Sensors normal.
All libraries loaded.
OS reboot complete.
The lights flickered to life.
I made it...
"Claire, I've rebooted! Returning to the fight!"
"Roger!"
Sure, triggering the shutdown was my own fault!
But the EMP and magnetic force were way over the top!
I’m supposed to have Imperial standard protection!!!
The output was enough to make CT and MRI scanners turn tail and run. Anyone undergoing treatment for heart or brain vessels would have been stone-dead!
Worse yet, I hadn't actually defeated Sariel’s main body. I’d only disabled a fraction of it.
"Leo! Do you have anything?! Any of your usual ideas?!"
"Eh...? Get naked?"
"Idiot!"
Yeah, I figured.
Reports of casualties started flooding in.
Eddie was unharmed, but his machine’s arm had been severed.
"The New Recruit Tank Unit has been wiped out!!!"
Kevin’s voice crackled over the comms.
"Any deaths?!"
"None! But there are casualties everywhere! And I'm running low on drones!"
"What about Nina?"
"She’s safe, but she’s being swamped! She says she’s running out of ammo!"
We were being bled dry.
I knew Sariel was the Central Node. It had to be. If I took that thing out, we’d win.
Just then...
Thud. Thud. The ground groaned.
"Huh?"
I looked toward the sound and... honestly, my jaw dropped.
It was a mountain.
Ah... I see how it is. So you can do that too, huh?!
A Golden Monster the size of a mountain had appeared. Sariel had assimilated the gold from the mine.
It couldn't even maintain its human shape anymore; it was just a massive, spherical torso with limbs sprouting out. But it was colossally huge.
"Le-o-ku-n... let's play..."
We were completely outclassed in terms of size. A giant was looking down on us.
Seriously, how massive were those deposits?! If we actually surveyed this place, this might turn out to be a literal Planet of Gold!
"Opening fire!!!"
Kevin’s drones launched missiles. Simultaneously, Nina’s self-propelled gun corps unleashed a barrage.
It looked like Sariel was being chipped away, but the thing was just too big. Our attacks were a drop in the bucket.
"Lord Groom!!! I’m closing in to fire the main cannon!"
"Wifey is firing the main cannon! All units, retreat! Get out of here right nowwwwww!!!"
We scrambled for our lives.
I'm so done with this army!!!
But unfortunately for me, this was an Extermination War. As I took my first, second, and third steps away, a devilish idea struck me.
Kawagon kills Sariel. Wifey is my woman. I save my woman. Uho!!!
I stood before Sariel. From its perspective, I was probably the size of a beetle. I approached its leg and began to climb.
Heh, hahahaha! It hasn't even noticed me!!!
The thing must have no sense of touch!
I scurried upward.
"Here it comes!!!"
Wifey’s main cannon shells rained down.Dodging the fire, I continued my ascent.
Even the mighty Sariel buckled to its knees after taking direct hits from a battleship’s main cannon.
"Wait! What are you doing, Captain?!"
Melissa’s voice came through the comms.
"What does it look like? I'm taking him down!!!"
I thrust my sword into the golden mass.
Wait, this resistance...?
"Melissa! A sword won't work! It’s that Blade-proof Treatment where they embed metallic spheres!!!"
It wasn't just gold. Countless small, hard metallic spheres were embedded inside. The blade caught on them, preventing a clean strike.
"The kind that stops a blade in its tracks?"
"That's the one!"
I’d expected solid gold bullion, but the gold was actually fibrous. Those fibers made it incredibly tough and resilient. It seemed the liquid Sariel was hiding in the gaps, manipulating the whole structure.
There had been reports that Sariel’s liquid wasn't actually a liquid, but a mass of balls so small they were invisible to the naked eye.
Suddenly, I had a bad feeling. I scurried higher just as a shell blasted the spot I’d been standing on.
Sariel lost his balance and fell to his knees. I darted toward a fresh crater.
Wait, what's that?
I saw Sariel’s face deep inside the hole. Without noticing me, he retreated further into the depths of the golden body.
I see. Interesting.
Sariel’s wounds were already closing. I tossed a grenade into the gap before it could shut, then kept climbing.
Then, a transmission came in from Wifey.
"Lord Groom! What are you doing?! Escape at once!!!"
"I was just checking to see if I could find a weakness."
"I will defeat it!!!"
"Yeah, about that... this guy’s structure is more annoying than I thought. It’s like muscle fibers made of gold with Sariel’s squishy mass clinging to them. Even the battleship's main cannon is only stripping the surface."
"Then what should we do?!"
"Well, when the main cannon hit, I saw Sariel's face. I think that's the core. The Fairy said Sariel might be using human parts to counter EMPs. I bet that's a biological part."
"But how do we hit it?"
"Keep firing the main cannon and launch some bunker-busting missiles. The kind meant for underground facilities. Once I find the main body, I’ll blast it with the Death Blaster."
"Understood! If you die, I’ll have you executed!!!"
She was being completely irrational. But I suppose that was her way of showing love. Probably.
"Hahaha! I'm not going to die!"
I had Wifey, Melissa, Ren, and Claire waiting for me. Plus Onee, Tatiana, and my other junior sisters. I couldn't make them cry. Especially since I’d finally gotten Tatiana to warm up to me.
...Good grief!
I told you, I don't want to deal with Zork!
Edge is the protagonist, dammit!!!
I don't even care about getting promoted! I just want to flirt with girls!!!
Why! Am I! Climbing! A guy's! Body!!!
I'm going to freaking kill you!!!
Wifey’s all-out attack rained down. I was certain she was safe; Sariel hadn't attacked in space. If it could have drifted its mass through the void and assimilated ships, we would have been screwed.
But it couldn't. It had biological parts. Weak human components. In space, those parts needed protection. Exposed electronics would have been fried by cosmic radiation, and a human brain couldn't survive the vacuum.
By the same token, a crab's brain wouldn't have been enough to control a body this complex.
Sariel was likely a prototype. They were using it as an experimental subject to gather combat data.
A missile pierced deep into Sariel’s body and detonated. It wasn't a killing blow, but it was enough.
I dove into the opening.
The face was right there. The bastard finally noticed me.
"L-Leo Kamishiro!!!"
"Kept you waiting!"
I fired the Death Blaster point-blank at the face.
Sariel’s massive body began to crumble.
...Wait a minute.
At this rate... am I going to be crushed by all this gold?
"MIGYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
I was dead serious. I scrambled out of Sariel’s disintegrating form. Gold rained down around me. The exterior of my Massacre Night gear was being battered and dented.
Bad, bad, bad!!! This is really bad!!!
I plummeted from the opening into a freefall.
What about the verniers? They're not responding!!!
T-Tuck and roll!!!
Five-point Landing!!!
WHAM!!!
I was slammed into the dirt.
...I'm gonna die.
I'm seriously gonna die...
"L-Lord Groom!!! Are you alive!!!"
I was in too much agony to answer.
I saw my friends rushing toward me. The Infantry Squad was staring at the scene in utter disbelief.
...Is it okay if I cry now?