Chapter 48 - Point Nemo (part 17)

- How come all of them have red numbers on their heads? - I whisper to Mirai who stands right next to me.

- You step into their territory, what do you expect?

- I thought, should you have accounted for this in your plan already?

- Who said I have not?

We are surrounded by nothing but the big, flashing red numbers taking over half of our vision and a seemingly impenetrable formation of the low-level Intruders. My brain is burning itself, trying to find a way to stay alive, yet Mirai is just calm. As calm as the water surface of a pond.

Mirai takes out two sealed canisters. After brute forcing to unseal, she throws the canisters into the air and shoots them with two bullets. They pierce the metal cover of the canisters, causing blue smoke to emerge and spread in every direction. The smoke quickly disperses throughout the town, blending into the air.

- I have told you, the moment I know that I have encountered them before, the town becomes my performing stage. Rating 65, Technician class, cyber-enhancement characteristics and breakthrough ability. You do not need to worry.

- But...

- No "buts" here. Our objective is to bring down this important facility, and we have already achieved it. These mobs are not our main focus.

After finishing her energetic speech, Mirai clenches her fists and two miniature photon sawed-off shotguns lie perfectly in her hands.

Although I have only encountered the blue fluid once, I get a grip on its function. In short, this counters whatever type of Intruder that Mirai just said. The Intruders are not fully rendered useless, but we will have more edge.

- The clock just ticks and you already have cards to deploy in your deck. Fine. Let's see how long you can survive in this circle. - While there are observable changes to the sixty-five rating Intruders, the seventy rating boss seems to be less affected. It points the sceptre at us.

- You more than know that we are not planning to stay here to entertain you, right? Yuusha, let's go.

The propellers from our acceleration devices have almost exhausted, but they can make it for the last few bursts. Right after Mirai cuts her dialogue, we plunge forward and upward, making almost zero contact with the Intruder formation.

Caught in surprise, the boss quickly regains concentration and points his sceptre at us. Immediately, three to four shadows emerge beside us. However, their tremendously slower speeds allow for more of our reaction time, and Mirai swings her shotguns to two opposite sides, firing at the shadows and pushing them away.

- Yuusha. watch and learn. I will do this only once.

- Show me.

Mirai increases her performance settings to the maximum. Behind her back, a matrix of heavy aerial vehicles and light drones appear.

Four shadows charge at her simultaneously. She makes a half-round rotation in the air, swinging her guns and blocking the trajectory of two of the shadows. Then, she makes another delicate swing. Two laser bayonets emerge from the sawed-off shotguns, slicing the shadows. The impact immediately causes them to retreat.

Soon, the small drones start to charge at her and the big drones fire at her with all kinds of projectiles. With almost perfect timing, Mirai evades quickly in the air, causing the drones to slam at each other. Her aerial vehicle matrix hovers in the air, spilling retaliation projectiles and diminishing their numbers. It is like a chase and tag.

I almost forget that I am also involved in the battle when the lower-rating Intruders charge at me. I switch to my submachinegun and fire, making sure that Mirai is not obstructed and can open up a sortie.

- I am sick with you two toying with my troops already. Do not blame me for getting serious.

The big boss raises its sceptre. The next moment, its body is lifted into the air, and it plunges at Mirai to kill her.

- Not on my watch.

I snap my fingers. Fleets after fleets of Suicide Drones appear and fly towards the boss, slowing him down. I try to fire at its vital parts in an attempt to break his flying mechanism.

- Well, that is enough playing. Let's neutralise these mosquitoes here.

Mirai retracts her pair of photon sawed-off shotguns and swings her arms. A long chain, which gives out a lethal vibe with its grey and scattered red splashes, with a spiky ball at one end, slowly materialises and elongates out of her hands.

I know it is not a good time to comment on anything here, but the last time I checked the item list of the battle royale game, I saw a similar one in the legendary section. Mirai seems to be quite dedicated to this game, isn't she?

Holding one end firmly within her hand, Mirai swings the hooked spiky ball with all of her strength. The ball is then flung at the sixty-five rating Intruders.

As if there are small chips implanted along the chain, the chained ball moves like a snake, sliding through all of the Intruders and tying them together after Mirai makes a pull. With her next move, blue smoke is sprayed along the wire, completely making the tied Intruders knocked out for a longer time.

Mirai releases the chain and the bulky mass falls onto the ground. Effectively, there is only the boss left.

- Okay, so can you put this to, like, half an hour? This place is going to collide soon. - Mirai is showing visible disinterest.

- I do not think that you two can survive up to half an hour.

- You know that I do not intend to fight you to death, right?

- Huh?

When the boss is still confused, Mirai has already grabbed my arm and fled.

Furious from getting tricked (the boss perceives so), the boss chases after us. Of course, our speed is simply unmatched. Not long after that, it is already next to us.

- Escaping will not work. Just give up. - The boss concentrates all of its energy on its sceptre and swings it.

The swing is so fast that it creates a mirage in the air that resembles a flat circular disk.

Except it hits the air. Nobody is there. It is hitting an illusion. After the swing, the illusion vanishes, and we appear.

- Yuusha, that is the power of physics. I just refract the light waves using the optical properties of matters, and voila, superimposed image.

- But, where are the projectors, then? - I ask.

- If you do not know, it means he also does not know. Let's keep it to that.

Angry from getting scammed again, the boss charges toward every image it sees in the air and swings its sceptre. Numerous swings trace out air blades that are packed with lethally high energy. They hit the dome and water streams further break into the town.

- Whatever. - The boss is pissed, as far as what we see. It swirls its sceptre in the air, summoning every single unit of drones and Intruders.

Of course, the drones quickly detect me. I do not have a Superposition Barrier like Mirai. Right after the drones alert every unit within their vicinity, everything plunges at us like arrows.

Still holding onto me tightly like a grocery bag, Mirai leaps into the air. We rapidly switch from high altitudes to the ground level, dodging any projectiles or bullets. My upper body is behind her back, so I reload my submachine gun and fire at any potential units approaching us. Probably, what they see in the air is just an illusion firing at them, but the muzzle flash is somewhere else, like a periodically glowing star.

The pump system is completely overloaded at this point, and after twenty minutes, the water level inside the dome starts rising. After hitting numerous mirages, the boss finally understands something.

- Found you. - The boss makes a strong swing very certainly.

The burst of energy and its echoing air blades hit Mirai's back. This time, the impact is so severe that she is deflected from the leaping path and falls onto the ground.

We lie on the ground, and Mirai seems unconscious. Maybe the hit damages her important modules. I try to lay her up.

- Well, well. You use our stolen sphere against us. Very cool, but next time, do not be so obvious as to give away your trump cards like that.

I place a Force Field on the ground to shield us for a few more seconds. The boss swings its sceptre and smashes the field repeatedly. After a few powerful swings, the Force Field runs out of energy and disappears.

- What stupid stuff! Okay, I break it already, now, I will send you two ...

The next swing of the boss hits another Force Field.

- Come on, how many of them do you have?

- Enough to drain all of your sceptre energy.

The boss raises its sceptre high in the air and starts doing something. I can feel the energy flowing in the air that resonates due to the sceptre charging up. All of the power generated is being transferred to the tip of the sceptre, for a final, decisive swing that breaks through everything. The water level is still rising, and if we are not at a high location now, I would probably have suffocated to death.

I try to lay Mirai more vigorously, desperately hoping for a response. Time is not on our side. It is either a miracle happening, or our fifty-year journey ends here.

At the last second, I can feel some parts moving. Knowing that Mirai is recovering from the impact, I try to bring my ears closer to her head, hoping for a voice, maybe.

Snap!