CH 197

The giant beasts don’t even give me time to think. They come at me in groups, trying to destroy the Arleo with their huge bodies. I can only shoot the Shining Smasher later, since there’s only one shot left. I suppress the urge to shoot the group and get closer, I respond by pulling out Estoc that was attached to my waist.

Attacking with Estoc is not enough to defeat even the smaller giant beasts with a single blow, and while I am dealing with one, I am surrounded by the others, which quickly put me in a dangerous situation. I had to get out of there before I was completely surrounded, find a place with less density of giant beasts and run for it. I kept doing this, but now I was running out of places to run.

“Master, the speed at which the giant beasts are emerging is abnormal. It may be that what was forcibly suppressed by the seal for 10,000 years is erupting all at once. We can’t predict what will happen next, and it’s extremely dangerous, so I recommend that we leave this place as soon as possible.”

“Even if we leave, Rafishal is still working on the seal, and if we run towards Fugaku, the others will be in danger.”

“We can leave the sealing work to Rafishal and withdraw all our forces. The sealing will be completed in a few minutes, there’s a good chance that we’ll be able to seal it in time before the ruins of the sealing point that Rafishal is working on are destroyed.”

“If the sealing is completed, what will happen to the giant beasts that are here already? Will they just disappear?”

“No, the beasts that have already emerged will continue to exist here.”

“Then what will happen to Rafishal after the seal is complete?”

“He’ll almost certainly be killed by the behemoths.”

“Then we can’t do that! Isn’t there a way to prevent anyone from dying?”

“……Yuta, you’d better do as Feri says. The emergence of the giant beasts is abnormal. It’s truly unexpected…….If we stay here, we’ll all die.”

It was Rafishal’s voice, Feri had made this suggestion to me while communicating with him.

“No, Rafishal! This is non-negotiable!”

“This is my fault for not being able to fully understand the threat of the giant beasts. Let me at least take the blame at the end.”

“Don’t be silly, Rafishal! What about your dangerous brothers and sisters who seem to be trying to destroy the human race! You think you can just leave that to those who survived, take responsibility until the end!”

“It’s hard for me to say it, but……”

“Feri! As your master, I command you. Tell me the best way to do this so no one else dies!”

Hearing my words, Feri asked Rafishal after a short pause,

“………Metis, tell me the exact time it will take to complete the sealing.”

“Feri! What the hell are you thinking?”

“Just do the math!”

Feri’s tone of voice changed. It seemed to be the words of a person with a complete heart, not the usual mechanical speech of an AI. She also called Rafishal by his real name, Metis.

“720 seconds.”

“Yuta, tell Jean to prepare to retreat, and when the seal is complete, retrieve the Rafishal and get out of here immediately.”

“Okay.”

For some reason, I didn’t feel uncomfortable when Feri called me Yuta.

“Wait, Feri, what are you thinking?”

“After 250 seconds, Arleo and the Shining Smasher’s core will fuse and unleash a self-destruct attack. That will destroy 98% of the giant beasts that are sprouting and create a safe time of over 500 seconds.”

“Nonsense! That’s far too dangerous!”

“No, if we use Arleo as the detonator, most of the energy in the core will be released outward. The damage to the core cockpit will be minor, and the chances of Yuta and I surviving are as high as 92% or more.”

“There’s a nearly ten percent chance that we’ll die, that’s not low!”

“Still, it’s the best way for all of us to survive, in my opinion. The rest is up to Yuta’s decision though.”

I didn’t hesitate when she said that.

“I’m going to do it, I’ll take my chances that we all survive!”

“I hate……myself for being so helpless…….Feri, you must protect Yuta!”

“I know. You’re my precious Master.”

When I told Jean and my friends about the suicide bombing, they naturally objected.

“You idiot! What the hell are you trying to do? We don’t have to do that, we can all work together.”

“Yuta, I won’t allow you to blow yourself up! I’ll get angry if you do anything dangerous!”

“Ugh……Yuta……don’t die……if Yuta dies, Nanami……”

“Isn’t there any other way?”

Linnecarlo seems to be in a medical capsule and hasn’t heard about this, but I have a feeling she’s going to be pissed later.

“It’s okay, because according to Feri and Rafishal, self-destructing doesn’t mean exploding Arleo, it’s a type of attack that uses the out-of-control energy of the core.”

No one could convince me otherwise, and it was time to go, so I made my way to the center point of the horde.