Chapter 79: Do You Also Want to Dance?
"Bronya!" Rovel's head snapped up, his eyes widening in disbelief. He hadn't expected her, of all people, to be the one to find him amidst the chaos.
"The Thunder Mechs have already triangulated your approximate position," she stated, her voice as level and calm as ever. "Evasion is no longer an option. The best course of action is to destroy them or hack into their systems."
Bronya wasted no time on pleasantries, immediately laying out the grim reality of his predicament.
"Those mechs are over ten kilometers away," Rovel countered, shaking his head. "Destroying them from here is impossible."
He had never tested the absolute maximum range of his force waves, but he knew with certainty that striking a target ten kilometers distant was far beyond his current capabilities.
"By the way, Bronya, you must have a way, right?" Rovel looked at her, a sliver of hope in his voice.
"...Bronya's command authority has been revoked by her." For a fleeting moment, a shadow of pain flickered in her gaze before being suppressed.
The "her" she spoke of could only be Cocolia.
Just a short while ago, Bronya had refused to command the Descenders to capture the Herrscher of Thunder. In response, Cocolia had retaliated by forcibly stripping her of all control over Anti-Entropy's mecha forces. Immediately after, Bronya had rushed here to provide support for Rovel and the others.
The concentrated artillery fire raining down on this area had been an unmissable beacon, and when she flew over to investigate, she found Rovel exactly where she'd suspected.
Even with her exceptional hacking skills, seizing control of mechs ten kilometers away while contending with their heavy firepower and the pervasive electromagnetic interference was an almost impossible challenge.
"Alright." Rovel pinched the bridge of his nose, the gears in his mind turning as he tried to find a way out of their current bind. The long-range strike capability of Anti-Entropy's tactical mechs was simply too potent; even within this signal-jamming zone, they could still pinpoint his general location.
If they couldn't break through the blockade of those Thunder Mechs, any attempt to escape would be nothing more than a fantasy.
"Also," Bronya added, her tone growing colder, "after those three Titan mechs were disabled, Bronya observed a large number of Poison Spider Mechs mobilizing towards this location."
"Poison Spider Mechs are Anti-Entropy's self-destruct units. They are extremely fast and deployed in massive numbers. Their weakness is that their friend-or-foe systems are unreliable, especially in this strong magnetic environment. They will swarm and detonate on any biological signature they detect..."
Rovel's blood ran cold. "Then what about the survivors in Changkong City?" His eyes widened in horror.
"...They will be treated the same." Bronya's words were like chips of ice, so cold they seemed to dampen the heat from the surrounding explosions.
He couldn't believe it. Cocolia had become completely and utterly deranged.
A bitter laugh escaped his lips. Of course. She didn't give a damn about the millions of lives in Changkong City, so why would she ever care about a handful of survivors?
Rovel took a deep, steadying breath, forcing the rage down and channeling it into cold resolve.
"I'm going to destroy those Thunder Mechs," he declared, his voice hard as steel.
If that artillery barrage continued, and with the Poison Spider Mechs sweeping the area, it was only a matter of time before they discovered Mei's hiding place. He refused to just sit here and wait for death.
Rovel pushed himself to his feet, his posture straight and unyielding.
"...Bronya will accompany you." Her calm, placid eyes now held a glint of steely determination. "Bronya can create a signal jammer that will last for five minutes. For that duration, at least, the Thunder Mechs will be unable to lock onto our position."
"Thank you, Bronya," Rovel said, his voice filled with genuine gratitude.
"Do not misunderstand. Bronya is merely concerned for the safety of Houtarou and the Haxxor Bunny Heavenly King," she replied, turning her head slightly. A faint blush dusted her cheeks, almost invisible in the fiery glow of the distant explosions. "You made a promise to protect them, a promise you nearly broke."
As she spoke, she shot him a pointed glare.
"Ahem... Let's go," Rovel said, his gaze shifting away, a touch of embarrassment on his face.
"Climb on. It will conserve your stamina," Bronya commanded, maneuvering Project Bunny 19C. One of its massive mechanical arms lowered, offering Rovel a makeshift seat.
Not one to stand on ceremony, Rovel hopped on.
Following the route Bronya planned, they used the cover of the signal jammer to swiftly leave the bombardment zone.
"The Thunder Mechs are located not far ahead," Bronya warned. "A total of fifteen units have been deployed. However, they are protected by a cordon of Descenders... numbering in the hundreds of thousands."
"Descenders, huh..." Rovel's eyes narrowed into slits. "They're nothing to fear."
At that moment, the players of Camp 1 had no idea what kind of storm was about to descend upon them.
Rovel uncorked and downed a bottle of Ultimate Healing Potion, and a sleek "Prototype Pulse Katana" materialized in his hand. He leaped from Project Bunny's arm, his feet hitting the ground in a dead sprint as he charged toward the enemy lines.
"Someone's coming! Why can't I see his name? Is it an NPC?"
"No, looks like a player... but his tag is red. He must be from Camp 2, right?"
"Damn, he dares to come here alone? He must be tired of living!"
From the perspective of the other players, the approaching figure was a blur, his nameplate a string of indecipherable question marks. Facing a lone enemy charging their massive army, no one was concerned. A single coordinated volley would be enough to obliterate him.
"Hokushin Ittō-ryū: Battōjutsu!"
Rovel's hand rested on the guard of his katana. One moment he was a distant silhouette dozens of meters away; the next, he was a phantom that had materialized directly in their midst, causing a collective gasp to ripple through the front line.
Then, something even more unbelievable happened.
A silver arc of light, too fast for the eye to follow, flashed through the air. A beat of silence, and then a cascade of crimson numbers erupted above the heads of the first few dozen players: `-400`.
Without exception, their health bars vanished instantly. They dissolved into particles of data, their digital ghosts fading on the spot.
"What the f—! What kind of damage was that! And that range?!"
Killing dozens of people in a single strike—was this really a player?
[Used Hokushin Ittō-ryū to kill player 'Wu Lai Ying Tai'. Skill proficiency +17. As your Basic Kendo has reached 'Minor Accomplishment', skill proficiency +17 extra.]
[Used Hokushin Ittō-ryū to kill player 'Yan Teng Jian Ren'. Skill proficiency +6. As your Basic Kendo has reached 'Minor Accomplishment', skill proficiency +6 extra.]
In a single instant, dozens of system notifications flooded his vision.
"What's going on up there?"
The players farther back were still oblivious to the carnage. All they saw was the front line suddenly breaking, people scrambling backward as if they had seen a ghost.
"True Shadow Flash: First Form!" Rovel commanded inwardly. His form blurred, splitting into three distinct afterimages that tore through the disorganized mob like tigers let loose in a sheep pen. Three bloody paths were carved through the crowd as hundreds more players turned into data and vanished.
"Attack him!"
Finally, someone reacted, mustering the courage to swing a wooden sword at him. But to Rovel, the clumsy attack, backed by a Kendo skill that had barely reached 'Proficient', was riddled with openings.
He didn't even bother to dodge. He simply caught the blade in his free hand. With a casual twist of his wrist, a sharp crack echoed as the wooden sword splintered into two halves.
Before the player could react, Rovel's hand shot out, clamping around his throat and lifting him effortlessly off the ground. The man's eyes bulged with terror as he stared into the blurred, anonymous face of his killer. A low, chilling voice cut through the chaos.
"Do you also want to dance?"
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