Fortune cookie (16)

Instead of saying anything, we silently started running after grabbing the cube, the core component of the shield generator.

We had already lost quite a bit of time. If we delayed any longer, we might not be able to escape.

The ceiling where the ghoul, undergoing a dangerous mutation combined with the cube, had burst out. It seemed like heading out through that collapsed spot would lead us straight to the surface, and that guess turned out to be correct.

Between the first floor and the basement, there was a fairly thick layer; now, with the entire boundary collapsed, wind kept flowing in.

"I'll go up first!"

After shouting that, I pressed my hands against the wall, pulling myself up. The hole in the ceiling, nearly vertical, was wide enough for two people to easily pass through. If we simply avoided the sharply protruding metal frames, Carry could certainly make it through as well.

"Come right after me! Be careful of the protruding bits! If your suit is damaged, we're screwed!"

"Okay!"

My mind was a mess. Honestly, even being here felt strange. I couldn't clearly distinguish between a dream and reality.

My head knew for sure that this was the latter, but perhaps because I'd been exposed to the light of the blue crystal ore for too long, it kept feeling more like the former.

A sense of distortion accompanied by a bit of dizziness. For now, it was just a small crack, but if it lasted any longer, it could spiral out of control.

At the moment, the situation surrounding us was even more complicated than the feeling of distortion, so I could afford to pay less attention to it. Every time I reached upward, rock dust would fall in little puffs below, and as I ascended, the feeling of nearing the surface became clearer, with the metallic frames groaning from the pressure.

I could hear the Alpha-series security robots throwing themselves into self-destruction to buy us time. Whenever the booming explosions rattled the tunnel, the throbbing pain in my body intensified.

I was tense because I worried about falling, or about a collapse. But only briefly; we managed to escape the crawlspace unharmed.

As I sneaked glances at Nadia and Carry climbing up, I surveyed the surroundings. Dust covered my suit, and there was a rush of heat unbefitting an icy satellite.

The acrid smoke, howling screams that seemed to rip through the air, and my own ragged breath caught at my chin.

We kicked off the ground, heading straight toward the place where a battle was still raging.

Eyeing the debris of the now more massive central tower with suspicion, wary that ghouls might be hiding there;Meeting Eric's eyes just for an instant as he took in our emergence with a shout carried up from below;I pulled out the flare gun from my belt. It wasn't an official model—more like a makeshift job, crude in appearance but functional.

Running side by side with Nadia riding on Carry, out past the central tower's exterior, I aimed the gun skyward and pulled the trigger. The flare shot off with a "peeyoo" and barely missed the split-in-half tower, fulfilling its original purpose.

A flare scattering bright light for anyone to see above the residential area. The cloud of black smoke from the fire seemed to recoil in surprise and retreat.

"Roxy—! Get down here now!"

We'd escaped from the underground blue crystal zone, but communications still weren't restored. Still, I could sense things were gradually normalizing, so I simply yelled as loud as I could.

Almost at the same time, Roxy's voice came through with some static.

— Hey, buddy. No need to shout. I'm already down.

Had he been watching us all along from above? Relief mixed with excitement—though far from evenly—and his not-quite-right tone echoed in my ears. Then a small shuttle appeared, plunging through the smoke above us.

'Uh.......'

Rather than relief at the restored communication, I felt a strange sense of unease. A desperate gasp stretched out, giving me a moment to take in my surroundings.

In the short time we'd been in the underground zone, Eric's injuries had worsened, and he was rolling on the ground under a ghoul's assault;The once-proud multi-legged tank, which had burned several ghouls at once with its laser cannon, was now creaking, on the verge of becoming scrap metal;The Alpha-series, barely able to keep their balance, were locked in a desperate melee with ghouls climbing over the faltering multi-legged tank, like newborn animals struggling to stand.

It was utter chaos on the surface—so deafening I could barely hear.

The most conspicuous thing was the shuttle piloted by Roxy.

Fast. Definitely fast.

Given the urgency and risk, coming down quickly wasn't strange. Still, there are limits, and this was far past them. It was less a landing than a nosedive toward the ground.

'...... That's way too fast!'

That crazy Roxy!

The thought flashed through my head, and at the same time normal time resumed and my mouth fell open.

"W-wait...! The shuttle! Get out of the way! Into the corner!"

"What?!"

Eric, panting, followed our line of sight at my urgent yell. His eyes widened to the limit. And I was certain he cursed.

I couldn't hear it, but his mouth formed words that must've been foul indeed. With his helmet broken, every facial expression was visible.

That was all Eric could do; the shuttle was approaching too fast to dodge.

Was something wrong with the thrusters? If the shuttle got wrecked, how would we escape the residential area? We only had a couple Alphas left, the multi-legged tank was almost dead, what were we going to do? There were still too many ghouls. Could we push through? And was that a mimic I could see between them? Look at that thing, shooting clusters of spikes. We're totally screwed.

All these thoughts tumbled chaotically in my mind.

KWAOOOOOM—!

In the blink of an eye, as Eric's widened eyes still hadn't closed, the Medivac shuttle hit the ground and started reverse-thrusting. The thrusters flared to maximum in one instant, overheating, and the shuttle seemed locked in midair, fighting inertia.

I'd never actually piloted a shuttle, but I could imagine the chaos inside and Roxy's condition at the controls. The pressure he'd be under must be immense.

Even with an inertia suppression device as standard, that kind of shock was uncontrollable for something the shuttle's size.

The shuttle, locked in the air as if frozen in a photograph, finally couldn't overcome the downward momentum and slammed roughly along the ground, trailing sparks in all directions.

Every time it careened through the streets—filled with death and the heat of explosions—the patchwork extra armor got mangled anew.

Ghouls that had no idea what was coming, busy tearing chunks from an Alpha, were smacked aside, and the extra armor was forcibly detached, tossed clear along with the shredded ghouls.

Sliding through viscera left by ground-covering bio-mass, the shuttle gradually slowed until it stopped right in front of us. If this was all calculated, then Roxy really was insane.

"Get in!"

"......"

Dripping nosebleed, having turned a perfectly functional shuttle into a wreck, yet grinning from ear to ear—what the hell was he so happy about? We were so dumbfounded we were at a loss for words.

Having witnessed the whole scene, my mood was... it was just all over the place. My feelings didn't build up gently; they just cascaded and burst out in crude words.

"This crazy Roxy......!"

"I know I'm a bit crazy!"

Roxy cackled in the chaos of his wrecked cockpit, waving us in while the monsters staggered around in confusion.

With nothing to object to, we exchanged brief glances. I hauled the still-immobile Eric up and bundled him into the shuttle, followed by Nadia and Carry.

Thunk—

Jumping in to keep the rattling door from falling off, I glanced back at the Alphas and multi-legged tank still desperately holding off the ghouls.

We'd secured the main priority: the core component of the shield generator. The robots outside were secondary objectives—some of the resources we needed to further fortify the town. But grabbing them all right now was realistically impossible.

The only reason the shuttle hadn't been attacked was the sacrifice of the security robots. If the first line fell—or rather, since it had already fallen and a few ghouls were breaching their defenses—if the robots retreated, the shuttle would be under concentrated fire from the mimics and might never get off the ground.

"We're taking off! Hold onto something so you don't fall out! It's going to get rough!"

— Argh...! Why is communications still so bad?!

Roxy was cut off by Licorice's message over the comms. As soon as I heard her voice, I grabbed the device.

"It's working now!"

— It is! Hyun-woo, Roxy! If you made it to the shuttle, whatever else, you HAVE to bring Kkungkkung-I!

"What? What's that?!"

— The multi-legged tank, you idiot! You carried it yourself before!

"What? Boss, how am I supposed to do that now?!"

Roxy's face twisted; even he knew from experience how hard it was to move the multi-legged tank. He said raising the difficulty for no reason wasn't his style.

— Just take off and adjust your altitude a bit! Then you'll be in range for the fixed anchor launch! It's along the way out anyway!

"I never thought I'd say this, boss, but you're insane! Kkungkkung-I and all, there's no way we can handle that weight right now!"

Pulling the controls, Roxy lifted the shuttle. Roaring thrusters, glowing red, kicked the hull up off the ground. Below, waves of death surged as our view soared.

【KYIEEEEEK!】【KRAAAAH!】

Swarming ghouls packed the neighboring sectors. Amidst the black grass tinged with blue, strange flowers bloomed—a much brighter blue than the rest. Far more dangerous, further-mutated beasts than ghouls.

Mimic types fused with inorganic matter. Variant lifeforms evolved in a different direction. They howled, shaking the air, revealing their presence to all.

The Alpha series forced an overload of their cores, exploding with powerful blasts to slow the monsters' advance. But all it did was briefly make the blue flames hesitate.

— Roxy, you really don't know me at all. First: I never order the truly impossible. Even if no one else can, you can. Second: I'm not your boss anymore—I sold you. You've been sold.

"Oh, that's right! I should—"

— Fixed point defense anchor, launch!

Before Roxy could finish, Licorice acted. Suddenly the multi-legged tank's upper armor flared open at each corner, and anchor-shaped hooks shot straight through the shuttle's underside.

TUTUTUNK—! With an echoing thud, the anchors spread and locked to the ground. The open jaws looked positively deadly—no surprise, since they were military-grade.

"What the hell, boss! What are you doing to my pride and joy?!"

Roxy stole a glance at us and screamed, gripping the control stick so hard it creaked. Nadia, Carry, Eric, and I all kept our mouths shut. There was nothing to say, and opening our mouths now would just get us in trouble.

— I'm crazy? Fine, then I'll show you what crazy really means! Alpha series, new orders: latch onto the multi-legged tank!

The order was barely out before the besieged security robots immediately turned and ran. Not all Alphas could respond—only those whose limbs still worked. The rest overloaded their cores to buy time.

Like a prize machine at the residential area's kids' café, the limp multi-legged tank—anchors and all—was clamped by dangling Alphas.

With each additional Alpha roped on, the shuttle's engines made alarming noises. It sputtered, choking and coughing like it was dying.

— Just one more! ONE more......!

"Stop acting like it's a precious mast!"

— We'll drop the others off as we go! It's okay to push it for now! Roxy, you should thank me! Kkungkkung-I is taking hits for us right now!

She wasn't wrong. The multi-legged tank, suspended and anchored under our hull, was blocking the black spikes fired from below.

It was airborne and moving, so not many hit, but there were so many that even a few would turn it into a pincushion. The tank was turning into a custom job—like something between a sea urchin or a hedgehog in a photo.

If the multi-legged tank and the Alphas hadn't latched on, we could have just gained altitude and left the mimics' attack range far below; but there was no need to point that out.

Licorice surely knew it too. If she still insisted on this setup, she must have another plan.

— Hyun-woo, you said there were some blood-red "spikes," right?!

"Straight ahead! The biggest one is on the barrier between Sector B and C!"

— Good, glad you're quick! We're smashing a few of those!

When I asked if it wasn't a waste to lose so many Alphas, Licorice replied flatly. Keeping the bio-mass infected by blue crystal and those spikes unchecked would lead to even greater danger. The ones being abandoned now were already damaged beyond repair, so there was no reason to regret it.

Some of the heavily-loaded security robots finally let go of their wires. With no way to slow, those robots plummeted straight into the ground.

Their frames bent or snapped, left immobilized, they became ghoul toys—pulled apart in their struggle to claim ownership, literally ripped in two, their components strewn everywhere.

If they had been human, they wouldn't have survived. But robots, not living beings, could keep functioning even with their bodies wrecked as long as their circuits held out.

【FORCED EXECUTION OF ORDER.】

Each robot's core went from overheating to runaway meltdown, and the ominous energy soon exploded down the street.

【KIIIIAAAAA—!】

KWA-BOOM—!

Behind the Medivac shuttle escaping the residential area, crimson flames burst forth. Successive explosions at close range caught even robots we couldn't recover, incinerating the bio-mass that had blanketed the settlement.

The monsters, shrieking in rage at the destruction of their lair, could do nothing more. All they could do was rampage and watch the shuttle recede into the distance.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=Intense. Damn. Good job, Roxy!【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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