of the hill.
Because all the lights were turned off by the electromagnetic pulse, visibility was poor even though we had climbed high. It was when we had gone about halfway down the hill; I was focusing all my concentration to gauge our destination.
Ping―!
It was a truly tiny sound.
Because my vision wasn’t much help, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t sharply honed my hearing and sense of touch.
But I noticed it. A chilling intuition brushed past me.
In that brief moment, there was no need to ponder the trajectory or direction. I gritted my teeth, threw my body, and embraced Alexandra in my arms.
Thud.
It was the right judgment. With a split-second difference that felt like maybe 0.1 seconds, something lodged in my back.
From the shock that made me grit my teeth, I rolled down. After hitting the floor with a thud, I hurriedly forced my aching body, which had no intact spots left, to stand up.
As soon as I stood up, I aimed my pistol, but the target moved too fast. It was hiding its body behind the fragments, conscious of the muzzle.
At that distance, with my shooting skill, a hit was close to impossible. I had to consider the pistol as practically just for intimidation.
“Step back! But don’t go too far!”
I practically pushed Alexandra away and looked up the hill.
A figure was sitting at the top, hiding its form in the darkness.
A tingling feeling came to me. It wasn’t a Luddite, or Dead Cell. Without a doubt, that was a ninja.
It was a situation similar to when I suffered a Surprise Attack from the Cyborg Ninja.
The difference was that that ninja wasn’t the Cyborg Ninja from back then, and I wasn’t the me from back then either.
[Combat Mode activation. Kinetic Drive Activation.]
“Take this.”
I forcefully threw the needle shuriken spat out by the Nanosuit as a probing attack.
Thanks to borrowing the power of the Kinetic Drive, it was a throw so accurate and sharp that I wondered if a baseball player had descended into my body, but the unidentified Communist Ninja lightly snatched it out of the air as if I had kindly returned the shuriken to him.
…A formidable opponent. I already had a feeling.
The ninja made a light leap, stepped onto a thin crystal shard halfway up the hill, and drew the Japanese sword slung across his back.
Doing a half-palm salute with one hand, he jumped up again and spoke.
“Do―mo. I am a New-Mecha Komu Chunin.”
If he’s a Chunin… a mid-level ninja!
Damn it, of all things, I ended up encountering the enemy I wanted to meet the least right in front of the exit.
The speed at which he rushed this way was terrifying. Seeing him get closer while jumping around to avoid the muzzle felt more like watching the movements of a leopard or cheetah than those of a human.
This was no time to conserve resources.
For swift victory, I had to mobilize every means available to me and deal with him quickly.
“Assistant, turn on the switch.”
I shouted that inwardly and was preparing to parry the Japanese sword being swung with extreme speed…
The signal didn’t come. There was absolutely none of the liberating feeling of my senses expanding that comes upon Activation of the microchip. It was exactly the same as usual.
Clang-!
I barely managed to block the Japanese sword, which changed its trajectory like a ghost right before the collision, by raising my arm.
The ninja tilted his masked head at me, blocking a sharp katana that could cut even steel with just a suit sleeve.
Taking advantage of that opening, I shouted inwardly.
“What are you doing!” I said, “Turn on the microchip, quickly!”
Then, a distorted answer returned in my head.
[Test Subject, do you consider this System Assistant a Slave for turning on the microchip? It is impossible.]
“Hey, this is no time to joke…”
[It is not a joke. It is physically impossible. Did you not already operate the microchip a mere fifteen minutes ago? It is currently in the cooling procedure. Reactivation is possible even in the current state, but I do not recommend it for the sake of the Test Subject’s own safety. In an unlucky case, a part of your prefrontal cortex could melt down. Of course, if you wish to bear the risk, I will force it.]
No, no. That won’t do.
I’m sorry. I was wrong!
Come to think of it, I had already triggered the microchip once in the process of dodging the falling crystal fragments.
Because of that, it was a situation that literally required a cooldown, a cooling time.
I was in big trouble. I wasn’t confident without the microchip.
“How long will it take?”
I asked while narrowly snatching the shuriken thrown by the ninja, which curved in mid-air and was just about to lodge exquisitely into my tender nape.
The unemotional answer that followed.
[The required time to guarantee the Test Subject’s safety is 5 minutes.]
You mean I have to hold out for 5 minutes against this crazy Communist Killer Ninja.
Swoosh―!
Perhaps thinking it was useless to aim for my body, this time he leaped up high and the katana shot down aiming for the crown of my head.
This was an ominous premonition that even if I covered it with my arm, it would somehow squeeze through the gap and stab me!
5 minutes seemed absolutely impossible. Was there no clever solution?
With an idea that flashed like lightning in that moment, I opened my mouth without realizing it.
I spat out an urgent shout while raising the blade of my hand forward.
“Do, do―mo, nice to meet you, New-Mecha Komu Chunin-san. I am Aaron Nakamura.”
My incredibly polite greeting.
In an instant, the katana stiffly froze in mid-air, like a lie.
“…!”