Several machine spiders that pounced in were cut down by A2 once again.
It was only with her cover that the man she had invited into this world managed to pull himself out of the shattered armor.
Looking at the state he was in, plenty of metal shards had pierced into him, and he had forcibly ripped them out with his own hands. With bleeding that deep and that heavy, it was dangerous no matter how you looked at it.
"I'll send you back right away."
"No. If you send me back now, I'll probably die even faster."
He answered urgently, his words rushed, and then coughed up blood violently.
That alone made A2 stop, her finger pausing just before she tapped the repatriation.
Only then did A2 remember: when he first arrived in this world, the marks on him had made it obvious he'd been fighting something on the other side as well.
With injuries like this, sending him back would accelerate his death?
That meant his situation in his original world was worse than it was here.
So A2 didn't say anything more. She continued clearing the machine spiders that rushed in, while he steadied his breathing, recovered a little, and seemed to be rebuilding strength.
And then, a crimson laser struck the colossal machine, hitting the cavity he had carved out.
A2 saw the source of the beam: another flight unit, a YoRHa craft, piloted by 9S.
He was sniping, trying to widen the breached opening even further.
Unfortunately, that shot didn't seem to do much. Before the beam could fully punch into the wound, a mass of spiders swarmed over it, soaking and dispersing the laser's power.
The next second, A2's expression changed sharply.
The gigantic machine's chest released a storm of energy spheres and missiles. For her and him on the ground, at this distance, it was a lethal crisis.
However, a unit lunged in at high speed.
She and he were hauled up into the air together. The world spun, their vision twisting as the flight unit violently evaded the energy spheres and missiles.
The one who saved them was 2B.
More precisely, 2B's original purpose seemed to have been saving him alone, but because A2 suddenly rushed to his side and grabbed on, she was pulled along and rescued as well.
As for why YoRHa was saving him, it was simple. In 2B's eyes, he was human, and androids existed to serve humanity.
"The weak point is that opening I dug out just now, right, Miss 2B?"
"According to scan results, the interior is indeed the weak point of this super-colossal machine. If we destroy the internal protective layer, we can eliminate its power system."
As 2B answered, she had already brought the flight unit's guns to bear on the opening. With evasive maneuvers largely complete, she squeezed the trigger again, and rounds poured out in a continuous stream.
"Only that one layer? If we break it, it's done?"
Gripping the side restraint to keep himself anchored, Kain narrowed his eyes at a window that had popped up in the cockpit display. The feed showed the opening he'd punched out with his chainsword.
Roughly five meters in, there was something like an enormous metal sphere.
"Yes."
"Then good. Cover us, and drop me and A2 down there."
As he spoke, he shoved something into A2's hand.
"This is a melta bomb. I'm not sure whether it'll perform at full strength in this world, but if it does, breaking that protective layer shouldn't be a problem."
"Melta bomb?"
A2 looked at the grenade-like device in her hand, about one size larger than an ordinary grenade.
A single bomb like this could destroy a defensive component that even 9S's laser hadn't been able to shake?
"I reject your proposal."
2B shot down the plan without hesitation.
It wasn't that she doubted the power of that grenade-like device. She simply didn't want him taking another risk.
Especially with injuries like these—even if they looked like they had partially healed, they were still severe. One mistake, and he really would die.
"Denied. I reject your rejection."
"9S, you take over the cover. Remote-pilot my flight unit."
Leaving those words behind, 2B—her face changing abruptly—leapt out of the cockpit without the slightest hesitation, chasing after the human who had already jumped.
Yes. The moment he spoke, he jumped.
A2 jumped too.
The timing they chose was excellent: the flight unit was rolling right over the colossal machine's back.
They didn't pull away from the colossal machine because distance would only make it easier for the enemy to unleash its full firepower. By staying tangled close, the enemy was actually constrained, unable to freely bring overwhelming fire to bear.
"You're making this difficult."
9S's complaint came through the comms, but he immediately took control of 2B's flight unit, providing covering fire and clearing out spiders that tried to interfere.
Under that cover, all three successfully landed on the colossal machine.
2B stayed mainly at Kain's side. Her task now was to protect him.
…..
[Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Ah, so he's Golden Toilet!]
The chat suddenly popped up with that line.
[Whisperer: Golden Toilet?? Who?]
[Dr. Katsuki: Interesting. He's the one A2 invited. So he's male.]
Up to this point, every member of the group had been female. The sudden appearance of a man did, in fact, strike Dr. Katsuki as interesting.
Had all prior invitations just coincidentally been women?
Or had it been arranged that way on purpose?
And as the only male at present, did that mean he had something special about him?
Mm. So far, he did seem unusual. With wounds like that, some of them had already stopped bleeding, and were even beginning to close.
That kind of self-healing, even regeneration, could only be described as miraculous.
So what kind of biotechnology could possibly achieve that level?
Also, being injured and then healing would consume massive energy. Yet even though he didn't look to be in great shape, his mobility didn't seem inferior to when he'd been wearing armor.
If he abandoned the armor, would he be even stronger?
No. It was just that his agility improved, creating that impression.
Climbing across a colossal machine like this, heavy equipment was simply too restrictive.
Now that he'd shed the lump of iron, he could dart across the machine's surface far more freely.
Mm. It looked like there was no suspense left. They were closing in on the opening he had dug out earlier.
If his grenade was truly special, and could destroy the interior in one shot, then victory was already reaching out a hand.
When they reached the opening, he and A2 used the path that had been cleared by the laser fire to quickly toss the grenade-like device inside.
The instant it struck the internal defensive component, it erupted into an intense flare.
That defensive layer melted rapidly, like foam burning under open flame.
The bomb's output was beyond imagination. A laser hadn't done much, yet this "grenade" released energy so concentrated it liquefied the metal outright.
And then, without warning, the live stream turned into a sheet of white.
Dr. Katsuki froze for a beat, then immediately understood what had happened.
If nothing else had changed, the core power system had detonated.
The only question was whether it was the explosion caused by the bomb destroying it, or a deliberate self-detonation by the core itself.
If it was the latter, it was far worse. The yield would be vastly greater than the former.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]