Chapter 57: 10.6 Particle Effects?

Okay, change of plans.

[*BANG! BANG!*]

[HP: 120/220]

I forced myself to calm down as my health rapidly approached the point of being below half as I quickly scanned the environment. This stalemate was something I couldn't let happen for long, lest Shizu actually died because of how long it took for me to take care of things.

"There's no use in running from the might of [Vestyge]!"

Ignoring his nationalistic bent, I ran along the shoreline, still taking advantage of the errors as I made my way to an outcrop of small rocks. Bending down and picking some of them up, I then swerved on a dime and ran right at the annoying man.

"Do you really want to die that badly?!"

[*BANG! BANG! BANG!*]

The hearty chuckle this guy let out while firing his rifle stoked a sort of anger in me as I zigzagged through the loose sand. I almost lost my footing with each sharp turn I did, but it'd be worth it if I could just get close and try something stupid.

"What're you- Aggh! What in the world?!"

Throwing a bunch of rocks at him would've been ridiculous, but the distraction gave me more than enough time to get right in front of him and shove his rifle up to the air. Flashing a grin, then placed both pistols right at his open stomach.

"Here's your blood transfusion, sir."

[*BANG!*]

"GGHHKK!!"

I chuckled at my own one-liner even as I found myself getting shoved right out of his range, his strength still considerable even as he sported two gunshot wounds on either side of his stomach. His cool steampunk shirt was bleeding now, and he was actually panting as he looked at me like I was his worst nightmare ever imagined.

"A... A marksman engaging in melee... How ingenious..." he surprisingly complemented. "You have this round, [Somatic], but the Republic will have its revenge..."

[*HISS!*]

Before I could even aim to deliver a final blow, however, another one of those mechanical monstrosities appeared before me. It wasn't a spider, this time. Instead, it looked like some weird combination of a boat and a grasshopper. Wait... It was probably more accurate to say that it was a boat with four legs glued onto it on each side.

"What's your name, [Somatic]?"

I blinked. Did I even want to say my name to this guy? Wait... Why did this feel like an honest to god Reputation System question?

"Moriya," I found myself answering truthfully. "My name's Moriya."

"A proper Kattleynan then..." he wistfully replied. "Still, the Republic could use more-"

"Not interested," I cut him off, aiming my guns towards him as I continued. "Now leave before I destroy your ride too."

To my surprise, he only chuckled at my threat, his hearty laugh echoing through the darkness even as distant explosions seemed to ring through the air.

"You've no idea what you're fighting against, do you!" the man laughed out, not even bothering to hide his condescension as he spoke. "The [Shallow Deep] will belong to [Vestyge] soon enough. [Marquee] is on the verge of falling. After which, your oh so powerful Empire will be the only thing standing between us and imposing order on this chaos-infested world."

I couldn't even open my mouth to speak as his mechanical boat quickly disembarked, its legs kicking through the water as he drifted off to god knows where. I didn't know what he was on about, or what this whole [Vestyge] order-chaos stuff even meant. Though, I'm sure it'll all click once I actually got away from all of the stress.

Still... "No [EXP] huh..."

I sighed. I also haven't seen any sort of prompts appear for what was clearly some kind of boss battle. Another [Somatic] huh... I guess there will also be some kind of PvP battle in the near future, and they'll all have some sort of unique power in the same way as I did.

"Ah well... Better make sure Shizu's still alive..."

Ending with a shrug, I made my way back to the outpost. The sounds of fighting seemed to have petered out, but that didn't mean I should let my guard down as I kept myself at the ready.

[*H-Hiss....*]

"There."

I was about to raise my pistols, but as the spider fell to the ground with one final sputter of its steam engine, I couldn't help but voice my surprise at seeing Shizu defeat the thing.

"You actually killed it..." I trailed off.

"A-After the cannon fire stopped, it was so much easier to avoid this thing's attacks," Shizu panted, her fists bloodied as she wiped it over her kimono. "It... It was the least I could do..."

Letting out a tired sigh, I slowly walked towards the woman and placed a hand on her shoulder. I might be too lazy to think about it now, but it was clear that there was something that bothered her whenever she saw that mechanical monstrosity. Whether it's because of an incident or a traumatic experience, I'd figure it out eventually. But for now...

"Let's get some sleep, yeah?" I weakly sounded off. "I'm sure you're tired."

"Yeah..." she breathed out. "This is... My vision was wrong... I'll need some time to think about all this."

I let out a slight chuckle as I led her towards the only thing still remotely standing through the entire outpost. The half-broken lighthouse might not have a roof over it anymore, but at least its foundations were still standing despite all the fighting that had just happened. Leaning on the sturdiest part of the walls, I let Shizu lean on my shoulder as I closed my eyes in an attempt to sleep. The light coming off of the halo above me might be obnoxiously bright, but if the princess didn't even let it bother her, then it sure as hell wouldn't bother me.

"This game.... This world...."

Was it starting to fall apart? Was the engine just not up to the task of upholding this world's foundations? If the main quest had gotten derailed this early, who knows what would happen next.

With that one final thought, I found myself drifting off. Guidance had a lot of things to do. And if this was just the start of it, then I could only hope that she was up to the task.

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