Chapter 288
[Oho, and here is the guy I wanted to kill! Did you set up a buffet just for me? I suppose I should offer my Words of Gratitude.]
The violently spinning head spat out an ominous laugh.
He grabbed the empty air with his massive cyberarm - Clench! - and at the same time, the cylinder engine near his spine spun in reverse, beginning to emit a blue light instead of a red light.
Simultaneously, a powerful artificial gravity began pouring in the opposite direction. Instead of being pulled toward the Chrome Monster, this time it was pushing away!
[Get lost, Bug/Worm!]
As Rodrick Smith extended his palm and aimed at his target, an immense repulsive force concentrated on a single point and poured out.
――――――
――
――
―!
There was no dodging it.
Iron Dog Invincible Maximus, who had barely made his appearance, was swept away and sent flying as if he had been hit by a high-speed monorail.
The power was so immense that he pierced through several layers of the crystal wall and smashed into the distance, becoming nothing but a speck.
No way, the tank I worked so hard to bring here was neutralized this easily?
While I was left dumbfounded, the Chrome Monster didn’t stop there; he heated his hideous rotary saw blade to an ultra-high temperature, accelerated it, and swung.
Slice.
Kali Haywood’s Monowire, which had been putting the brakes on the monster’s movements, melted and snapped like a mere thread.
…We’re fucked!
[You are annoying pests. I’ll just kill you together.]
Vwooom-
Now I could tell just by the sound.
It was the Chrome Monster’s trademark, the Laser Beam cannon!
I threw my body toward the only viable spot for survival visible within the territory of my extrasensory perception, and at that exact moment, the ray of death flashed.
My hair scorched to a crisp, giving off the awful stench of melting protein. The nape of my neck flared red, the skin peeling away.
At the edge of a vast pit of destruction that bisected the entire Lounge as if a massive drill had bored a tunnel through it, I barely held on using my grip strength to prevent falling.
If I hadn’t taken a brief rest in the back while Ms. Kali tied down the Chrome Monster, recovering my exhausted body with the remaining effects of the drug, I probably wouldn’t have been able to dodge it.
I knew the Chrome Monster’s firepower was strong, but this was beyond imagination.
He was pouring it out relentlessly, truly intending to erase us from the world without a trace, even though firing that Photon Cannon just once would cost 100,000 City Dollars in fuel alone.
“What about Ms. Kali?”
It was only for a brief moment. I merely entertained another thought for a split second to check on Kali Haywood’s safety.
In that moment of distraction, the Chrome Monster was already right in front of me.
A heart-stopping fear washed over me from the dark shadow cast over my head.
[You, how did you dodge the missiles?]
He spoke while crouching his giant frame, right up close to me.
It was like a curious child observing an unusually large ant or ladybug.
Rodrick Smith’s words and attitude were always consistent. That monster truly saw me as an insect.
As a fragile, insignificant Bug/Worm that would just die without even a twitch if stepped on.
His current interest was merely akin to discovering a unique bug.
Imagine there’s a fly doing acrobatic maneuvers, dodging every single spray of bug repellent you shoot at it. Wouldn’t it be divine skill?
Fascinating, but that’s it. Just because it’s divine skill doesn’t mean you talk to or negotiate with the fly. A fly is just a fly.
It’s an existence that must die once a person’s interest wanes.
And as is well known, patience was not Rodrick Grant Smith’s strong suit.
Without even giving me a chance to speak properly, he snorted and said.
[Never mind. Come to think of it, I’m not that curious.]
Then why did you ask!
Kwajijijijik!
I barely dodged the Chrome Monster violently stomping his foot by falling backward and rolling into the pit. The ground tremor alone made the floor shake and debris pour down as if an earthquake or landslide had occurred.
And smashing through all those obstacles - the Chrome Monster came flying.
It wasn’t a metaphorical expression. He was literally flying, spewing blue flames from his frame thrusters, shooting down from above like he was crashing!
[Just die already, you bug.]
The ultra-high-temperature heat blade saw was rushing in and grinding up everything in its path.
This time too, rather than running away, I chose to dive inward.
A mid-range firepower battle was truly a lost cause. With my bare body, I would only be helplessly trampled.
Sticking close and fighting at point-blank range might actually be more bearable. He wouldn’t just fire his beam cannon wildly within a bombardment range where he could hit himself, right?
Shooooong-
Guided by the Kinetic Drive, I leaned my body backward as if doing the limbo, my head nearly touching the ground. The violently spinning, heated blade passed by so closely it felt like it would touch my corneas.
I didn’t stop there; I bounced my body back up and dug in even deeper. I had to hover as much as possible inside his activate range to survive.
Kwaaaaang!
I dodged his kick by sliding. With my body blown away by the wind pressure, I barely grabbed onto what my hand could reach.
Grab!
There was no time to rest for even a moment.
Wrapping my whole body around it like hugging a giant pillar, I realized it was the monster’s ankle.
I firmly grabbed the cables on the Chrome Monster’s massive lower fuselage near the back of the knee and ascended as if climbing!
[Right. There were quite a few of those bastards like you, Bug/Worms who get a kick out of crawling up.]
Wedges sprouted from various parts of the monster’s joints as he scoffed and sneered.
I had definitely never experienced it myself, yet it was a familiar line, a familiar situation.
It’s a pattern I know!
My memory, extraordinarily developed under the influence of the microchip, vividly recalled the scene from the monitor graphics buried in the dust of my mind, pixel by pixel, as if I were taking a photograph.
Of all things, it was a truly disgustingly annoying pattern even in the original game.
It was what you’d commonly call an unblockable attack.
Unless you had god-like control, it was impossible to dodge everything, so the standard strategy was to just take a few hits and tank it with your health pool to get past it. But now that it was reality, the story was different.
If I get hit even once, I die. I was forced into a no-hit challenge.
Clinging to his mountain-sized back, I spread my arms wide. I jammed my left fingers into a small hole, and with my right hand, I forcefully gripped a slippery curve where I could barely hook my thumb by a single knuckle.
I kept my two legs pressed vertically together, practically floating, and barely maintained my balance using the strength of my core muscles.
It was the only way to survive.
I couldn’t maintain this state for long. I just needed to hold on for a moment!
Sswaaek!
Holes opened up in the Chrome Monster’s exoskeleton frame, and sharp iron needles sprouted all at once.
Protruding like a hedgehog’s quills, they exquisitely avoided my clinging body, their venom-coated tips gleaming.
I still had some leeway. The problem was what came next.
Sssssst-
The unusually thick thorns split open like blooming flower buds, scattering leaf-like blades.
The leaves of death, swelling and extending in all directions, chewed and pressed against my suit-clad limbs.
I gritted my teeth at the cold metal that gradually moved up and down, closing in on the areas my suit couldn’t cover - near my ankles and the nape of my neck.
If I had broken my stance even slightly, I would have been stabbed and heavily injured.
The chilling sensation made me want to convulse and drop my body right then and there, but if I did, I would be instantly killed by the Chrome Monster.
I had to hold on no matter what.
Even as sweat poured down like rain, my fingers slipped, and my full body muscles screamed in agony. I used every ounce of strength I had to stay perfectly still and wait for the right moment.
Clack-.
Now!
At the tiny metallic sound brushing through my mind, I immediately detached my exhausted limbs and threw my body off. At the same time, sparks flew across the surface of the exoskeleton, and a blue current was discharged outward.
If my timing to dodge had been slightly early, I would have been caught and crushed by the Chrome Monster; if it had been slightly late, I would have become a rotisserie chicken.
Dropping my body by matching that thread-like 0.1-second transition timing with my extrasensory perception was the only strategy, and I had pulled it off.
[…!]
The Chrome Monster’s face contorted. For him, it must be an absolutely incomprehensible situation.
Dodging the missiles could be chalked up to an incredible combination of heavenly luck and coincidence. But this time, the story was different.
I was clearly acting with prior knowledge and awareness of the Monster’s movements.
As long as he didn’t know about the named boss patterns recognized in my head and the abilities of the microchip, it was something that would forever feel like a mystery.
It was the same then. The Chrome Monster’s thorn-covered grasp swiped through empty air. It was because I had known in advance and rolled my body to dodge.
Whoooosh―.
As if expecting that, the trajectory of the mechanical arm that had already passed by bent backward unnaturally, returning to aim at my back.
It was a Surprise Attack aiming for a psychological blind spot, one that would catch anyone without fail, but I was aware of even that.
I managed to safely escape by a hair’s breadth, slipping away like a loach from the spread Metal Finger trying to snatch me up violently.
[Kwooooooar!]
The lounge burst apart at the angry roar mixed with infrasound.
He must be frustrated.
Weight class, physical ability, modified cyberware, and equipment.
In every aspect, I was just a squishy ordinary person far down at the bottom of the floor mantle - or to borrow the monster’s expression, a mere 'Bug/Worm'.
And yet, no matter what the monster tried, he simply couldn’t catch and crush this small, fragile bug, so he couldn’t help but be flustered.
On the contrary, I felt like I was gradually regaining my composure.
Now, it seemed I was slowly getting used to the Chrome Monster Rodrick Smith’s immense output and speed.
Above all, I gained certainty.
The certainty that the abilities of the microchip embedded in my head worked perfectly well even against that absolute powerhouse, one of the strongest in this universe!