Chapter 82: One-Armed Shock Trooper

Would they spare me if I raised a white flag?

Well, probably not. First of all, we did not speak the same language.

I had no weapon and could not fight.

Even if I raised a white flag, they would not understand.

With my options crushed, I naturally chose the remaining plan. Flight. Run away. That was it.

“Everyone except the Dog Unit, abandon your bodies. Dog Unit, Rudo, sorry, but you two are coming with me.”

To hell.

I rolled those words around in my mouth. One animal barked, hyan, and one unit’s eyes flashed with a beep.

“Now then, that’s how it is, gentlemen. I’m very sorry to make you throw away your bodies, but I’ll have you do one last job. Go die.”

At my order, the Monkey Unit and Boar Unit, who handled close combat, charged. The Rooster Unit and Snake Unit supported them with fire from a distance, temporarily widening the ring of Ants. Rudo took advantage of that opening and charged. Digging into the ground with four short legs that looked like they were wearing white socks, the puppy growled.

The Rat Unit and Rabbit Unit had handed their cores to the Dog Unit a little earlier. I felt something on my terminal from Rat Unit. When I checked, it had sent me data on possible escape routes.

“…Thanks.”

I said that and projected the map onto my headset.

“Rudo. Do it.”

Discharge. In time with it, the Monkey Unit and Boar Unit reversed and handed their cores to the Dog Unit. The Rooster Unit and Snake Unit’s cores had already been recovered. I picked up Rudolf and the Dog Unit as they ran up to my feet.

Holding them in my arms, I jumped.

My steel left leg, not covered by the Centipede.

The mechanical left leg that had been cut away and replaced with something artificial spat fire.

A leap. I flew too far and hit my head on a tree crystal branch. It hurt. But I could not stop. The moment I landed, I jumped again. I could not keep my balance. I should have practiced using the leg. That was what I thought.

Rudo twisted his long body and protested, telling me to put him down. The Dog Unit, blinking on and off, was probably doing the same. But I could not put them down. With two jumps, I had shaken off the Ants. But then came the Grasshoppers.

Apparently, they disliked the dense web of tree crystal branches and held back from attacking, but now they had been sent into the battle line to keep me from escaping.

A terribly troublesome development.

There were five of them.

For an instant, I looked back. I confirmed the Grasshoppers chasing me. Like me, they moved by jumping, and just then, their feet had touched the ground.

“…”

I looked. Observed. Matching most of their jumps, I chose a direction to avoid them and jumped too.

With movement by jumping, once you leaped, you could no longer change direction.

I took advantage of that opening.

Or so I meant to.

Unfortunately, the Grasshoppers were somewhat better than me. They spread their wings and braked. Decelerate, land, jump again. With that smooth, well-practiced motion, they corrected their trajectory easily.

That’s unfair, I thought. That’s amazing, I praised. And finally, Please just give up, I pleaded.

But that wish of mine did not get through.

The Grasshoppers showed no mercy as they pressed after me.

The result was obvious.

Our speed was about the same.

But our level of skill was far too different.

Sure enough, they caught up easily, passed me, and circled around.

I was reminded of a ball thrown at a wall.

The ball hit the wall and bounced back. Without killing its momentum, a Grasshopper rebounded and shot me.

A blow slammed into my stomach.

While Rudo and the Dog Unit, whom I had been carrying, righted themselves in midair and landed, I was knocked disgracefully to the ground. The armor stopped the hit, but it did not stop the impact. My ribs went.

“R… un!”

Even so, I forced out my voice.

I shouted, raised my body, began to run, and was sent rolling across the ground again by a strike aimed at my leg.

“Ah…”

It was my left leg. It was blown off. Pain blocking must have kicked in. The end of my leg was gone, and wiring was visible. Cloudy artificial blood wet the ground.

“…”

I could not fight. I could not surrender. And now, I could not run either.

Rudo and the Dog Unit stood as if to shield me. I pushed myself up and dragged myself backward, trying to get even a little distance.

The only difference from before was that the Ants had changed to Grasshoppers.

The only other difference was that my situation had become overwhelmingly worse.

At that moment—

“I told you to think of walking around as something that would kill you.”

—it appeared.

Tatara Heavy Industries assault enhanced exoskeleton, Kurogane.

The jet-black humanoid standing as if to shield me, as if to shield Rudo and the Dog Unit who were protecting me, had no left arm. With its single right arm, it held a claymore that looked like nothing more than a slab of iron.

It rested the weapon on its shoulder.

The mono-eye, Tatara Heavy Industries’ basic design, glowed red.

I knew that the eyes hidden beneath that head armor were red too.

“Well, you did well enough. I’ll handle things here.”

A voice like ice.

I knew that her appearance matched that icy voice. She was a person like ice.

As an albino, her colors were pale.

And as one of Dub C’s finest shock troopers, she was the strongest shock trooper I knew.

Dodge, dodge, dodge. With footwork alone, she slipped past the Grasshoppers, then blew all five of them away with a single swing.

That woman was my mother in this era.

“Thank you, Yuri.”