Chapter 007: The Designed Battlefield and the Overload
KRAAAAAANG-!
Her twin swords met the Dam Guardian's steel jaw head-on.
A hellish impact shot up her arms and rattled her very brain. The pure physical strength of an S-Class Awakened, drained of all mana, could not handle the overwhelming mass and power of a B-Grade monster. The D-Grade mechanical legs supporting her body screamed.
Bzz-g-geek!
The C-Grade servo motor, torn from 'Jogg's' corpse, couldn't withstand the load and buckled. The joint in her right leg bent in the wrong direction, and she lost her balance, tumbling to the floor.
"...Two minutes, thirty seconds!"
From behind her, Logan's desperate shout rang out.
"It's only been thirty seconds?!"
Eva let out a desperate shriek. Just thirty seconds. Her temporary legs were half-destroyed after a single clash.
"Krrrrr…."
The Dam Guardian looked down at its fallen prey, letting out a low growl as if sensing victory. The monster prepared for a second attack. But this time, it wasn't its steel jaw.
From the old pipes sticking out like bones all over the Dam Guardian's body, a chilling sound of valves opening could be heard.
SHUUUUUU-!
"…!"
By the time Eva sensed the danger, it was too late.
High-pressure steam, easily over 100 degrees Celsius, spewed out from dozens of pipes. It was a lethal steam, a mix of the dam's internal coolant and mana. In an instant, the entire machine room was enveloped in a thick fog. She couldn't see a thing. Even an S-Class Awakened's vision was useless in this steam.
'A smokescreen!'
Eva instinctively tried to retreat. But her half-broken mechanical legs wouldn't obey. She tried to crawl away.
It was then. Through the hot steam, she heard the sound of something massive cutting through the air.
SWISH-!
It was the Dam Guardian's steel tail. Forged from a bundle of the dam's control cables, it lashed out like a whip in the fog and struck her precisely in the abdomen.
"Keohk-!"
The wound in her side, which had just received first aid, burst open again. She spat blood as she was slammed into the machine room wall. An old electrical panel shattered from the impact, throwing sparks.
Her vision blacked out.
'No... at this rate... I can't even last 30 more seconds…'
Through her fading vision, she saw Logan's silhouette, hidden behind the workbench far away, frantically repairing something. Did he not know she was dying? No. He knew. And he was still demanding three minutes. An impossible amount of time.
Despair choked her.
***
Logan was glaring at the B-Grade plasma cannon's damaged energy control circuit. His hands were moving faster than his eyes.
[Estimated Time: 2 minutes 20 seconds.]
His [Master Blueprint] was coolly counting down the remaining time.
Just then.
SHUUUUUU-!
The entire machine room was blanketed in steam.
'Obscuring vision. That monster… it's intelligent.'
He peeked his head out from behind the corner of the workbench to check the battlefield.
SWISH-! THWACK!
He perfectly registered the sight of Eva being hit by the steel tail, flying like a piece of paper, and slamming into the wall. The moment he confirmed she had collapsed to the floor, coughing up blood, the timer in his head stopped.
[Resource 'Eva Rostova' Status Update: Combat Ineffective.]
[Estimated Survival Time: 10 seconds or less.]
[B-Grade Cannon Repair Time Remaining: 2 minutes 15 seconds.]
He put down the C-Grade power core he was holding.
'Three minutes is impossible. She'll die first.'
Even if the repair was successful, a corpse didn't need a weapon.
He immediately scrapped Plan A—repairing the cannon.
[Plan B: Initiating Forced Annihilation Using Environmental Factors.]
Logan abandoned the cannon repair and vaulted over the workbench. [Master Blueprint] re-scanned the entire machine room schematic. His vision shifted from a red danger warning to a blue blueprint of 'opportunity.'
'That monster is made of 'steel' and 'cables.' It's a perfect conductor.'
His gaze fixed on two things: the large drain in the center of the machine room floor, and the 'High-Voltage Turbine Main Power Cable' on the opposite wall, as thick as a man's thigh. It had been dormant for decades, but an enormous amount of electricity was still 'asleep' in the dam's turbines.
'Meaning, it's extremely vulnerable to electricity.'
The plan was complete in one second. It was insane. It was a gamble that could blow up the entire dam. But it was the only way.
Logan burst through the steam and yelled desperately at the fallen Eva.
"Eva!"
At his shout, Eva's head lifted weakly.
"Lure it to the drain! And flood the floor! Whatever it takes!"
Logan didn't have time to see if she understood. He kicked off the workbench, sprinted across the path of the massive monster, and made a beeline for the 'Main Power Panel' at the far end of the room.
***
"Flood… the floor?"
Eva didn't immediately understand his intent. But she saw. He wasn't abandoning her and running. He was running past the monster toward the giant power panel on the other side.
He hadn't given up. He still had a plan. He was trusting her, giving her a mission, and crossing the battlefield at the risk of his own life.
"…Got it."
She squeezed out her last remaining strength. Whether that man treated her as a 'resource' or called her a 'Guardian,' in this moment, he was her only partner.
"KRAAA!"
The Dam Guardian, having located her in the steam, charged in to finish her off.
Eva threw the one longsword still in her hand directly at the monster's red opticals.
KA-CHANG!
The sword bounced harmlessly off the steel jaw, but it had succeeded in drawing its attention.
While the Dam Guardian flinched, Eva dragged her half-broken mechanical legs and crawled across the floor. Her objective was the drain Logan had mentioned, and the dam's main 'Coolant Pipe' located near it.
With her last ounce of strength, she crawled to the pipe's massive main valve. It was sealed shut. Eva crawled back to pick up the other sword she had dropped. She jammed the blade into the valve's seam.
"Hh… URAAAGH!"
The last dregs of an S-Class Awakened's strength flowed into the sword. The blade bent, nearly snapping, but finally, the valve broke with a terrible screech.
SWOOOOOSH-!
Cold coolant water burst out like a waterfall, instantly beginning to flood the machine room floor.
"Krrr?"
The Dam Guardian, seeming confused by the sudden flood, paused. It then spotted Eva escaping the water and, without hesitation, stepped into the growing puddle to chase her. At that exact moment, from the other side of the room, Logan's voice roared.
***
Logan finally reached the 'Main Power Panel.' In front of him was the massive breaker panel that controlled all the electricity in the dam.
[Master Blueprint] warned him.
[Warning: Disabling safety protocols will cause a catastrophic overload to the entire dam's power grid!]
"I don't care."
He confirmed that the Dam Guardian was standing in the middle of the coolant puddle.
He smashed the main panel's 'Safety Cover' with his hammer. Inside, two massive, reddish-copper 'Main Power Bus Bars' were exposed. All he had to do was connect those two terminals, which carried tens of thousands of volts.
He readjusted his grip on the hammer. His old work boots had thick rubber soles, and his hands were protected by the thick leather work gloves that shielded his calloused 'craftsman's hands.' This was his minimal insulation.
"Now!"
Instead of trying to pull the cables with his bare hands, he rammed his steel hammer between the two bus bars, wedging it in to forcibly create a 'short circuit.'
PA-AAAA-!
The current didn't flow directly through Logan. The 'hammer head,' with near-zero resistance, became the circuit. Tens of thousands of volts melted the hammer, creating a horrific arc, and that current surged through the puddle and reverse-flowed into the Dam Guardian's steel body.
"KRAA-!"
Logan was thrown backward by the explosive recoil and heat. The hand gripping the hammer's handle was scorched black, but he had avoided a fatal electrocution. The Dam Guardian, wreathed in blue sparks, convulsed and then went completely still. Simultaneously, all the lights in the machine room popped and went out, plunging them into perfect darkness.
[System Warning: Main Power Grid Overload.]
[Power Supply to 'Project Ark' Subterranean Containment Facility... Failure.]
[...Failure.]
[...Failure.]