Free Web NovelAmidst the dust and smoke, the white mecha, bearing six wings, slowly landed.
At this moment, Pavela could feel the entire mecha vibrating.
It was the kind of vibration one feels from a steam engine that has been running overloaded for too long and is about to break down.
The six wings vanished.
Those crimson lights slowly dimmed, like smoke dispersed by the wind.
The patterns on the mecha's body also faded.
They shifted from a piercing scarlet to a dull, deep red, finally vanishing completely beneath the white armor.
Then came the steam.
All the cooling vents opened simultaneously.
White steam gushed out, forming a thick fog around the mecha.
Pavela looked outward.
The steam gradually dissipated.
Her vision slowly cleared.
She saw the ruins.
That giant, once forty meters tall, no longer existed.
After it fell, the destruction continued.
Now, the entire ground of the hill was scattered with countless tiny fragments.
There were wood chips, dust, and charred ashes.
They blanketed the earth as if someone had put an entire forest into a grinder and then scattered the powder here.
There were no large wrecks.
No broken tree trunks.
No intact vines.
Only powder.
Pavela stared at the ruins.
Hmm.
The target was eliminated.
Very thoroughly.
When she made the throw, she had already marked that woman in the green dress as the target.
Then the spear went to find her.
To find her.
To pierce her.
To destroy her.
And—to destroy everything related to her.
The giant's body was constructed by the woman using Return Power.
Those trees, vines, and roots were all connected together by her will.
So, when the spear struck her, all the plants that had established a connection with her were judged as "part of the target."
And then they were dissolved together.
The woman herself, as the core target of the spear, didn't even leave behind any powder.
She was dead through and through.
Regarding this, Pavela didn't have any special feelings.
That woman wanted to kill Victoria.
She wanted to kill her, and she wanted to kill others too.
In a situation where there was absolutely no room for negotiation, she would never go soft.
If she had to kill, she killed.
There was nothing to dwell on.
She continued to observe the ruins.
Then she saw several people wearing guard uniforms.
They were lying on the ground.
Motionless.
But their chests seemed to be rising and falling.
They should still be alive.
Perhaps it was because they were not constructed by the woman, but just happened to be trapped inside the giant's body.
Perhaps it was because they had passed out earlier and did not harbor any malice.
In any case, the spear did not identify them as targets.
During that explosion, the spear bypassed them.
Pavela thought for a moment.
Hmm, this could be considered a good thing.
For those few guards, it was a stroke of luck to escape with their lives.
For her, it meant a few more witnesses.
And a few more subjects to interrogate for information.
It would be fine to take them along in a while.
However—
Pavela looked down at the dashboard on the console.
Fuel reserves: 2%.
Coolant /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ temperature: Danger.
Power system: Overload.
The state of this mecha now was basically that of scrap metal.
The power of that strike was indeed immense, but the wear and tear on the mecha body was also extreme.
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-- 【 Warning! Warning! host physiological indicators abnormal! 】 --
-- 【 Heart rate 192 beats/minute! 】 --
-- 【 Nervous system load 256%! 】 --
The familiar mechanical voice exploded in her mind again.
It seemed the toll on the pilot was not small either.
"Yo," Pavela said.
"Long time no see."
Ever since she began to possess both the Path of the Tower and the Path of the Magician, the system's dormancy periods had become longer and longer.
It only woke up whenever her body underwent significant changes, and then it would start, like now, emitting sharp, screeching blasts.
-- 【 The hell you mean, long time no see?! 】 --
-- 【 I worked my ass off repairing this body of yours halfway, and the moment I turn around, you poke an even bigger hole in it?! 】
"Eh?" Pavela blinked.
"So you weren't sleeping?"
-- 【 Sleeping?! 】 --
-- 【 You call this sleeping?! 】 --
-- 【 I'm working my life away repairing this broken body of yours! 】 --
-- 【 I finally managed to fix the bone fractures halfway, and you immediately go and cause three brand new ones! 】 --
-- 【 I just got the nerve damage suppressed, and then you have to go and connect to that damn Spinal Probe! 】 --
-- 【 Ever since you touched that Return Power, I haven't had a single good day! 】
"...Oh, oh." Pavela's voice softened a little.
"So you were... repairing the body."
She paused.
"Um... thanks for your hard work?"
-- 【...Thanks for your hard work? 】 --
-- 【 That's it? Thanks for your hard work?! 】
"I..." Pavela's voice was even quieter.
"It's not like I did it on purpose."
"Wasn't it an emergency..."
"And... I didn't know you were helping me repair it..."
"You didn't say..."
-- 【 I didn't say?! 】 --
-- 【 I warn you every single time! 】 --
-- 【 Heart rate too high! Nervous system load overloaded! Remaining survival time insufficient! 】 --
-- 【 When have you ever listened?! 】
"I'm sorry," Pavela said, feeling a bit guilty.
"I was wrong."
"Really."
It was quiet in Pavela's mind for a few seconds.
-- 【...Forget it. 】 --
-- 【 I'm not going to argue with you anymore. 】 --
-- 【 It's useless anyway. 】 --
-- 【 You'll just do it again next time. 】 --
-- 【 Anyway, let me tell you the specifics of this time. 】 --
-- 【 First, I have to admit that Dr. Lovelace really has some skills when it comes to mecha technology. 】 --
-- 【 The design of this mecha is indeed very intricate. 】 --
-- 【 She embedded resonance stones into every node of the Spinal Probe. 】 --
-- 【 By connecting directly to the nervous system through the spinal cord, she let the resonance stones make direct contact with your nerves. 】 --
-- 【 Then, by utilizing the resonance between the Return Power and the resonance stones, she forcibly raised your sequence and boosted your Return Power. 】 --
-- 【 It can even help you share the mental burden through this system. 】 --
-- 【 But— 】 --
-- 【 This power is not free. 】
-- 【 The Path of the Magician is one thing. 】 --
-- 【 You are only Sequence IV, and the resonance stones just pushed you to the edge of Sequence V. 】 --
-- 【 The sequence isn't high, so the erosion amplification isn't too extreme. 】 --
-- 【 But the Path of the Tower is a different story. 】 --
-- 【 You are already Sequence V to begin with. 】 --
-- 【 And then you actively released the restrictions of the Return Power to the resonance stones. 】 --
-- 【 It pulled you directly from Sequence V all the way to the critical point of Sequence VI. 】 --
-- 【 You were just a tiny bit away from beginning to manifest the essence of the Path of the Tower. 】 --
-- 【 Do you know what that means? 】
"...I don't know," Pavela said honestly.
-- 【 It means you will start to become destruction itself. 】 --
-- 【 At that point, everything you see will automatically reveal the trajectory of destruction. 】 --
-- 【 The ground you walk on will crack. 】 --
-- 【 The walls you touch will collapse. 】 --
-- 【 The people you gaze at will... forget it, never mind. 】 --
-- 【 In short, a Sequence VI Wayfarer of the Path of the Tower is basically a walking natural disaster. 】
"Oh." Pavela thought about it.
"Sounds like it's actually quite powerful?"
-- 【 Powerful, my ass! 】 --
-- 【 Do you think the erosion of Sequence VI is a joke?! 】 --
-- 【 The erosion of Sequence V of the Path of the Tower has already made your body unbearable! 】 --
-- 【 Not to mention this time it was forcibly pulled up! 】 --
-- 【 Those erosions didn't go through an adaptation period, didn't go through a buffer, and just smashed onto you like that! 】
Pavela looked at her own hands.
Nothing unusual.
"But I feel... fine right now?"
-- 【 No shit! 】 --
-- 【 You're still connected to the mecha! 】 --
-- 【 The resonance stones are still helping you share the load! 】 --
-- 【 Once you disconnect— 】 --
-- 【 All the backlash will return to you. 】
Pavela blinked again.
She asked cautiously: "Then... about how painful will it be this time?"
-- 【... 】 --
-- 【 Do you remember the feeling of connecting to the Spinal Probe for the first time? 】
"I remember." Pavela nodded.
She would never forget that feeling.
The moment the metal probe pierced her spine.
The nerves being forcibly torn open.
The feeling of consciousness being dragged into the mecha.
It was painful enough to make her want to die.
-- 【 Multiply that pain by three or four. 】 --
-- 【 Then stretch the time to over thirty minutes. 】 --
-- 【 Plus... 】 --
-- 【 Plus you will clearly feel something taking root in your spirit. 】 --
-- 【 Twining like vines. 】 --
-- 【 Crawling like bugs. 】 --
-- 【 You will hear whispers. 】 --
-- 【 You will see hallucinations. 】 --
-- 【 You will feel destruction blooming in your brain. 】 --
-- 【 Your consciousness will be put into a meat grinder, slowly ground. 】 --
-- 【 Ground for half an hour. 】 --
-- 【 And you won't be able to pass out. 】 --
-- 【 Because the Return Power erosion will force your consciousness to remain awake. 】 --
-- 【 Making you experience the whole process completely, clearly, second by second. 】
"Hiss—" Pavela gasped.
"Um..." Her voice was a bit dry.
"Is there any solution?"
-- 【 Yes. 】 --
-- 【 Don't disconnect. 】 --
-- 【 Call for rescue now. 】 --
-- 【 Have someone send a medical team over immediately. 】 --
-- 【 Preferably the kind with sedatives, nerve-blocking drugs, and mental stabilization devices. 】 --
-- 【 Then, with professional medical supervision, slowly disconnect. 】 --
-- 【 This way, at least you can reduce the pain to... hmm... 】 --
-- 【 Reduce it to the level of just wanting to die. 】
"..."
-- 【 Listen to me. 】 --
-- 【 Don't try to be a hero. 】 --
-- 【 This is really not something you can tough out. 】 --
-- 【 If you disconnect now, I guarantee you will pass out on the spot. 】 --
-- 【 And while passed out, you will remain conscious. 】 --
-- 【 That feeling... 】 --
-- 【 Trust me, you won't want to experience it. 】
