Chapter 262
“But they were definitely there.”
[That is correct.]
‘Then you missed them? You’re a Net Demon, an Artificial Intelligence. Since those Dolls are controlled by the Meredith Family, they must be connected to the net here somehow. So, does that make any sense?’
The System Assistant fell silent once again.
Only when I was on the verge of going crazy from frustration did an answer return.
[…There are two possibilities.]
“What are they?”
[First, the Dolls are specially designed to carry out instructions without being connected to any kind of labyrinth, or the Closed Network controlling the Dolls is secretly hidden by Over-Technology that is several generations ahead of existing technology, making it impossible even for this System Assistant to detect.]
I was the one who asked, but the answer I got made my mind go blank.
Honestly, I had no idea what it was talking about.
I wasn’t a Former Net Diver like Tony, and in the first place, I was just a humanities university student even back in the modern 21st century.
In the end, all I did was ask a stupid question.
“What are the chances of that?”
[It is difficult to calculate precisely due to the limits of hardware and energy supply. However, I do not consider it to be high.]
The chances aren’t high?
“Wait, you said there were two possibilities. Then what’s the second one?”
[…]
No response.
The System Assistant didn’t respond after that, no matter how much I pressed it.
I didn’t know why it was stopping mid-sentence, unless it was deliberately trying to piss me off.
It had always acted annoyingly, but it had never blatantly ignored my words like this before. Lately, its annoying behavior was getting worse in a strange way.
‘…Don’t tell me.’
* * *
There was a brief incident where Alexandra stared at me strangely for suddenly talking to myself in thin air, but anyway, our encounter with the Dolls passed safely like that.
“It’s no use. I can’t reach them at all.”
I said, shaking my head.
I had taken a brief moment to try communicating with superior Hank and the other team members.
I thought communication was down in the banquet Hall due to the effects of the electromagnetic pulse set off by the luddites, but looking at it now, the signal wasn’t working outside of it either.
The Cyberwatch, of course, and even the special radio device for escorts were the same.
“We have no choice but to move to the rendezvous point by ourselves.”
Alexandra nodded at the inevitable conclusion.
The path itself presented no difficulties to traverse. It was several times better than the narrow and uncomfortable employee passageway.
However, unlike the Employee passageway, we had to move with extreme caution whenever we passed a corner or heard a small sound, so our speed was actually much slower.
This was especially true because of the Mirror Castle’s characteristic of having mirrors and glass everywhere, making it impossible to know where or how our reflections might appear.
Still, we managed to arrive safely.
According to the signs, there really wasn’t much further to the landing strip. I wasn’t certain, but it also felt like a path I remembered passing when we first arrived.
The problem was the final passage leading to the landing strip, and the other people who might have arrived first…
We probably weren’t the only ones to come up with the idea of using the landing strip as a rendezvous point.
It was only natural. If an incident occurred, they had to quickly take the VIP and retreat, and in the event of being scattered - no, even if they weren’t scattered, heading to the landing strip where there were flight means for transportation was an incredibly logical choice.
Would there really be no one who arrived earlier than us? Considering the time wasted fighting the Communist Ninja and crawling through the Employee Passageway, that didn’t seem likely.
“I should assume other people are already there.”
It would be fortunate if they treated us favorably, but I always had to assume the worst-case scenario. They could act hostile.
How was I to know if the Sedouforne Group was waiting there?
‘No, actually, that isn’t even the worst.’
rather, I should consider that much of a relief.
No matter how recklessly Matilda Sedouforne acted, as long as there was a minimum line between fellow nobles, she wouldn’t try to kill Alexandra.
The truly worst-case scenario was if the terrorists had already anticipated this flow of events and were occupying the landing strip.
If we entered recklessly without knowing anything, we could roll right into a trap set by the terrorists, and after all that suffering, end up getting shot and dying in vain.
‘The Meredith Family aren’t idiots, and they wouldn’t have just sat back and let the terrorists take the landing strip, which is their connection to the outside, so the chances of the worst-case scenario becoming reality probably aren’t that high, but… there’s a good chance that the terrorists are continuously attacking and that area is a massive battleground.’
Even so, we couldn’t just stay still forever. I had to gauge the angle of entry very carefully.
Ultimately, our problem was that we didn’t know the situation at the landing strip.
I wanted to receive the System Assistant’s help, but it hadn’t answered no matter how many times I called it. Judging by how it failed to notice the presence of the Dolls, its condition didn’t seem very good in many ways either.
In the end, I made a decision in front of the passage.
“Let’s wait until other people pass by.”
No matter how I thought about it, we couldn’t move first. Our combat power was too lacking for that.
If I could have at least used the microchip’s activation, I would have considered it, but the damage I took because of that damn Communist Ninja was too great.
Because of that, my intention was to use other people as lab rats, guinea pigs. If we first confirmed others entering the landing strip and moved after figuring out what was happening as much as possible, wouldn’t we be able to minimize the risk?
It might have been cheap, but since safety was on the line, this was no time to be picky about dirty methods.
“I think we can stay here.”
I found a decent blind spot. There was a narrow space behind each of the crystal pillars on both sides of the corridor, and if we hid our bodies here, it seemed we wouldn’t be easily spotted unless someone was deliberately looking for us from the outside.
Alexandra and I each took a pillar, sticking closely to them in uncomfortable postures, and waited, with the mindset of an angler fishing for time, for the appearance of those who would become sacrificial lambs for us.
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before our prey appeared.
The problem was that their appearance was anything but ordinary.
KABOOOOM - !
Suddenly, with a deafening roar, the Mirror Wall on the other side burst open. Alexandra was so startled she almost screamed, but she forced herself to hold it in, practically biting her own hand.
Through the broken hole, I tried to visually distinguish the figures popping out through the dirt and dust.
I wasn’t sure about the others, but there was no doubt about the owner of the flashing Chrome Arm on the angular, massive frame moving at the rear - who appeared to be the person in question who had smashed the wall.
“Invincible Iron Dog Maximus!”
The presence of that A-rank Ronin with his majestic stature meant that the other companions were likely Matilda Sedouforne and her escorts.
How long had it been since I thought meeting the Sedouforne Group would be a relief before this ordeal struck? The world sure is fucking cruel!
“But why do they look in such a hurry?”
Matilda Sedouforne and the group that appeared to be her escorts were heading for the landing strip. They were running without regard for their dignity, in a situation where even paying extreme attention to safety wouldn’t be enough.
Come to think of it, the entrance that had just startled us was like that too.
Why would they go out of their way to smash a wall and move so noisily? Unless they had circumstances that left them no other choice…
Vwoom-
A red light flashed through the scattering dust. At the chilling premonition brushing down my spine, I immediately threw my body outward.
―――――――――――――!
A blood-red flash swept across my vision. The arc of destruction that passed silently was painfully blinding, melting and cutting the Floor/Ground and walls.
That scar was left right behind me. If I hadn’t noticed and dodged at the last moment, my existence would have vanished without a trace by now.
My body trembled before the terror of non-existence.
Still, I survived somehow.
That was a good thing, but there was also a problem. Because I had popped out from the pillar, my figure was completely exposed.
‘I’m fucked.’
Invincible Iron Dog Maximus looked at me sprawled out in an unsightly manner on the Floor/Ground.
I was nervous, but unexpectedly, he turned his gaze away without much reaction.
It was the same as when we bumped into each other in the banquet Hall. Just like with the Dolls earlier, it felt like I was being ignored a lot today.
That thought crossed my mind, but I soon realized it was a misunderstanding.
Strictly speaking, Maximus hadn’t ignored me. He just couldn’t afford to pay attention to me.
He wasn’t in a situation relaxed enough to turn his attention to me.
[Ma - ximus - - ! Are you running away like a Rat again - - !]
A tremendous volume, sounding like it popped out of a subwoofer rather than human vocal cords, deafeningly tore at my ears.
Vwoom-
A red omen flashed once again from within the broken hole. Maximus evaded at a speed hard to follow with the eyes, and at the same time, a deep red beam crossed the spot where he had been standing.
I thought it was that large optical weapon of Dead Cell. But it wasn’t.
The blood-red Ray of Destruction was being fired from an arm-cannon that had replaced a man’s arm.
If Invincible Iron Dog Maximus was big and strong, this man was big and bizarre.
His entire body excluding his head - even his head looked more like a machine than a human due to the prosthetic eyes on both sides, the respirator, and the chrome embedded all over the front and back - was a cyborg prosthesis.
An overwhelmingly massive frame supported various armaments plastered with monstrous muscle pumps.
Over his shoulders, a steel curtain stretched out wide like a monster, moving freely and aiming gun barrels larger than a head, making me even wonder if the machine was the main body rather than the person.
“Does that even make sense…?”
They say there’s a limit to the cyberware and body modification a single person’s flesh can handle.
In that sense, that monster-like guy was definitely challenging human limits, or perhaps he had even surpassed those limits.
“…You’re persistent, Rodrick Smith.”
Iron Dog Invincible Maximus opened his mouth for the first time. His expression wasn’t good. He looked troubled.
Even an A-rank Ronin was reluctant to face a figure practically plastered with that high-firepower cyberware!
I understood why he had moved so urgently, smashing through walls. He had truly been “running away”.
When the man’s name was heard, the reason made sense too.
“Chrome Monster Rodrick Grant Smith…!”
If my memory were correct, that Yangban was actually a 'named' character.