It almost seemed too good to be true; eX-0281 assumed that they would be safe beneath the golden [Purifier Net]. Already, he felt refreshed with clean oxygen in his lungs. The air felt better to breathe here than it ever did back in Grandesia.
Thanks to this, Charlotte could draw the mask over her face. "Ah!" She sighed heavily after taking in her first breath apart from the tank. "Don't get too comfortable, you guys. The [Net] only keeps the air pollutants out. Mutant vermin still pass through our little town from time to time, so be on your guard!"
Shoulders straightened, eX-0281 also felt his tail go rigid. His visor performed an active [Scan] on the area to pick up any form of life which he might not recognize through the [Night Vision].
"My house is this way." Charlotte pointed them down a trodden, dirt street. All the buildings were quaint and painted white to make them look pretty. Much like the others, Charlotte's house came into sight near the end of the main street.
In addition to her air supply, she also removed her goggles and ski mask. Her low braid flopped over one shoulder, and the round face of a cute, teenage girl was revealed. "Um," she looked up to him and batted her eyelashes in a few, nervous blinks. "Thanks for carrying me all this way, 281."
"Thanks for jumping off a moving hoverbike for us," eX-0281 said back, "and for not leaving us behind." Partially in shock, he stared on at her. "How old are you?"
A sly, sassy look made Charlotte's eyes narrow up. Either that, or she pinched her eyes in distaste. eX-0281 did not really know how to read that look, but she said, "Why? Do you like me?"
"No," he replied at once, a little dumbfounded. Nothing like that had crossed his mind—ever, in fact. Especially not now, given all the hectic events of the past several hours.
Nevertheless, eX-0704 prodded him with a scathing remark. "You did carry her all this way, bridal style."
"What? No!" She had simply been small and light for the strength of his dragon form. Besides, her body would have gotten in the way of his wings if he had put her over his shoulders.
Not liking these accusations, eX-0281 pulled back his arms and immediately regretted it.
Charlotte cried out, floundered her hands, and tried to clutch onto him to no avail. Her tailbone hit the ground first, and with her hands falling back to catch herself, she sent a glare of daggers up at him. "You're lucky I can't feel my leg, or that would have really hurt!"
"Sorry! I'm sorry." eX-0281 crouched down, hovering over her with cautious claws and moaning, "I didn't mean to!" He transferred Charlotte's glare to eX-0704 with his own look of ridicule.
His friend simply scratched his claws through the spines on his head. "I didn't do anything. I'm confused."
"Me too. I just made a joke," Charlotte wailed. "I'm sixteen by the way."
eX-0281 felt horribly guilty for dropping her and tried picking her up more gently to make up for it.
"Would you pick up my goggles? They have my prescription."
"Oh." That was why she had squinted at him before; she could not see without them. eX-0281 flicked his tail in annoyance, and continued tromping closer to Charlotte's house.
The hoverbike of the Disco Menace had already been parked outside. Obviously, she had gotten here long before them, assuming that she did not encounter mutants along the way.
Based on the state of Charlotte's front yard, that was unlikely.
Near the house, a rectangular trash can had been tipped over where a four-legged creature rutted through its contents. Rather than eating the muck, a screech wailed as the side of the can was ripped away.
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Massive jaws like an alligator's mouth munched and crunched on the metal, further snapping it to bits. Each metallic tooth formed into a perfect triangle, and rather than protruding from the gums within the beast's mouth, they extended directly from the exposed jaw bone.
"Uh, Charlotte," eX-0281 drawled out. "Is that your dog?"
"Did Daisy get into our compost box again?" As an aside, Charlotte added, "That's the neighbor's dog."
"Uh huh," he said, taking a step back. eX-0281 balanced Charlotte's weight in one arm and reached for his gun. "Does Daisy usually eat the compost box?"
This was not Daisy, and the result of the [Scan] confirmed his suspicions.
Target: Bone-Crusher Dog
Vitality: 100%
Discrete Parts: None
Mana Reserves: 0 Mu
Element: Metal
While eX-0281 trusted that his armor was stronger than the compost bin, he did not want to chance a bite from the bone-crusher dog. Since the dog did not respond to them yet, he decided to read up on the species.
Wild dogs have little to eat, so these dogs have taken to feasting on scrap metal for their meals.
…
The sound of gunshots excites the bone-crusher dog, evidenced by their wagging, skeletal tail. They will try to eat the bullets if fired upon.
This one is just a puppy.
That massive thing is a baby? After the encounter with the slime trap and stalker behemoth, nothing should surprise him anymore. Then, a dark thought came to mind.
"Psst. 704, the display says it's a puppy. Do you know what that means?"
"It's supposed to be cute?"
eX-0281 blinked at him, dumbstruck. Something definitely seemed off about eX-0704's head, but he dismissed it for now. "Puppies come in litters. There might be more nearby."
That was when its head jolted up, drawn to the bang of a warning shot.
Similarly, eX-0281's attention flipped to the other side of the street.
A man had the barrel of his shotgun pointed towards the moon, aglow in the yellow light of the [Purifier Net]. The wind ruffled the ends of his trench coat, all the while he calmly shifted his stance to greet the oncoming mongrel. He had a broken, metal pipe in his free hand as a baton.
At once, eX-0281 feared for the man's safety but quickly recalled the mutant's description. When he glanced to the side, he saw that eX-0704's spines had similarly stood on end; both were ready to jump to his aid if needed.
Per their expectations, the bone-crusher dog's bony, ridged tail had started wagging the moment that the gun had gone off.
Is that really Daisy? eX-0281 supposed the system had to learn the identities of individuals before it could label them.
Ghastly, hollow breaths came from its metallic mouth. All four paws kicked up dirt in a headlong dash while savage growls lifted from deep within its chest like rattling gears.
When the bone-crusher dog rushed him, the man feinted to the side and slammed the rod across its jaws.
The dog snapped the metal in two and gobbled down its bite of food. All the while, it turned back to the man for a second attack. Too bad for it, the dog had already been lifted by the scruff of its neck.
The man pressed the shotgun into the soft underside of its throat, an explosion of blood stained the night sky. Casual in his movements, the man dropped the bone-crusher dog with an indifferent clang.
"Wow," eX-0281 breathed. Despite all their advanced training in the battle simulators, sub-dragons could never shoot with such accuracy.
"We could do that too if we were point blank," eX-0704 muttered, apparently thinking along similar lines albeit with a different conclusion.
"Nice one, Dad!" Charlotte cheered.
"Lottie!" the emotive, relieved voice of her father called back. Though a smile peeled up to his face at once, his brow was creased with worry as he ran to greet her. That expression further collapsed into fear when he saw the hulking sub-dragon that held his daughter.
"Oh, um!" eX-0281 shifted forms and struggled to balance Charlotte in one arm. Although he could easily do that in dragon form, his human form did not support the same muscle. Hastily, he removed his helmet to reveal his smiling, human face just like eX-0704. "We're friends."
"These sub-dragons defected from the GPC," Charlotte hastily explained. "They saved my life—"
"You're hurt! Goodness gracious, what happened to your leg?" her father closed the gap between them, and gingerly took Charlotte from his arms. "Let's get you inside."
eX-0281 and eX-0704 lingered awkwardly behind her father, not sure if they could accompany them or if they had to stay outside with the dead dog.
Puppy, he reminded himself. eX-0281 doubted that its littermates would be happy about that.
For the time being, the bone-crusher pups could be a problem for the town. At last, they had helped Charlotte get back home where she could be healed by her mother, the A-class nature mage.