Tuilë quickly approached me with her gun slung over her shoulder and said, “Stop being shocked, will ya? Let’s search for the source crystal in the mosquito’s body. While we’re at it, also check the mutated people inside the building.”
“Okay.” It was unbecoming of me to be overly surprised by the mere sight of her invention.
I rummaged through the giant mosquito’s corpse with a hunting knife and found the source crystal soon through the covert help of Lunaria. The source crystal was bigger than the one I got from the insectoid queen, being as large as a softball but with a rough, elongated shape.
“That is worth quite a sum. We’ll split it once we’re done with all this,” Tuilë suggested. “The corpse is also useful, but we don’t have the leeway to carry it with us right now.”
“Can’t say I don’t agree with that. Any idea about the whereabouts of our real target?
“Not far from here. It should be two hundred meters following this road.” She pointed at the road going to the north.
“So close in proximity… I hope it didn’t hear all the commotions we had caused.”
We then checked the white freaks that I killed inside the building, but all of them had been drained out of blood and it would be weird if something was left inside the dried-up corpses. Tuilë also told me that there was also no need to worry about the red fog inside their corpses once they died.
“Although source crystals are attractors for those mutants, mutant blood mosquitoes have no interest in them and prefer sucking bodily liquid.”
“You seem so knowledgeable about this.”
“Of course I do! I’ve been roaming this place for three years by now.”
She looked like a human, so I could somehow figure out her age… It should be eighteen to nineteen. However, just to be sure, I checked through [Identification].
Age: 19 years old
Bingo!
“Hey, why are you silent?” I must have been too obvious with my leering.
“Ah… Well, we should get the source crystals, then.”
“Mhm.” She nodded.
Fortunately, she had experienced knowing where the source crystals were located, and there were only five of the larger ones at First Order. We decided to keep the source crystal that we got inside my backpack.
Once we were done with all that, we ran back to the steam kite to resupply and get our stuff for killing the Third-Order mutated monster.
“Just asking, what are we facing again?” I questioned.
“It’s a pale cruncher. It looks like a giant white bugbear but with a vertical mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. It likes to chew on concrete buildings, but it can eat anything just fine — even something made from hard metal.”
“Keuk… That’s terrifying. Like, really terrifying.” Isn’t that just a monster straight from a nightmare?
“Calm down.” She reassured, “It can’t see and smell since it only has a mouth as its head and a barely functioning pair of ears. As long as we don’t make a large noise, we can easily kill it.”
“Oh, so that’s why you’re bringing tons of gunpowder and landmines with you.”
“Uh-huh. Ideally, I want to bring something even more powerful, but this is all I can get in large quantities…”
“Better than nothing.” Where did she get the mines from anyway?
For this reason, we transported a large quantity of gunpowder and mines, enough to blow open a large pit, to a location 150 meters down the road. Since we killed the one that ran this area, other monsters might come here. But if we didn’t kill it, transporting all the stuff needed to take down the Third-Order mutated monster wouldn’t be a breeze.
Standing in the middle of an intersection while busy eating large hunks of buildings was the pale cruncher. Its physical appearance was just like what Tuilë had described: a large, muscled physique, an almost strangely hairless body, and a vertical mouth large enough to swallow a car. If we weren’t careful, a single swipe would send us to an early grave. Truly appalling.
Species: Pale cruncher (mutant)
Sex: Nonexistent
Age: 53 years old
Height: 452 cm
Source Level: Third Order
Source Element(s): None
Stats:
* STR: C+ (77)
* AGI: C- (61)
* VIT: C (74)
* SRC: C- (62)
* SPR: D (52)
Accumulation Points: 126 [C-]
Crap… Just how strong a creature with seventy-seven in strength?
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
For starters, I was certain that compared to my original body, this one could carry twice the weight just fine for a short amount of time. In that case, this thing would be able to destroy concrete buildings by simply running through them.
“Maxxy, you will be the one to push this detonator.” Tuilë gave me a detonator typical to the one used to activate a powder keg and explained, “The plan is to lure that thing to the mines and gunpowder barrels that I’ll place around that area.” Tuilë pointed to a tall building, almost as tall as a skyscraper, whose foundation was about to collapse. “Once I give the signal, press the plunger. Gotcha?”
It appeared that she had prepared this strategy for a long time, as apparent by the confidence exuded on her face. The powder kegs would be used to detonate the mines, which in turn would blow the key foundation and bury the pale cruncher with the building’s rubble, though since almost every building her he was infested with small, mutated creatures and monsters, she had to fight them without making any sound first — something that I couldn’t easily do.
We only had one chance at this; failure wasn’t an option.
“Suure. But can’t we just use your gun to kill it like last time with the blood mosquito?” There was no need to be this roundabout in our planning if an easier alternative existed.
“Nuh-uh, no can do.” She shook her head. “It can only do it once before the battery gets damaged. You see, I bring not a spare battery cuz I don’t have another. To makes matters worse, it can’t pierce the hide of a Third-Order mutated monster.”
“Aw… Say, who’s going to lure that thing?” If she told me to lure that thing, I would back out immediately…
“Luring it is the same as suicide, so I’ll hold it back with my gun from afar. Now, now, let’s fan out and get to our respective positions.”
“Mm, okay. Stay safe.” If she were to die here, then it meant mission failure, which also meant death for me.
“Of course!” She sneered, a gleam in her eye.
With the plan decided, we went into our predetermined positions. She started with clearing the building and then planting all the landmines strategically, whereas I simply hid in a secure place not too far away. I was given a simple but crucial job since I was unfamiliar with these things. Besides, she was much stronger than me.
When she was done with the preparation, Tuilë jumped onto the roof of a two-story tall building and aimed her gun at the pale cruncher before pulling the trigger. The bullet was launched from the barrel and hit the monster right in the face and dealt explosive damage.
“GURUUUU!!” The monster issued a deafening cry and ran after the perpetrator who had shot it.
Despite the fifty meters that separated Tuilë and the pale cruncher, the distance was crossed by it in mere seconds. Even she was surprised by the inhuman speed exhibited by the monster, but she was no less quick in her response and movement.
The landmines were situated a dozen meters from where she was, so she began leaping from one building to another to get away from the incoming pale cruncher. However, the buildings weren’t as much of a distraction to it since it simply broke through everything in its way. But the fact that it didn’t have a nose and eyes was true, as it was stupidly being kited into the landmine site.
Tuilë fired her gun in the air; it was the cue for me to take action.
In response, I pressed the plunger of the detonator, and it sent an electric current toward the gunpowder barrels. Explosion after explosion began to appear incessantly at the landmine site. Soon, smoke and dust arose to cover the surroundings as the building collapsed and shattered into pieces — the monster was buried under the rubble in the midst of all that.
“Did we succeed?” I couldn’t help but raise that rhetorical question.
Lunaria chimed in with an answer, “I estimate the success rate of killing it to be 98 percent.”
“Well, we don’t know for sure until we check it ourselves.”
Having said that, I waited until the smoke dispersed and sprinted toward the explosion site to check the result of the explosion. I had seen Tuilë evade the explosion at the last moment, but I couldn’t say for certain if she was totally unhurt. This was such a dangerous strategy…
“Tuilë! You there?”
“I’m here!” Tuilë was waving at me, but she stopped me from going there. “But don’t come here! The ground’s crumbling… The impact caused by the building must have put immense pressure on the already sinking ground.”
I didn’t notice it earlier, but the road before me was cracking, and there were signs of depression on the ground. Whatever this was, it gave me a sense of déjà vu.
Indeed. The ground immediately cracked open and revealed a giant, expanding sinkhole. Yikes! With tingling all over my limbs, I took several steps back, away from the expanding hole, but…
“Quick! Come here!” I yelled at Tuilë, who was still in the middle of the sinking ground.
Unlike the physical characteristics of humans, Tuilë had larger hips like that of a deer, allowing her to jump higher. However, the sinking was too abrupt and fast for her to escape.
“Grab my hand!”
Finding that the situation was grim, Tuilë tossed her gun along with the bag containing the battery, made the largest leap I’d seen, and reached for my hand. We were close yet so far… my hands were unable to reach her if I did nothing else. It felt like time had slowed down, I stretched my body to the max to barely grab her hand.
“Hang on!”
But sadly, the ground below also collapsed under the intense pressure from the two of us. Luckily, I was barely able to grab the edge of the ground with my other hand.
“Shit! Too heavy!” Holding one person was one thing, but additionally supporting myself was another. It felt like my hand was breaking…
“Maxim, release me! Just save yourself.”
“Can’t you jump to the edge above?” Seeing her immense physical prowess, I wouldn’t be surprised if she were to swing around and used that to propel upward.
But her answer was contrary to what I’d expected.
“I can’t… Sorry… Guess this is where I die.”
“What are you talking about?”
I looked below; the sinkhole led to an abysmal darkness that even sunlight couldn’t reach. Furthermore, blood was trickling down from Tuilë’s other hand, and her complexion wasn’t good. it seemed that she wasn’t completely unscathed from the blast prior. Uh-oh.
Should I release my hand?
…If I solely focused on escaping by myself, then it shouldn’t be a problem. In addition to that, there was no saying that the mission had to be accomplished with the help of hers. Didn’t she say there were other people adept in machinery just like her?
BUT STILL!!
My conscience wouldn’t allow me to simply let go and turn a blind eye. After coming to this world unaware of anything, the importance of having a precious, dependable companion was immeasurable. Although we only knew each other for less than a day, I knew for a fact that I would’ve regretted it for life if I simply let go; I didn’t plan to spend my whole life wracked with guilt.
Besides, it wasn’t as hopeless as I first imagined; there was one trick left I could do in this situation.
As if that decision to save her was the sign, the edge of the road that I held succumbed to gravity and crumbled, and we fell into the sinkhole.
“Lunaria!” I shouted with all the air in my lungs.
Luna-1, the spherical drone, left my backpack and quickly extended its robotic arm to grab the back of my jacket and held me from falling any further. In the meantime, I was still holding Tuilë hand tightly. Nevertheless, it was unable to support our combined weight, much less lift us up; it could barely dampen the fall.
I tumbled a few meters away from where I fell and hit a few sharp rocks, though no serious injuries to my vitals because I protected them in time.
“Ugh… Ouch! Fuck! Just how deep is this hole?”