Chapter 448: Leaving Behind Piles of Corpses and Rivers of Blood in My Wake |
Using telepathy, I knocked out the two soldiers who scrambled to divulge the info I wanted, stole the rest of their equipment, and headed out to rescue Mimi and the others.
Eh? How could I use telepathy to make them fall unconscious? It’s simply because my psionic powers were too strong. I touched their heads directly, then sent the mental command『Sleep!』directly into their minds at maximum power, allowing me to rob them of their consciousness in one go.
I was told to be careful in its usage because if used on a normal person, it could leave them with lasting aftereffects, or worse, could lead directly to death. However, I didn’t care one bit about that in this situation. Apparently, I’d be able to perform the technique more precisely and efficiently if my telepathy skills were on Kugi’s level, but since I’ve just barely learned how to use my psionic powers, this was the current limit for me.
“But this sure is an excessively large ship. Dammit. I could really use a gadget with a map display function right now……”
In a situation like this, it wasn’t ideal to have one hand preoccupied with holding a portable info terminal, and in the first place, I wasn’t sure when my breakout would get discovered and when they’d send soldiers after me in response. Maybe I should consider introducing the concept of a wearable similar to a Sa*yan scouter or something.
I mulled over that stuff as I followed the info those soldiers gave me and headed toward the room where Mimi and the others were being held captive. However, before long, I finally ran into other soldiers.
“You…… Stop! What are you doing here?”
“I’ve accepted Vincent’s proposal. I’m now on my way to confirm the safety of my companions. Look. He let me borrow his sword as a sign of trust.”
After saying so, I showed Vincent’s sword to the soldier who had approached. The soldier who came near turned his attention to the sword’s hilt, and the other soldier readied himself so he’d be able to fire his laser rifle at a moment’s notice. He hadn’t exactly pointed his rifle toward me yet, but it wouldn’t be strange if he suddenly did.
“That’s gonna be troublesome.”
“Huh–?”
I quickly held my breath and cut the two soldiers down with a surprise attack.
The two soldiers, with their torsos separated from the rest of their bodies, fell dead on the ship’s hallway; their looks of disbelief still frozen on their faces. My feet were smeared with the color of blood and scattered internal organs.
“Guess I have no choice.”
It’s difficult to directly get in contact with the heads of soldiers on high alert, and I wouldn’t have the time to safely focus in order to use telepathy in the first place. Since that’s the case, I had no choice but to cut everyone I’d encounter down.
I already had Vincent’s blood in my hands anyway, and it’s clear that House Ixamal was hostile to me and Captain Serena. Since things had come to this, I would just have to push through with violence. This was the worst. If I were to get hit with a laser rifle shot at lethal intensity, I’d probably die instantly.
“To think I’d have to fight without the protection of power armor, or even combat armor…… Oh well.”
I swung my sword at a nearby wall and cut sections of it down for use as makeshift shields.
Laser weapons had high destructive strength, but they didn’t have much penetrating power due to their reliance on vaporizing and exploding the surfaces of their targets in order to cause damage. The walls of the passages within battleships were supposed to be made with pretty sturdy composite materials, and a portion should be enough to block one full-power laser weapon shot at the very least. And if it breaks, I’d just cut another portion off again. The interior of House Ixamal’s flagship would be in tatters as a result, but there’s no need to care anyway.
I held the two makeshift shields using my telekinetic hands, and I rushed toward the target room once more.
“Uwaah!? What the heck is that!?”
“Halt!”
“I refuse!”
I sent a wall shield toward a soldier I encountered at a corner, and the moment he was stunned by the blow, I quickly cut him down. Some of them may just be following orders, but as long as they stood in my way, they were enemies. And enemies should be cut down.
The more flashy and violent I got, the more I’d be able to divert their attention from Mimi and the others. Perhaps by doing this, I’d be able to give them the opportunity to escape on their own. Mimi aside, Elma was also a skilled combatant. In fact, she was stronger than me in hand-to-hand combat. She’s also rather adept at using weapons like laser guns. Kugi was also a powerful psionic power user. Therefore, they were more than capable of pulling such a thing off.
“What’s going on here!?”
“We have casualties! Code 03! Code 03! Code 03 has occurred in Sector 2-B! Requesting support!”
More soldiers heard the commotion and gathered up. I’ve learned a couple things when engaging in CQC combat in SOL, but in particular, there’s a rule-of-thumb when in a one-to-many fight.
“Uwaah!? He’s charging at us!?”
“Push him ba– Gaah!?”
Simply put, one shouldn’t stay put and engage the enemies in a head-on firefight. You’d just be overwhelmed by the difference in firepower eventually. Instead, close the distance as much as your shield and armor would allow you to, use the bodies of your enemies as shields against the attacks of their allies, narrow down your targets, make the enemies wary of friendly fire, and do all that you could to reduce their attack frequency.
Keeping these in mind, I pushed my shields forward and charged toward the soldiers, then took advantage of their panic and confusion to fire the laser gun in my left hand and slashed away with the sword held by my right. Naturally, the enemy soldiers who stood far enough away fired at me with their laser rifles, but I blocked the shots using makeshift wall shields and the corpses of their comrades that were held up with my telekinetic limbs.
“H-Hiii!? T-The corpses are–!?”
“He’s manipulating the dead!?”
“If don’t want to end up like them, throw your weapons away and stand down! I won’t cut you down if you do!”
Using corpse shields appeared pretty sinister and evil, but I didn’t have the leeway to cut another portion of the walls.
“U-Understood! I’ll throw my weapons down! I’ll throw them now!”
“You fool! The earl will kill you!”
“As if I care! I don’t want to be turned into a corpse and end up like that!”
Some soldiers obediently threw their laser guns and rifles down on the floor and surrendered. However, there were still some who resisted, so I threw corpses at them to stop them from moving and promptly cut them down. I didn’t forget to cut the guns and rifles on the ground to pieces as well. I couldn’t let myself get shot in the back after all.
“You evil creature! I will cut you down to size!”
“Hey, a wild noble soldier finally appeared.”
A noble soldier burst out from around the corner, slipped through the corpse shields, and rapidly closed in on me. His raised sword reflected the light, making it shine brilliantly.
“You’re mi– Huh!?”
“Nice try, bud.”
The noble soldier was aghast due to his sword being unable to budge an inch from its raised state. I brandished my own sword and bisected the now-defenseless noble soldier’s stomach horizontally with Vincent’s sword.
A noble’s sword certainly was capable of cutting through not only power armor but even a battleship’s hull, but it simply couldn’t cut the invisible and incorporeal power I was wielding. It’s a principle similar to it being unable to cut an energy shield.
I let go of the corpse shields and caught the blade of the noble’s sword with my telekinetic hands. No matter what level of enhancements he received, it was impossible for the noble soldier to swing the sword in his grasp.
“I-Impossible……”
“I’ll be taking that sword, man.”
I ripped his sword away from the noble soldier, who was now only left with the upper half of his body. I then used Vincent’s sword to decapitate and finish him off. The noble’s sword was a bit heavy for a left-handed sword, but its appearance wasn’t tacky. With this, I’ve returned to my usual swordsmanship style.
“Oraa! If there’s anyone else who has a death wish, then come at me!”
I cut the walls with both swords and provoked the remaining enemy soldiers while replenishing my makeshift shields. Now that it’s come to this, let’s just go wild, shall we? I’ll leave a mountain of corpses behind if you don’t release my crew.
“Hmm…… This is even more than what I was told. How vexing.”
While watching the live feed showing Hiro’s rampage as he kept cutting down members of House Ixamal’s private force with the two swords that he stole, the rebel Daybit Ixamal displayed a positively vexed expression, just as his words indicated.
“I have heard that he was rather strong even when he’s away from his ship, but to think it’s to this degree……”
Another holo-display was showing footage of the Independent Mobile Anti-Pirate Fleet’s marines and House Ixamal’s private soldiers tensely glaring at one another, and yet another showed a maidroid and military-grade combat bots successfully breaching the Majestic’s hatch and fighting with the guards within.
“It looks like you are the only one who is totally helpless, daughter of House Holz.”
“……”
Earl Daybit Ixamal…… no, the traitor Daybit looked at me with a sarcasm-filled gaze as he taunted me, but I decidedly ignored him. Any response from me would only serve to fuel this traitor’s amusement.
It’s true that I’ve currently been rendered completely helpless. My hands were bound by chains that were hanging from the ceiling, and my toes were barely touching the floor. However, the way this rebel put it really made my blood seethe in anger.
“I should have killed that man without any unnecessary flattery. It would be better to gather the hostages here…… Gonzales, respond. Bring those women to me. James, do not care about the damage to the ship. Finish that man off. At the very least, stall him as long as you can. Let those bothersome bots eat an EMP. I shall allow its use.”
After seemingly hearing the positive responses of his subordinates, Daybit nodded in satisfaction and turned toward me once more. Then, he turned his attention to the table placed right next to me.
“Hmm. The efficacy of the drugs administered has been quite poor. Perhaps it’s due to the military-grade foreign body purging implant. It’s difficult to adjust the dosage. Should I try the worm……? Or perhaps something else……”
Daybit muttered to himself as he gazed at the unknown thing that was writhing disgustingly inside a small capsule. He’s been constantly injecting suspicious drugs into me for a good while…… I do not know what exactly he hoped to achieve by doing so, but it was utterly repulsive. I was feeling nauseous. But not due to physical factors but a mental one instead.
“There’s a risk of physically destroying the recipient’s brain with this thing…… That’s too much of a hassle, and being easily detectable by scans is also a negative. Perhaps I should just increase the Marionette’s dosage until the foreign body purging implant’s capacity gets overloaded……? But that method also carries an inherent risk……”
『Your Excellency, we have brought the female hostages.』
While Daybit was stuck fretting about something, a voice that appeared to belong to one of his subordinates rang out. Since he mentioned female hostages, it was probably Hiro’s crew members. This is bad. Those girls do not have a foreign body purging implant, unlike me. Hence, they were probably incapable of resisting the effects of Daybit’s suspicious drugs.
“Good work. Enter–……”
The moment the door opened, Daybit’s body suddenly straightened out, then he collapsed to the floor face up. His body trembled intermittently, the whites of his eyes were showing, and he was frothing at the mouth while remaining collapsed. Just what had happened?
“Uwah…… Earl Ixamal’s looking real bad.”
“Is he really okay?”
“I did overdo it a little, but there is no threat to his life.”
Hiro’s crew members entered the room from behind a big-bodied officer and checked out the fainted rebel without a trace of panic on their faces. The officer in question also looked at his fallen superior without any reaction whatsoever. Now that I’ve gotten a better look at him, it appeared that his eyes were out of focus…… Was he being controlled in some way?
“Oh my. That’s quite the look you have there. How are you feeling?”
“The worst. Could you please release me already?”
“I’ll free you right away!”
“I will turn this man into my puppet as well.”
I had no idea how they pulled it off, but it seemed that they overcame the crisis on their own. When the priestess from the Holy Vuelzarus Empire – I believe her name was Kugi? – placed her hand on top of the fallen rebel’s forehead, he began to convulse even more violently…… Was he really going to be fine?
“If you’re going to control that man, then please hurry. Hiro is going to die at this rate.”
While glancing sideways at Mimi-san who was trying her best to search for a way to lower the chains in order to free me, I pointed my chin toward the holo-display showing Hiro struggling desperately despite being subjected to intense attacks.
“Uwah, that’s really bad. Kugi, hurry up.”
“Just a bit more. He’s more stubborn than I first thought.”
While saying so, Kugi-san gazed down upon the convulsing rebel with cruel-looking, ice-cold eyes. The psionic powers of those from the Holy Vuelzarus Empire truly weren’t something to be underestimated…… To think she would be able to knock an imperial noble out without even giving him the chance to fight back, and then proceed to turn him into controlled a puppet. As an imperial noble and military officer, it’s not something I would usually condone, but given the circumstances, I had no choice but to acquiesce to her methods.
“Oh, is it this console? Like this?”
“Ow! Oow! That’s raising me instead! The other way around please!”
“I-I’m sorry!”
Why did she end up raising me even further? Though I am thankful for the rescue.
