Chapter 25 - Real Battle Experience II

A new hex had been used, by Commodore Kathlene no less, intending to nullify the ability she believed Adam was using. However, all she managed to do was further enhance his skills due to the reversing effect he possesses. For a moment, Adam saw a system message, informing him of the respective increases, but almost immediately, he noticed black symbols invading the last line.

[Warning: [Mark of the Damned LV10] is reacting on its own!]

At that moment, Adam felt an intense pain in his left arm, as if his skin were tearing and his bones breaking. Simultaneously, the sleeve of his hoodie was completely shredded, revealing a strange tattoo resembling a chain wrapped around his entire arm.

“Aaaahhh!”

It all happened in less than a second, a moment Kathlene saw as an opening in her target’s defense and prepared to exploit. With a confident smile, certain that her debuff had worked perfectly, she launched a powerful strike with her robotic hand, spinning violently with its palm extended, resembling a drill.

“Goodbye pirate boy”

She thought her attack was mere centimeters from striking her opponent’s head... but the impact she anticipated never came. Instead, countless metal shards began floating around, revealing that her robotic limb had shattered into pieces.

“...?”

The smile on the soldier’s face began to fade as her eyes widened, trying to comprehend the bizarre scene unfolding before her. Her mind struggled to process what she was witnessing.

As if emerging from a horrific nightmare, the enormous jaws of a lupine beast—eyeless, noseless, and translucent as if made of smoke—had sprung from Adam’s arm. It viciously bit into the woman’s mechanical limb, splintering it as if it were wood. Without giving her a moment to react, two more heads of the same monstrous entity erupted from the same spot, lunging at her with their gaping maws, revealing their head were all just a big jaw.

The woman propelled herself backward as quickly as she could, narrowly avoiding the first bites. However, just as she was about to make another move, she was caught off guard by an overwhelming number of thin, cadaverous arms that also emerged from the same base as the beasts. They surged toward her with terrifying speed.

Unable to dodge due to her previous momentum, Kathlene defended herself this time. Concerned by the sudden shift, she no longer treated the situation as a game, as she had up until that point.

[Skill: Zephyrshock Twist Lv5] [No info available]

Using her extreme speed and momentum, she executed a full-body spin to deliver a tornado roundhouse kick with a leg fully charged with electricity, creating a luminous streak that should have struck all the approaching arms. Or at least, that’s what was supposed to happen.

“...What?!”

The kick passed through the cadaverous formations as if they were mere fog, having no effect and failing to stop them. Instead, the arms managed to grab hold of the woman, restraining her with a multitude of chains and shackles, securing her firmly. At this moment, she finally stopped moving, allowing the other soldiers to see what was happening.

"Commodore!"

Those spectral limbs held her with supernatural strength, preventing the woman from moving further. They had even covered her mouth to stop her from using any verbal skills she might have had. This demonstrated that the assault was not random but carefully planned to restrain her effectively.

But that wasn’t the problem. The three heads of those spectral beasts began to emerge more and more from Adam’s arm, growing in size until each could easily swallow an entire person. They then lunged violently at Kathlene with their jaws wide open, revealing their enormous fangs.

[Your speed has returned to normal] [Your agility has returned to normal] [Your reflexes have returned to normal] [Your strength has returned to normal] [Your stamina has returned to normal] [Your physical prowess has returned to normal]

“Aaaahhh!...”

Adam's buffs finally ended, returning his physical parameters to normal. This was a reprieve for the woman, as without the boost in strength and endurance, the pain Adam felt was so intense that he quickly lost consciousness due to the shock.

Immediately, both the spectral arms and the beast's heads dissipated into a cloud of vapor, leaving Adam's unconscious body behind, as his comrades began to regain their composure. The same happened to the Commodore, who fell to the ground like a stone, injuring her hip in the process.

“Oof... That was... Something”

Kathlene stood up at the same time as Li, Drake, and Kazue, a bit unsteady after everything that had happened. She approached them slowly, offering a faint smile and raising her only good arm.

"It was fun and all, but now it’s time for you to die. Criminal scum like you, who have taken innocent lives, don’t even deserve to wait for an execution trial... Let’s just say you were collateral damage, alright?"

“We have done no such thing!”

Li suddenly exclaimed, having regained his strength, as he stepped forward while the other two knelt to check on Adam.

"We were captured by one of the pirate clans and forced to help in the assault! We’re not part of this attack!"

While that was true, it wasn’t entirely accurate to say they hadn’t harmed innocents or that they had done so unwillingly. Drake’s eyes fell on his comrade with a heavy heart, fully aware of what was happening. However, the woman didn’t seem convinced at all.

"Good story, but there's no way you can prove it, and I'm not about to take any chances after everything that just happened."

She continued, raising her right hand and beginning to charge it with electricity, something that immediately caught Kazue's attention.

"But we can prove it... First of all, you can ask the factory workers you’ve ‘rescued.’ We haven’t killed anyone, not even the soldiers who attacked us. Even this guy didn’t cause any real harm, right? Plus, every pirate has to be a member of one of the seven guilds and get a tattoo with their symbol. We’re clean; you can check us."

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

At those words, Kathlene raised an eyebrow and looked around. Part of what had been said was true—there had been no reported casualties in the call for reinforcements. All she could see were soldiers with minor injuries and a few others simply knocked out. She even noticed the team that had gone to rescue the factory workers emerging with everyone in perfect condition.

"Verify this guy's story with the survivors!"

She ordered loudly to one of the nearby soldiers, then turned back to Li, eyeing him with suspicion.

“For someone who claims to have been captured and forced to participate, you know a lot about how the seven clans are organized…”

“We have some time in Gearspire Stronghold so I talked with the people there”

The woman’s eyes widened in surprise as she responded.

"Were you in Gearspire Stronghold? Impossible, they never take war slaves to their supply centers; they would have thrown you here with explosive collars from the start. None of you have submission collars."

That was confusing, but Li seemed able to follow the thread of what the officer was saying.

"I never said we were combat slaves. I said we were captured and forced to come but as recruits. Our skills surprised them, and they wanted us to join the Gearforged Raiders guild. When we refused, they sent us here."

It wasn’t entirely true, but in Kathlene’s mind, it made sense. After all, she had just witnessed the strange powers one of them possessed. And if none of them had chosen to kill anyone despite having the ability to do so, it lent more credibility to their words.

She couldn’t dwell on it for long, though, as she felt the effects of her combat drug beginning to wear off. This was troubling because it was the only thing keeping her standing after her brutal fight with Captain Pirate Magnus.

"Commodore, we’ve confirmed with the survivors that no one was injured, and neither were the guards who protected them."

"Uugh, fine, it doesn’t matter. We can verify it later. Just detain them and take them to one of the evacuation carriers. There isn’t much more to do here anyway."

The woman replied, holding her forehead after one of her soldiers returned to update her on the situation. Then, several members of the Navy approached the group and placed handcuffs on them, similar to those they had initially worn on the pirate ship.

"Move out! I’ve been told that several Rear Admirals and their squads will be arriving to secure the stronghold. There’s nothing more to..."

But her words were abruptly cut off by an explosion so powerful that everyone present was left with ringing ears, despite it having occurred so far away that they hadn’t even seen it. This was followed by a tremor that shook the entire area. Not knowing what was happening, Kathlene used an extra burst of energy to leap over debris and platforms, reaching the top of a nearby building. There, her expression shifted to one of sheer terror and disbelief.

“It's a Thunderstrike Dreadnoughts Squad! Evacuate now!"

The scene was apocalyptic. Towering above the protection encircling the Ironwave Anchorage industrial complex were gargantuan giants of steel. Massive blocks of gears and exhaust pipes made an enormous racket with every movement. Despite having two colossal arms and legs, they didn’t look humanoid at all, lacking heads or any remotely human body part. They resembled siege machines more than anything else with a lot of extra appendices, so massive that, despite being on the beach, they could be seen towering over the walls. How many meters, heck, kilometers even, tall were those things?

Those titanic beasts continued their advance as countless missiles and bombs were launched from every possible slot in their bodies. There were so many projectiles that the sky darkened momentarily under their barrage. The interior of the complex began to burn, structures collapsed, and many of the flying machines sent by the Navy were shot down almost immediately.

“How are those fuckers here!? Godammit”

The woman murmured, jumping down and starting to issue all sorts of evacuation orders, which included the newly captured individuals. They were dragged almost roughly to one of the evacuation stations for a zeppelin. The group climbed the makeshift ladder provided and found themselves in what could only be described as a cargo area.

Once inside, the zeppelin attempted to take off, and Drake and Kazue looked out to see what was happening outside... It was hell. The giants had reached the protective wall and, merely by walking, had managed to breach it as if it were made of paper. All the while, they continued launching missiles and bombs in every direction, flooding the area with a sea of fire and black smoke. Even so, the Navy wasn’t standing idle. Despite knowing there was little they could do, many of the zeppelins not involved in the evacuation, and even soldiers in large mechanized suits, had chosen to stay. They positioned themselves as high as possible and began launching their own projectiles at the titans.

None of these attacks were effective, as every single projectile struck a kind of luminous shield that enveloped each of the giant robots, almost like a force field that was seemingly created from a weird sparkling stick on their "heads". This only served to give the mechanical monstrosities the precise locations of many of their targets.

One of them stayed stationary while the others advanced, opening a massive compartment in its chest. It began emitting a sound similar to a turbine and started to glow gradually.

"Evasive maneuvers! Tell the pilots to perform evasive maneuvers!"

One of the soldiers aboard, who had also been watching the scene unfold, shouted. The zeppelin then made a complete turn, so sharp that nearly everyone inside lost their balance. Though it seemed done without reason, it turned out to be the only thing that saved them from certain death. Moments later, a brilliant beam of energy shot straight from the giant's chest, incinerating everything in its path. As the robot moved, the laser did as well, slicing through everything it encountered—buildings, other Navy robots, flying machines that failed to evade it, and even the ground itself.

The zeppelin they were on was spared by sheer luck, and as it moved away, it became clear that what had once been a tranquil island had transformed into the most vivid depiction of hell.

——————

Adam wasn't sure when his eyes had opened, but he found himself once again floating in the familiar black void, just like the other times. It was a place where the concept of time didn't seem to exist, a realm where he had previously encountered the queen of ghosts. But where was she now? Though he couldn't say for certain, the time he felt he had spent there seemed substantial, making the entity's absence somewhat unsettling.

The atmosphere shifted dramatically when Adam, slowly turning from side to side, suddenly found himself face-to-face with the horrific head of the specter. The creature was mere inches from him, its grotesque face dominated by those three ghastly, hollow voids where eyes should have been.

"You are here..."

Adam murmured, his voice barely more than a whisper as he stared into the dark voids where the specter's eyes should have been. The oppressive silence of the space around him amplified his words, making them echo in the emptiness.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't afraid, but the truth is that he needed to face it if he wanted answers.

“What have you done to me?”

The entity remained motionless in response to the question, holding its position for quite a while. However, just as Adam began to think he wouldn’t receive any answer, the holes in the creature's face started to twist violently, and a guttural laugh echoed from within them.

“Hahahaha… You ignorant boy, your luck will run out soon”

Uncertain of what the entity meant, Adam tried to speak again, but his mouth wouldn’t move, and no sound came out. It was then that he suddenly opened his eyes, finding himself disoriented and staring up at a white ceiling.

“What?”

Adam quickly realized he was lying in a bed, covered by a white blanket, and resting on an equally white pillow. As he looked around, he noticed medical equipment, shelves stocked with medicine, and several chairs—was he in an infirmary? He couldn’t remember much after his fight with the three-armed woman, but the last thing he wanted was to stay there lying down.

As the boy leaned forward and sat up, he noticed something close to his face in his peripheral vision. Turning quickly, he found himself face-to-face with Kazue, who had been staring at him intently. He hadn’t noticed her presence at all, which caught him by surprise.

"Is it going to become a habit for you to pass out after every fight? Haha."

Adam jolted, but aside from the scare she gave him, he noticed that Kazue seemed relatively okay despite the situation they had been in.

“No, I… It doesn’t matter, what happened?”

"Oh boy, I was supposed to wait for everyone else to catch you up, but I’ll do it now anyway. It's too cool not to share, and I want you to tell me how it felt to do everything you did and how you summoned the ghosts from the first scenario to help you."

Adam took a moment to process his companion's words, but eventually managed to articulate a somewhat stumbling response, which didn't quite come out as he intended.

"I understand, thanks. I really want to know what—wait, I did what?!"