TWLPOD 10

In a tone that was not the least bit sorry, Kay replied nonchalantly as well.

“I can tell your tastes are on the hard side.”

“How embarrassing!”

Thwack! He was hit on the shoulder, and it hurt. He was a guy who could spout soulless words with ease.

The smile that resembled El’s was pleasant to see, yet it also induced irritation, so he was about to add another word when a large vibration was felt from beneath his feet. After righting his swaying body and looking down the hill, he saw a huge crater caused by an explosive in the middle of the battlefield where a fierce struggle was taking place.

“It happens from time to time. A teleportation error where you arrive at a different location than requested.”

“…Are you saying we came to the wrong place?”

“Yep. The request was to return to the Center, but I didn’t expect to be dropped into a battlefield out of the blue.”

Aran, who was watching the scene, took out gloves from his pocket and put them on each hand in turn as he asked.

“Can you fight?”

He doubted his ears.

“Is that a question?”

“Just in case. It would be your first time dealing with machines, right?”

“It is my first time, but….”

Looking down at the battlefield below the dust-strewn cliff, he observed the enemies. Although there were slight differences in their paint jobs, they appeared to be the same model of machine. Full bodies of about six heads tall. The iron bodies, composed of round heads and joints similar to a human’s, were partially holding or had firearms and blades attached, but their way of fighting was not much different from humans.

“Shall we make a bet?”

Kay, who was observing the state of the battle, looked at Aran at his proposal.

“A bet?”

“See that tree over there? The one who gets from down here to there first wins.”

The place his index finger pointed to was where an abnormally huge tree stood tall.

“The prize?”

“Anything you want.”

“I guess they don’t teach you in Lympus. Not to make promises you can’t keep.”

“I’m going to win anyway, though?”

Kay sneered openly.

“If you know you’re going to win, why make a bet?”

“Because winning is fun. Don’t worry. I won’t ask for anything unreasonable.”

“I didn’t say I’d do it.”

“Are you scared you’ll lose?”

Even though he knew it was a provocation, his fists clenched on their own. The conflicting emotions that welled up, making him want to hit him but also feeling like he should hold back when he saw his face, were also irritating.

“Then we’re on?”

“I still didn’t say I would… Hey!”

Aran jumped down the cliff, and Kay, after biting his lip hard, also threw his body into the battlefield after him.

Aiming at the space below his falling feet and igniting a fire, Kay rode the wind that burst out powerfully with the explosion and landed.

[“Enemy Esper detected. Activating extermination process.”]

As electricity from the melted wires sparked and flowed through its broken body, the android still approached, one step at a time. Kay watched the ones that awkwardly mimicked humans move according to their given orders and processes, and quickly snuffed them out, one by one.

‘They’re tougher than I thought.’

The six-heads-tall machines had a structure similar to humans, but their durability was not even comparable. Above all, the material that covered their entire bodies had heat-resistant properties, so it did not melt even at considerable temperatures.

“Ugh.”

The moment an android that was not dead grabbed Kay’s ankle, another android rushed at him. It was a planned combination.

The grabbing hand did not come off easily, and it felt like a desperate struggle, which gave rise to hesitation. The moment the blade tore through his clothes and the tip of the blade touched his skin, a giant spear pierced the machine.

A spear made of light.

Pulling out the pure white spear that radiated brilliance, Aran wrapped a firm arm around the waist of the stumbling Kay and recited in a strong tone.

“Don’t let your guard down. These guys share all their thought circuits.”

The whispering voice was serious as never before, and the arm around his waist firmly held his balance and set him upright.

“You’re not fighting against hundreds of machines. It’s hundreds of bodies with a single brain.”

Understanding that what Aran was conveying was information for fighting here, Kay nodded his head.

“Just remember three things. The fact that each machine will not stop until its internal <Core> is destroyed. The fact that they are a collective that all share a single brain. And finally.”

He threw the spear, blocking a machine that was pouncing on a soldier.

“Survive, no matter what it takes.”

The hand that had been wrapped around him fell away, and his gaze turned toward him.

“Did you get that?”

He realized that this current appearance, nervously wiping off the green oil that had splattered on his face from dismembering a machine, was closer to his true nature. But that too was only for a moment.

“As a bonus, if you can’t survive no matter what you do, or if a critical situation arises.”

The guy’s eyes curved as he smiled.

“Call my name.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

He, without answering, swung his spear, pierced the enemy machine behind him, and let Kay go. Aran trampled on the remaining machine to shatter its core, and Kay, watching him, also dodged a flying iron bar with a shiver.

“Keuk.”

He snatched the firearm from a dead android on the ground and shot at the neck joint of an approaching android. Click. A cheerful report rang out at the same time as the sensation of the trigger being pulled. Not missing the opening on the creaking machine, he thrust his hand in. After crushing the core, which was not visible to the naked eye but caught on his fingertips, with his grip strength and then kicking it away, the machine lost even its faint light and collapsed.

‘If the machine models are the same, is the location of the <Core> also the same?’

The machine that was the same as the one Aran had taken down had its core in the same location as well.

“Kay!”

Apart from the fact that his name was called out loud, he was more surprised because the one who called him was Aran.

The name, called by him for the first time, for some reason, lodged not in his ears but deep in his chest.

“Don’t forget. That we made a bet.”

Beyond the head he had tilted, the tree on the mountain ridge was visible. Kay watched his receding back and ignited his competitive spirit. He dug in under the feet of a machine that was rushing at him with a blade as a weapon, broke its balance and bent its joints, then slammed his fist into it with all his might from behind.

When he thought of melting and breaking the harder-than-expected surface with a large covering of flames, he was finally able to destroy the interior with ease. He grabbed the pink core visible between the charred and melted iron with all his strength.

“Haa, haa.”

He helped up an injured soldier and hid him behind a rock, and climbed the gradual slope while destroying another machine. His heart was beating so fast it hurt, and his mind was solely focused on survival, with no other distracting thoughts coming in at all. In the place where red blood and green oil were mixed, only his nerves were being sharpened.

-Remember me.

Until now, Kay had lived only to remember El.

He lived to keep his promise with him, and he had to survive.

Back then. He had regretted not being able to answer El’s last request, which he saw as he lost consciousness after being attacked by an unidentified assailant, so if he were to live and meet him someday, he wanted to tell him that he had never forgotten that promise for a single moment. That he had always remembered.

-That person is dead.

At that moment, Flash! an intense bolt of lightning struck in the distance.

Like a scolding, telling him not to have idle thoughts on the battlefield.

Kay fumbled for and shattered the core inside the machine that had fallen on top of him, then wreathed his entire body in dark red flames. The scrap metal, melted by the heat, flowed down to the ground, and Kay looked down at the hot liquid.

‘Even if you are dead, I remember everything.’

The words he taught him, the warmth of his embrace, the beating of his heart, his deep breaths, and even the combat he taught him for survival.

Kay cut off the blade attached to the machine’s arm, wrapped the end with a piece of cloth to grip it, and advanced, trampling over the machines that were being sliced apart.

For now, to the tree, and then beyond the end of this war. With a firm purpose in his heart, the path to the tree was cleared as quickly as his strides, which were gradually growing larger.

Kay sublimated all the emotions rushing at him into combat, and slaughtered the machines that clung to his ankles until the very last moment, and climbed the final hill. The tree was right in front of him. At the same time as he stretched out his hand with all his might, Aran’s hand shot past his shoulder. Thump. With their shoulders touching, both their hands reached the tree trunk at the same time. The giant tree shook its branches, scattering green leaves.

It was a close match, but there was only one winner.

The surface of the tree that his fingertips touched was rough. Mystified by the texture, which was distinctly different from what he had imagined, Kay looked up at the old tree without even realizing he had won.

‘A tree….’

It was the very giant tree he had only seen in text, in pictures, and in his imagination. A living, green tree that could not be seen in Willamere, where all sides were filled with desert and even the light was dim because the sun was obscured. The wonder was brief, and the sound of gasping breaths right next to him brought him back to reality.

“Ha… I didn’t think they would swarm at the end.”