When I pulled the trigger a multi-layered magic square formed around the muzzle, and a blue light erupted out of it. The first shot landed on the roof of the house that was burning close to the village square, blowing it away completely. I changed my aim completely in a hurry and the second shot went into ground near the horsemen that were on standby near the southern exit of the village. I calmed down and took my time to aim the third shot after blowing up the horsemen, and landed it right in the center of the Extended Armor that was the farthest away from the villagers in the square.
I took a look at the display floating in a corner of my field of vision and sighed when I saw that hard mode was turned on.
[Aim Correction Complete. 0 Rounds Remaining. Recharge Time: 83 Hours, 59 Minutes 21 Seconds.]
"It would've been great to know beforehand that I could fire three shots every 84 hours!"
I let go of the now steaming rifle and let it fall onto the ground. I heard an astounding amount of screams and shouts while I cautiously headed towards the village. The iron-clad mercenaries seemed to be moving around the village in a panic. With the Comet I dashed past the mercenaries with a steady pace, desperately trying to hold back the desire to run in guns blazing. The thing that worried me the most right now was the potential of the mercenaries taking hostages. Even if we could overwhelm them with numbers, my chances of winning would be null if they decided to use them as shields. On the other hand, if I ignored all collateral damage and concentrated only on saving Ann, she would probably be sad about it. I didn't really want to sacrifice the good people of the village either.
---How should I go about this? If I seem like I'm on the villager's side, they'll take them as hostages.
Luckily, the Comet was an enclosed golem armor that didn't expose the pilot in any way, so they couldn't see that there was a human inside. It looked kinda peculiar, but you could probably guess it was a golem by how hard the outer shell was.
---Yes... I should just swoop down like a monster, a random natural disaster. No idiot would try to take hostages in front of a blood-starved demon.
For someone from that human country, this must be a land where horrible demons lurk around. They probably wouldn't be very surprised if a mad creature attacked them with a golem.
"Well then, time for Stage Two!"
As I approached the village entrance I was met by nine soldiers. Four were pointing spears in my direction, while the other five drew their bows. They looked scared still. Meanwhile the Comet's armor was basically like "Defensive power? Is it yummy?" I was curious as to whether or not the Comet could even deflect arrows, but then again it was still a golem that stood seven meters tall. It was natural to be scared when faced with an unknown quantity like it.
---I'll charge in once they fire off their bows...
I walked the Comet at a constant pace. Soon I felt the hand holding the joystick starting to sweat, waiting for the battle to begin. The archers released their arrows basically at the same time the Comet leapt forward.
The flying arrows arced right over my head. My body got pressed heavily by the force of the momentum as I leapt into the row of spearmen at full speed. I backed away a bit, kicked out the spearmen, and crushed two of the archers with both hands, then stopped.
"Now... Three more!"
I grabbed the remaining archers and flung them away towards the village square, effortlessly. I tried behaving like a monster to strike fear in them, but the burden on my human body inside the golem was taxing. The finely-detailed control of the golem was done through a motion sensor, so I had to...
"Bear it, come on!"
Since I was inside the Comet, I had to look the part. When I bent my body to match the golem's unreasonable posture, I could hear my joints creak.
Not only were they getting attacked out of the blue by a mysterious being, they were given a front row seat to see how a monster mowed down their forces like tons. About half the soldiers surrounding the villagers were thrown into a state of panic. And so, all the unlucky soldiers standing in my way were thrown about like playthings. I could see archers sneaking into houses facing the square in an attempt to hide, while others scrambled out the southern exit after dropping their weapons.
"Is that a Commander I see? There's one of them screaming at the ones running away."
I apologized to whoever owned the old-fashioned cart that was lying around as I grabbed it and threw it at the screaming soldier. The commander-like man finally shut up as the cart collided into him.
"Did the cart fall right where I wanted it to because I'm so good at handling the golem? I kinda doubt that's the case. (cough)"
---So now we're at the Final Stage. I'd sure like a save point right around now...!
While I was busy catching my breath from the coughing fit, one of the Extended Armors started moving.
"It's really freaky-looking seeing it up close, huh? It's roughly humanoid... but it's a robot. It'd be kinda dumb to call it 'humanoid machine', though."
At first glance, the Extended Knight Armor looked like a giant steel skeleton that used gears as its flesh and blood.
The gears interlocked and ground, causing the limbs to follow suit. There were parts protected by iron armor plates, but there were also some rusted spots and pieces of scrap mixed together in other places.
---Amazing...! I get to fight that freaky thing!?
I heard something resembling a voice echo through one of the metal pipes sticking out of it.
"I see. If you're gonna go against me, I have to get serious... Come on!"
I lowered my stance and waited for the next moment to strike. The Extended Knight Armor pulled out a lance as big as itself and lunged forward, trying to impale me. I leapt to the side with the Comet and dodged. I passed right besides the Knight Armor at high speed and deployed the Comet's fixed armament---a huge metallic blade built into the golem's wrist. I crammed the blade into the moving gears, which caused a sharp metallic grinding to ring out, and the Extended Armor imploded on itself.
"(cough) Tch...! (cough)"
The reverberations of the implosion impacted the Comet like a wave crashing into my body, causing me to cough. There was now a certain red liquid mixed up among my coughs, so I took my hand off the joystick, grabbed a vitality potion from my pouch, and downed it in one gulp.
"(cough) The... (cough) float like a butterfly, sting like a bee (cough) phrase is cool, but if your opponent is sturdy and heavy, then the constant impacts are enough to make you want to die! (cough) I wouldn't mind fighting at half speed if it meant I had some armor to take a punch of me, at least then it wouldn't wreak my body!"
I left the dilapidated Knight Armor as it collapsed onto the ground, scattering gears all over, and headed towards the village square once again. As far as human soldiers were concerned, the Comet was simply a monster that appeared out of nowhere. I couldn't afford to show them the toll my body was taking. I'd been battling nothing but... humans this whole time, taking them down with my own hands, but I was still surprisingly calm about it.
I used to read novels and comics back on Earth. One such story you'd often see was of a boy who was good at games, then killing people in cold blood like it was nothing. They were made to emphasize the difference between fictional games and reality, and I'd always wondered why they did that. While you typically were crushed by the feeling of guilt in killing someone in real life, the same didn't apply when you did so in a game.
Be it games or whatever, was I not prepared to murder people with my own two hands? When I realized that I had become the monster those stories spoke of, it hit me so hard that I didn't want to continue on anymore. To say I was doing it to save someone---to save Ann---would be selfish and just shift the blame. I couldn't justify my actions with that. In order to satiate my selfishness I was willing to cover my hands in blood, no matter if it was in games or reality.
The mere thought of continuing my life forward with regret of not saving what was precious to me, because I'd gotten
distracted, sent a chill down my spine.
◇
"Maybe now..."
Ann stealthily untied the rope holding her hands down. The main reason the village adults didn't resist in any way was because of the human soldiers pointing spears at the village's children in order to subjugate them. But most of them had escaped, and the last two soldiers left were just staring in disbelief at the Extended Knight Armor's demise in front of them---their heads anywhere but there.
"I'm stronger in my human form... I'm sorry for breaking our promise, Auntie," Ann murmured as she reverted from her kobold form.
She grabbed the two soldier by their ankles, raised them into the air, and tossed them aside with all her might. Originally, Ann's status as half-human and half-kobold made her naturally weak, but in the two months she'd spent with Aoi, her body became sturdier, and her strength increased dramatically for some unknown reason.
"If Aoi was here he'd probably say something like... 'Since you've been working at the labyrinth this while time, maybe you leveled up or your status increased.'"
The soldiers Ann had thrown slammed right onto some mud walls. When the cloud of dust cleared, it was obvious they wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.
"Mister Gald! Everything's fine over here!"
"Got it!"
As soon as the tied up ogre saw the children were held hostage, his rock hard muscles tensed up as he swung his tied up arms, knocking out a nearby soldier.
"Hey, you guys! Ann's doing all the work! We have to step it up too!"
All the villagers started rebelling at once, and held down all the remaining soldiers. The villagers would normally be helpless against trained soldiers, but Ann was at the vanguard for them. Being protected by the children they were supposed to be protecting seemed to encourage the adults greatly. There were also soldiers that tried to stop Ann since she looked like nothing more than a little girl; unnatural power or not, Ann would have been easy prey for a rear attack due to her lack of battle experience.
"Gwah!"
A soldier that tried to attack Ann ended up with an extremely deep dent in his helmet, and crumpled down to the ground.
"Ann~ Your back's exposed, be careful~"
"Miss Deneb! Thank you!"
Deneb struck the soldier's head with a giant stone pot she was wielding in one hand. It was normally just a cooking utensil, but she seemed strangely used to this kind of thing... Or maybe her usual calm demeanor was all a ruse.
"Protect the families and the fields!"
The most important thing for the farmers living in the frontier were their families and fields, and Gald's roar rallied them to that end. The usually peaceful giants that always opted to shy away from conflict broke away their restraints and joined the fray.
The supposedly powerless Daemons fought back. Once the Extended Knight Armor that was supposed to suppress got taken down, it didn't take too long for the remaining soldiers to get routed. A moment of happiness reflected on the villagers' faces, but was dashed away almost as fast as it came.
"Filthy Daemons! Don't resist if you care about this piece of filth's life!"
A soldier wearing gaudy armor restrained Sara and stuck the edge of his sword to her neck.
"Sara...!"
Ann's scream sent a chill down the spines of the surrounding villagers.
◇
"You ogres there, stop! All you Daemons need to shut up, or do you wanna see this little girl die!?"
As soon as I entered the village square, I saw a soldier clad in a pompously decorated set of armor holding Sara with one arm, with a sword pointed at her throat in the other.
"He took a hostage, huh? So he thinks it might be useful despite there being a raging monster running amok? Or was he just regurgitating the only thing he knew how to do?"
My intuition told me it was the latter. He may have been born that way, but the soldier seemed to exude an aura of cruelty---he reeked of it, even.
I continued to edge closer, bit by bit, to the soldier that took Sara hostage.
"Stop! Do you not understand me!? Enough!"
His fear couldn't have been made more evident. I crept ever closer to him without a hint of desisting.
---I know this must be scary, Sara, but hang in there. Things might get worse if I stopped now.
"Cease! No! Stop! Damn it all!"
As soon as I was close enough to reach him, he tossed Sara out of the way and tried to make an escape. I was astonished he had kept up the rotten act thus far. I almost wanted to praise him. But really, it all the more reason to squash him like the rodent he was.
"S-Stop! Don't come closer! STOOOOOOOP!"
I took one step forward with the wrist blade extended and held it above the soldier... And swung downward until the blade was stopped by the ground.
Sara, who had fallen on the ground, looked up at me in horror... I would have called out to her, but... Yeah.
---I have to change to the motion tracking mode to control my right hand better... I think I just have to do this here and... I think I got it.
I made the Comet kneel down and extended its hand towards Sara. When she saw me swiftly stick out the golem's ring finger her dumbfounded expression shifted to one of understanding, and eventually one of joy. Thank goodness she understood me. She opened her mouth and muttered something, but I was unable to hear due to the armor. I thought must have been something along the lines of "It took you long enough!"
I circled around the square one last time in search of any stray soldiers. There didn't seem to be any. Off in the distance was a trail of lances and shields heading south. The raiders must have ran away towards the sea that I'd heard so much about.
"Wasn't there one of those Knight Armors still around? Where'd it go? I can't see it an---GAH!"
As soon as I let my guard down, the remaining Knight Armor broke through the nearby buildings facing the square and threw itself at me. I was blown away to the other side of the square, into the wood storage house. The building had stopped my fall.
"Ugh! (cough) So... (cough) He stayed in hiding waiting for his own chance to strike, huh? I thought I cleared the Final Stage, but looks like there's a hidden bonus round."
The surprise impact sent me into another coughing fit. A display flickered open informing me that various parts of the Comet's internals were heavily damaged.
---I didn't think it had much defense considering that one Tundra review, but I expected it to at least be able to take more than one hit before becoming useless!
I closed the various warning windows and gripped the joystick once more. I had no intention of going out with a fight.
◇
"AHHHH!"
The villagers screamed in anguish as the Knight Armor blew away the red and black Comet. They felt fear. Fear of the unknown. Two giant bodies fought before them, one of ill intent and one against it. Their sense of comradery was put into question. As the Knight Armor moved to wrap its hand around the neck of the now immobile golem, the villagers covered their faces in dismay.
Ann ran down to where Sara had fallen. From there she called out to the golem at the top of her lungs...
"AOI! DON'T GIVE UP!"
◇
Ann's voice had been carried by the wind and miraculously reached my ears inside the golem. I could feel my mouth jerk into a smile. My body screamed in pain despite downing a vitality potion just now. Ever since Fez and I had separated and I was chased by the horsemen, I hadn't stopped putting my life in danger. Every fiber in my body ached and pleaded for me to stop, to slow down, but I couldn't. The difficulty was set to its absolute maximum and it'd been nothing but a barrage of challenges. There were no choices or hints, no strategy guide or wiki either. It was a brutal game that had no save slots or continues---a game where my very life was at stake...
"Even so... Life's still pretty fun."
I wasn't done yet. I still had to teach that evil, oblivious little girl how to be a proper lady, for my sake, and for the world'
s.
I took the cursed sword and slipped out of the Comet's cockpit and ran up the nearby wall using the physical abilities the sword had granted me. I jumped up above the hand of the Knight Armor which was around the Comet's neck. I could hear Ann's voice as I was being dragged down by gravity. I took a deep break and shouted back to her...
"LEAVE IT TO ME...!"
Using the momentum of gravity, I aimed myself towards the metal cylinder on the Knight Armor's back. I slashed away at the metal tube, in an attempt to sever the connection between it and the armor. Perhaps it had noticed my resistance, as the Knight Armor moved its other hand towards me. At the verge of being squared by the hand, I managed to cut the connection of the cockpit with my sword.
"Knock it off already, you piece of crap!"
I relaxed my body slightly and gathered my remaining strength into one final stab. The Knight Armor slowly came to a halt as I hit, and soon collapsed into the ground with an earth-shattering impact. A cloud of dust was kicked up by the impact, and I took cover under the now powerless arm of the machine. As the dust cleared, I stood there, sword in hand, one eye closed off from blood. The villagers began to cheer, having realized the identity of their would-be savior.
I didn't really want to say what actually happened as I fell off the back of the Knight Armor, since I'd landed right on my head and ended up a bloody mess. I hoped that the giant dust cloud managed to mask my embarrassing blunder.
It was impossible to show off perfection like a real hero since, after all, I was just a simple gamer.
Amidst the aftermath I managed to move closer to Ann.
"......!"
She said something and then embraced me. I hugged her back and finally lost consciousness.
◇
"Aoi!"
I woke up the next morning on a bed inside Jenny's house. Apparently I had been sleeping for more than half a day's time. What was waiting for me as I finally opened my eyes was an embrace from Ann in human form. It seemed like she had been waiting in the bed with me this whole time. Sitting in the nearby chair wasn't quite enough for her.
Strongest Gamer; Let's Play in Another World Volume 1 Page 20