Chapter 83: Sensing |
An explosion had never sounded so inviting. Shrapnel and flames erupted from the maw on the monster's chest, streaking like a meteor shower through the brilliant white light. Its seemingly indestructible body staggered, and its four readied arms lowered.
At this moment, a figure sprinted over.
Kyle tucked his head and charged fiercely, raising his handgun to aim at its head, firing at point-blank range against that hollow skull.
The bullet squarely pierced the head, bringing out glass-like fragments and exposing a darkness within that defied observation. Kyle immediately leaped into the air. The right hand holding the ritual dagger flared with a bright red light, and he plunged the blade between the monster's neck and shoulder, driving it in right up to the hilt.
[Why do you rebel? You who have received grace—]
"Detonator!" he shouted, drowning out the piercing demonic voice echoing in his head.
Number 4 needed no reminder. He had already sprinted toward the severed hand clutching the detonator, which dragged three detonating cords as it slid down the steep face of the slope.
Number 4 jumped straight down the steep slope, rolling upon landing to disperse the momentum, and scrambled forward on all fours. However, the white silhouette was faster than him. Dragging a blurry afterimage, it rammed Number 4 aside. Kyle, who was hanging onto it with a tight grip on the ritual dagger, was dragged along like a kite, his body suspended in the air. The monster rushed past the severed arm, trailing the detonating cords tangled around its right leg for dozens of meters before finally coming to a halt.
The cords did not snap, but the detonator was flung far away by the inertia.
Time was incredibly tight. Kyle had only managed to glance at the key description earlier, but it was enough.
If long-range shots did not work, he would shoot it at point-blank range!
Clinging to the monster's back, Kyle stabilized his posture, using the ritual dagger as an anchor point, and raised the handgun in his other hand.
Suddenly, two sharp blades gouged into his back from behind, the tips piercing straight through his chest.
Those two unusually twisted forelimbs yanked Kyle upward, hanging him upside down above the monster's head. Blood gushed from his mouth, and the ritual dagger slipped from his fingertips, leaving only his hands dangling in vain below him.
The monster rotated its other two scythe-like arms, pointing them upward at each other, aiming right at Kyle's throat.
"Anchor!"
From the corner of his eye, he saw Vanessa draw something from her equipment bag and hobble toward them, but she was too far away...
The monster's shattered head suddenly twisted to the side.
Number 4 appeared in the direction it was staring.
A slender silhouette reflecting a pale glow shot forward from over a dozen meters away, tearing through the sky. Accompanied by an inconceivable piercing scream, it penetrated the projectile's distortion field and drove straight into the monster's chest.
A red light belonging to humanity rippled through the monster's entire body.
Its broken, unhealed, hollow head shattered even further. It immediately threw Kyle aside and charged at Number 4.
Kyle's body traced an arc through the air before hitting the ground heavily. He bounced toward the massive entity of light like a skipping stone, tumbling a long distance before finally coming to a stop.
His throat was full of blood. Choking and coughing, he struggled to breathe, forcing his eyes open and reaching out to the uneven rocky ground, attempting to return to the fight.
It was not until he realized his lower limbs had lost all sensation, and the pain had grown oddly muted, that Kyle discovered his back seemed to be broken.
Alarms blared continuously within his suit, warning him that he was in desperate need of resuscitation.
The bandages on his right hand had unraveled during the tumble, revealing the red Eye Patterns. He touched it with his fingers, calling out to it, but it only stared back with an icy gaze, sitting idly by as he died.
This time, it did not help Kyle.
In the distance, Number 4 held his handgun and engaged in a fierce struggle with the monster. Vanessa also joined the fray holding the same device, trying to plunge it into the monster's body.
Pinned by the Reality Stabilization Anchor, the monster lost its initial terrifying speed. However, its four scythe-like arms were too agile, weaving a flashing storm of sharp edges around it. The blades continuously scraped across the armor plates of the two team members, striking sparks against the surface of their suits.
It had no vital points like a normal creature, leaving them nowhere to strike. The two had to change their strategy, focusing instead on preventing the monster from pulling the device out of its chest.
Only then did Kyle recognize the object—a portable version of a Reality Stabilization Anchor.
He never knew a Reality Stabilization Anchor could be used like this...
But the Stabilization Anchor failed to turn the tide of battle. At this rate, everyone was going to die.
'We have... have to find a way... need... intel...'
Blood slowly trickled along the crevices in the stone beneath Kyle.
He lay prone in the distance, waiting for death, but the world before his eyes gradually began to light up.
The increasingly brilliant glow cascaded over his cracked armor and exposed spine, actually causing his flesh and blood to heal.
As an inexhaustible surge of power flooded his body, the swelling pain in his head intensified, and that voice of unknown origin grew louder.
[The bloodline commands, eradicate the filth...]
The Anomaly was speaking to him.
The consciousness swirling in his mind was incredibly powerful, far beyond his ability to resist. It commanded him to throw away his Communication Device and ordered him to attack his companions.
It hesitated between these two commands, then demanded he execute the latter first.
Following its will, Kyle staggered unsteadily to his feet and walked with drooping arms toward his weapon lying off to the side.
Once he reached a spot where the light was slightly dimmer, he bit the tip of his tongue hard, lowered his head, and fled from the glow.
"Eradicate this, you bastard!"
[Mediocre mortal!]
As he moved further away from the light source, he quickly broke free from the control, leaving him only able to hear the Anomaly's furious roars.
This thing did not even realize Kyle had hidden his intentions to deceive it. It was no god at all!
The Communication Device slipped from his waist, but he no longer needed it now.
To his front left were Number 4 and Vanessa, both trapped in a disadvantageous battle; to his front right were the detonating cords dragging across the ground.
The glow could heal him, so it could definitely heal the monster too. Fighting in this light meant there was zero chance of victory. This Anomaly Project possessed a clear self-awareness, and the fact that it summoned the monster proved their actions genuinely threatened it. He had to detonate the bomb to save everyone!
The detonator, the detonator is—crack!
A prickling, needle-like numbness surfaced on his face. Without needing to look, Kyle knew the creature was coming for him; its presence shone as bright as a lighthouse in his mind. He tried to dodge to the side, but the monster slammed directly into him. A scythe pierced through the breach in his armor once again, penetrating his chest, and hoisted him up as it charged straight toward the massive entity of light.
It intended to carry Kyle directly into the depths of the radiance, allowing the Divine Item to completely control him.
Number 4 failed to intercept the monster, but Vanessa made a diving leap, precisely plunging the other Stabilization Anchor in her hand between its two shinbones. Ignoring the fact that she was being dragged, she gripped that leg with all her might, using her own body weight to slow the monster down as it abducted Kyle.
Yet, it kept moving forward.
The Cognitohazard exponentially amplified along with the illumination, reaching a level humans simply could not withstand. By the time Vanessa's rusting mind issued the command to let go, it was already too late. She collapsed straight into the sickly white light, devoid of any movement.
The Divine Item erupted with a hateful roar inside Kyle's head.
Kyle screamed to drown out its compulsions.
"Die! Why won't you just die?!"
As they drew closer to the light source, the monster's speed accelerated under the amplification, but so did Kyle's.
In a sense, they were the same kind—both were "humans" infected by that moth.
The two Stabilization Anchors released interference waves once more, sapping the monster's strength and forcing it to halt in the somewhat less blinding glow. Without a second thought, Kyle grabbed its scythe-arm to prop himself up, seized the ritual dagger still lodged in the side of its neck, and yanked it out, stabbing fiercely at its mutilated head and neck.
The monster slashed and impaled him with its extra arms, but the wounds healed instantly in the light. Kyle returned the favor with his blade, trying to outpace the monster's regeneration. He bellowed at the beast, spurts of blood gushing from his mouth, while the monster unleashed a screech at him from its fractured skull.
Pain had long since forsaken him. In this moment, his mind split into two: one part remained in his numb physical body, while the other burned with monstrous fury, desiring nothing more than to butcher the monstrosity before him.
[Stop them!]
The Anomaly roared in both his and the monster's minds, and a sudden image flashed before Kyle's eyes like lightning.
It was a bundle of resolute, rage-filled intent, growing increasingly steadfast as it moved. It was about to reach a certain goal, a silhouette shaped like a remote—it was Number 4! He had found the detonator!
The monster threw Kyle off once again. In a clean, ruthless motion, it severed the Reality Stabilization Anchor from its chest along with its entire injured leg. Using its four scythe-arms to prop up its body, compensating for the severed limb that had yet to heal, it lunged toward Number 4's location.
Gripping his dagger, Kyle staggered in pursuit. His steps were initially weak and wobbly, but he soon ran faster and faster. Yet, a mortal body could never catch up to a true Anomaly.
He watched helplessly as the monster impaled Number 4's shoulder with a single strike. As Number 4 struggled to raise his gun with his other hand to return fire, it reared its two forearms, preparing to decapitate him.
'I won't make it!'
A thought struck Kyle, and he began to fantasize that the detonator was right in his hand. His finger was so close to it, about to press down and blow this hideous freak until it was reduced to ashes and smoke...
Frantic footsteps rushed over, followed instantly by a cold sensation in his abdomen. Riding the momentum, Kyle slashed his blade back in retaliation.
The monster had returned.
'The radiance and this monster are both blind! They judge the situation by sensing our intentions!'
'That is why it first attacked the Captain, who no longer posed any threat. It knew exactly who wanted to press the detonator!'
Number 4 clutched his slashed throat, making yet another futile attempt to edge toward the detonator.
He must have sensed something was wrong too.
"It can read minds! Don't think about—"
Kyle opened his mouth to shout a warning while entangled in close combat with the monster once more, but instantly realized his mistake.
The more he reminded him not to think about the detonator, the more it triggered a conditioned reflex to think about it.
'It's in my head, stop! If it understands the logic of detonation, it will go—stop thinking about it!'
Catching sight of something out of the corner of his eye, Kyle immediately tore himself away from the beast and intentionally dropped downward. As the monster doubled back toward Number 4's location, Kyle wrenched the Reality Stabilization Anchor from the pale severed leg on the ground. Hoisting this weapon that had appeared as if by a miraculous fluke, he rushed to the battlefield, visualizing the detonation sequence in his mind.
This was a tug-of-war, but as long as they figured out the Anomalous Effect, they could win!
The Divine Item realized this as well.
It ceased its roaring and let out a sound akin to a sigh in Kyle's mind, muttering increasingly bizarre riddles.
[Merely a few worms, why do you two bother struggling against me?]
[Inferior beings, crude and deformed. Bound by circumstance, you are still of some use.]
The earth seemed to transform into crashing waves. A sudden earthquake struck, shaking so violently that Kyle, Number 4, and the monster could not take a single step.
The magnitude of this tremor far exceeded anything before. Crushed stones rained down like hail on their helmets and the rocky ground.
[Warning: Toxic gas concentration rising]
As the shaking gradually subsided, a brilliant glow resembling a sea of stars shot out from the depths of the darkness.