No matter how much Leo wished to get his hands on a proper rifle, it was extremely unlikely to ever happen in this world.

For how big the spare backpack he somehow grabbed on his way down the well, it sure as hell wasn’t big enough to hold an entire assault rifle that served as the base of every colonizer’s defenses.

But that didn’t mean Leo was all defenseless in the face of some ancient knights.

Guided by the half-sentient overdosed nanites in his blood, Leo’s fingers grasped at the handle of just the right tool to handle this situation.

(Kill it.)

Leo didn’t need to understand the local language to catch the message.

And so, learning upon his bitter experiences in the previous rift, he pulled out the secondary weapon of the colonizers, a burst-fire, compact sub-machine gun.

Shooting needless instead of bullets, it housed enough ammo in one mag to decide an entire battle. And according to Leo’s memory, there were two more, easily switchable magazines hidden within the backpack.

The knights jerked forth, a group of three splitting off from the main unit and moving towards the young man…

Or so they thought they would do.

Pulling out the gun from the backpack, Leo calmly brought himself up to a single knee and took aim.

Prrt. Prrt. Prrt.

Each series sent forth merely twenty needless.

Within short bursts, three knights burst into flames from tens of wounds that appeared all over their armor and flesh.

The blood from their wounds actually had a hard time appearing, given how tiny the holes in their knightly suits were.

‘It’s all looks and no use,’ Leo thought, coldly raising the sights towards the nearest of the knights.

There was no hesitation in his soul.

It was either him or them. Life was that simple. And Leo was determined not to make the same mistake again, fooling himself with ill-found mercy for those strangers.

‘Does this make me a bad person?’ Leo asked himself as he carefully moved his aim and sprayed each of the knights with a single burst.

In one case, the armor actually held, giving the lucky knight a moment to even realize what was going on.

‘Strange,’ Leo thought, pulling the bulky, rectangular weapon back to where he just aimed it before sending another burst.

This time, the low shriek from the victim confirmed the shot’s effectiveness, allowing Leo to move his sights even further down the line of the knights.

From the initial group of a bit over twenty, there were now only seventeen left. And Leo had no plans of stopping there.

Still, after the initial shock of seeing something impossible happen right before their eyes passed, the knights regained their vitality and rushed forth to take the young man down.

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(DIE YOU SCUM!)

(I WILL SLAUGHTER YOU!)

(I SHALL DANCE UPON YOUR GRACE, DESACRATE ALL THAT YOU HOLD DEAR!)

A bunch of shouts filled the air as the knights ignored their original target and all rushed towards Leo.

‘Yeah, yeah, I screw your mothers too,’ Leo thought, coldly raising the sights to his eyes and sending five more series through.

Four people fell, with one somehow pushing through.

‘Just a little bit more,’ Leo thought, shooting down two more knights as he brought his arm back to the one he failed to kill a moment ago.

‘Eleven,’ Leo thought, pressing the trigger and then holding his gun down when the recoil of the burst kicked it up.

In appreciation of the man’s luck, Leo made sure to greet him with two more series.

But once again… it didn’t work.

(DIE!)

Throwing himself ahead, the strange knight crossed half of the distance between them, forcing Leo to rise up and take a step back.

Two more series did nothing save for throwing the knight off his rhythm a bit.

Leo swung his body up, throwing the backpack to its rightful place and retreating another step.

Burst after burst, his gun spewed out tens and hundreds of needless towards the knight.

Seeing how those needles lacked the necessary mass to pierce the plates, Leo raised his sights, hoping to, at least, blind the knight…

‘That fucker!’

Most likely tracking Leo’s eyes, the knight read his intentions and raised his armed forearm, keeping his eyes safe from danger.

But that also made him partially blind to Leo’s actions.

‘Let’s try this!’

Flipping the switch on the side of the gun, Leo raised his left foot and rested it right below his right knee. He leaned slightly towards the approaching knights, and a mere second before the man got within the range of his sword…

Leo pressed the trigger.

This time, he unleashed all of the gun’s power, focusing all of his nanite-boosted strength to keep the gun’s muzzle down while sending hundreds and thousands of needles right around the same spot.

A thousand sparks appeared all over the knight’s armor. And with the needless starting to sound like a grinder as more and more of them struck the man’s armor…

Leo’s desperate rain of fire stopped the knight in his track, forcing him to turn sideways, moving the brunt of the attack to different parts of his armor.

‘This didn’t work either,’ Leo thought, half-passively observing the battle while the nanites did most of the work.

It was still his body and his will of what had to be done.

But it was the nanites that made his flesh do what his mind desired.

A flash went through Leo’s mind as the nanties searched through the procedures, trying to adapt them to the situation ahead.

Yet, save for some quite drastic methods that Leo really didn’t want to use…

He was out of options.

‘Should I nuke this place?’

With Leo’s spare backpack coming straight from the safety of the truck’s insides, all of the tools and toys inside should be in pristine condition.

Meaning, just thinking back to the device Leo used as a distraction, there were three of those within the reach of his spare hand…

If only he could afford to take as long as it would take for him to reach to the back and pull the explosives out.

‘Grenade? Won’t work. Even if he won’t know what it is, it’s going to be obvious that it’s something bad.’ Maybe I should try kiting him around while trying to get his eyes?’

Several possible ways of dealing with the man appeared in Leo’s head…

Only to all vanish when he jerked his body and vaulted to the side, sensing an approaching force from behind.

The nanites pushed his flesh to its absolute limit, making it move much faster and stronger than Leo should be able to. And while it normally came at an obvious cost of painfully straining one’s flesh…

Leo couldn’t feel a single sting.

‘Shit!’

Even though the nanite hitback appeared to be delayed, there was still a limit to what Leo could do. And even if he could pull out the machete from the backpack in time to counter the knight’s swing…

Leo’s time for thought ended when the knight picked himself up from the ground, ready to charge…

Only for one of the three masked figures from the other side to appear right to the knight’s side… And deliver a nasty sucker-punch straight to the side of the knight’s pretty helmet!

To the back of the scene, the two masked men were finishing off the last few of the knights, proving just how weird a scenario Leo found himself in.

After all, in what world a trio of masked bandits end up manhandling armed knights many times their number?

Still.

The same girl that backed out a step when Leo came out from the rift, now sent the knight flying merely with the power of her fist.

Dropping down to the ground, she panted heavily before turning her eyes towards the young man…

Only for Leo to coldly fix the position of his SMG and take aim.