novelraw Chapter 116
Chapter 116
Chapter 116
I had always wondered.
How strong was I?
After curing that damned terminal illness and nearly restoring all my modules, just how far could my specs reach?
The strongest in the world—Aaron Stingray.
Ever since regaining that overwhelming strength, I had never once used my full power.
At best, I had only faced weaklings who crumbled into dust the moment I snapped a finger or swung my blade lightly.
In that sense, I felt a bit grateful to Araya.
He had prepared the perfect opponent for me to test my strength against.
A strange sense of exhilaration.
As I stood before the enemy I had to defeat, an indescribable heat welled up in my chest.
Aaron’s personality could no longer torment me, but fragments of him still remained, feeding me with strength.
Before me loomed the massive tentacled monster trying to swallow the Academy.
The way it coiled like a serpent, climbing the buildings, reminded me of a dragon struggling to ascend to the heavens.
The fact that it was raining only added to the impression.
Unfortunately, a level 2 Anti-rain wasn’t enough to deal with such a massive creature.
Not completely ineffective, but no more than a drop in the bucket.
Worse, it might even cause distortions.
So I had to defeat it.
None other than me.
Thinking that, I fixed my gaze on the monster.
‘There it is.’
My mechanical eyes, embedded in place of my original ones, locked onto its massive body.
Just by staring at it, nausea and countless negative emotions tried to overwhelm me, but the combat modules installed within me easily blocked the symptoms.
Combat hormones, including adrenaline, were forcefully secreted.
The mana particles seeping into my body were diluted.
Cells damaged by mana were rapidly restored by nanomachines, reverting them to their original state.
That wasn’t all.
With the help of the auxiliary processor, my modules perfectly analyzed the creature’s weak points.
They simulated optimized movement paths, attack methods, and timing suited to my specs, reporting back to me the most efficient way to kill it.
And to crown it all—
‘Aaron Stingray’s innate combat sense.’
The fragmented memories of Aaron inside me screamed to fight.
They shouted how he had fought until now, how he would always win.
Every nerve in my body awakened, down to the very tips.
From head to toe.
Innate combat instinct, which no module could replicate, was doused with the fuel of my desire to fight.
“C-Can you really handle something like that? Even for you……”
“Don’t worry.
Just wait patiently.”
I stroked Evangeline’s head once as she whimpered beside me, and with the mood of a father heading off to work after opening the front door in the morning—
“I’ll be back.”
With those light words, I kicked off the ground.
The distance to the monster was quite far, but with a single leap, I vaulted over the Academy’s wall and landed against the outer wall of the building’s first floor.
The Academy’s defense turrets suddenly swiveled toward the building.
For a moment, I thought they were targeting me, but instead, they unleashed a barrage of shells at the massive tentacles.
I understood why soon enough.
‘Ciel is holding her ground in her own way.’
But since the system had been designed to repel human intruders, it could not deal effective damage against such a monster.
I still had to kill it myself.
‘Start with the head.’
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t the head but the tip, but it didn’t matter.
The body was too thick for me to cut cleanly with [Techblade] or [Cloud Spider].
Not that it was impossible—but the efficiency was abysmal.
‘Besides, if that whole thing collapses at once, the collateral damage would be massive.’
So, I planned to lop it off bit by bit from the top down.
First, I extended [Cloud Spider]’s thread and anchored it to the Academy building’s highest point.
Grabbing hold of it, I shot upward in an instant, soaring past the 100th floor to the monster’s head.
The distance between us shrank in a flash.
Arriving at my target in the blink of an eye, I twisted mid-air and poised my blade at the monster.
At this angle, I wouldn’t use [Techblade True].
The strain on my body was enormous, and I risked slicing through the Academy building along with it.
Ssssshhhk—!
Driving the blade deep into a tentacle, I slashed hard.
The flesh split open, and black bodily fluid burst forth like a fountain.
Screeeeee—!
Though it lacked vocal cords, the monster twisted its body, emitting a shriek of pain.
In shock, it even retracted the spines it had unleashed from its body.
Only then, perhaps recognizing me as a true threat, did the creature finally focus its attention on me.
It writhed, detaching from the Academy building.
Then, its tip aimed directly at me, still suspended in mid-air.
I tried to predict its attack with the help of the combat assistance program, but—
-----
[Error. Calculation failed.]
-----
“Hmm.”
Unfortunately, since that thing wasn’t an ordinary [Arcane], the combat assistance program couldn’t function properly.
Damn it, I would have to ask Miyu to replace it with another program sometime soon.
At least, the fragments of Aaron’s memories engraved into my body naturally drew out the optimized conclusion.
Instinctively, I latched a thread onto the Academy building and yanked—
Swaaaash—!
The massive tentacle expanded its bulk with terrifying force, trying to stab me with its spikes.
How a creature with no eyes and such a massive body could target me so precisely was a true mystery.
The spike shot out in an instant, grazing my side by a hair’s breadth.
The violent shockwave followed after, flinging me into the air.
Kwagagagagagagagaga—!
The shockwave caused by the monster crushed the armored plating of the Academy’s outer wall in unison.
Had my body been that of an ordinary human, I wouldn’t have just been blown away—I would have been shredded like I’d been hit by a cannon.
‘Good thing I didn’t take it head-on.’
Thanks to it, I had the rare experience of flying higher than even the 250-floor Academy in nothing but my bare body.
‘Now it’s my turn to pay it back.’
With no parachute or anything else, I went into a free fall.
I adjusted my posture to minimize air resistance and maintain maximum speed.
I fell lower and lower.
The ground that had seemed distant rushed up before my eyes in an instant.
I calculated the timing in my head.
‘Three, two, one… now.’
Swoosh!
In that moment, I shot out another thread, twisting my vertical fall.
I harnessed gravitational acceleration, running clockwise along the Academy wall.
In the blink of an eye, I reached the monster’s head again.
It couldn’t follow my rapid movement and faltered in confusion.
‘It’s over.’
I clung to its head and drove my blade in.
At the same time, I pushed [Techblade] to maximum output.
The blade, its cutting power raised to the limit, sliced through its flesh as though it were tofu.
I maintained my momentum, carving ruthlessly downward through its body.
Slashhhh—!
It felt less like holding a blade and more like wielding a brush.
Despite cutting through the monster’s flesh, there was no resistance at all.
In an instant, I continued my attack without breaking the blade’s trajectory, cleaving all the way down to the ground floor where its roots had emerged.
Chiiiiiik—!
The overheated [Techblade] shone with a terrifying brilliance.
Raindrops from the sky evaporated instantly upon touching it.
Steam burst from my body as well, my overload rate spiking from module use.
At last, the cooling system in my body activated, expelling the heat that had built up to its limit.
It was then.
“…Young Master.”
“Maria.”
Maria appeared from somewhere and held an umbrella over me.
In her other hand, she held Evangeline, dressed like a little chick, by the hand.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Yes.”
When I took the umbrella, Maria opened another new long umbrella for Evangeline, then began to wipe the rain from my soaked body with a towel.
Evangeline looked up at me with troubled eyes and asked,
“F-Finished? But it’s still standing over there…”
Before Evangeline even finished speaking—
Soon.
Black rain began to fall from the sky.
To be precise, it wasn’t rain, but bodily fluid leaking out as the monster’s body split apart.
At first, it held its original form, but then, following the path I had carved, it fragmented into hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of pieces, crashing mercilessly to the ground.
I had cut it finely to minimize damage to the Academy, though a few larger chunks remained.
They fell to the ground, forming small craters upon impact.
“M-Mamaaaaa—!”
Terrified by the sight, Evangeline screamed.
Maria hugged her tightly in her arms.
I gazed at the black flesh raining from the sky for a moment before giving Maria an order.
“Can you collect all of this?”
Maria looked a little surprised, then quickly returned to her capable secretary’s expression and bowed her head.
“Of course. I’ll ensure not a single piece ends up in the hands of other corporations or civilians.”
“Good. I’ll trust you with it.”
The massive tentacled monster—‘Outer God’—had been a [Arcane] of very high grade.
Normally, one wouldn’t even be able to encounter it, so it was certainly worth studying.
In the original story, the protagonist had used it as a servant, but that wasn’t an option for me.
Instead, I intended to extract its essence from the corpse and forge it into a module.
“Let’s return. I’m tired.”
“What about the Academy side?”
“The students…”
While I was answering—
Someone began a video call with me.
It was Ciel.
[Aaron~!]
“You’re safe, Ciel. And the others?”
[Everyone’s fine~!]
On screen, she looked quite haggard, but at least her life wasn’t in danger.
[We survived thanks to you, Aaron!]
“So you were watching this side.”
[Of course! I almost died, but you showed up right on time~!]
Ciel laughed softly, finally relieved.
[And ‘the other side’ went according to plan, too~!]
She then showed me the footage of the Academy 150th Floor Cyber Park captured by a camera.
And what I saw there made me smile unconsciously.
The indoor park, a total mess.
Battle scars were everywhere, but the students were rejoicing simply to be alive.
And at the center of it all was Iri.
Those who had once scorned her for being from the Fallen were now surrounding her, each offering praise for her efforts.
Iri blushed at their reactions, stepping back awkwardly.
As if waiting for the moment, someone grabbed her and tossed her high into the air.
Soon, other students joined in, lifting her up and down in celebration.
Truly.
It was a sight to warm the heart.