Chapter 95
Chapter 95
Why Do You Look So Miserable
***
***
“It didn’t flip over.”
The roof had been completely blown off, and the van had unintentionally been transformed into a convertible, but that was the extent of my impression.
Then again, Im Sol had been living a turbulent life lately. Her driving skills must have improved noticeably.
“We managed to stop safely on the third try. Experience really does matter.”
“This is not the time for jokes.”
After checking the object reflected in the side mirror, Im Sol swallowed dryly. A round main body supported by eight legs.
For her, who still kept herself up to date with the latest information, it was a familiar shape.
That was—
“A multi-jointed assault tank.”
“Looks like you’ve seen one before?”
“It was a long time ago, but even Baekdu participated in the competitive bidding.”
Although our foundational technology had been lacking, and we had ultimately been forced to scrap the entire project.
Needless to say, interference from a certain corporation at the time had also been part of the reason.
They said enemies met on narrow bridges. The uninvited guest that appeared out of nowhere was a weapon developed by none other than that ‘Nodetech.’
“Fourth-generation Heavy Armor, Dive. I heard it was still under secret research, but I didn’t expect to run into it here.”
“It looks like they were conducting a mobility test nearby.”
That, too, was a method of measuring its effectiveness as a weapon. I had heard that such tests were often carried out in abandoned colonies to gather data as close to real combat as possible.
No one would care if a few Outriders wandering the ruins ended up dead.
Who would come to investigate, and who would come to punish them?
“So this is the card Team 2 prepared.”
No wonder he had spoken so meaningfully before dying. I clicked my tongue indifferently at almost the same moment Im Sol turned the steering wheel.
“We have to run for now!”
Trudge, trudge.
Perhaps because of the shock from the shells that had swept past us, the van couldn’t pick up speed like before, but even so, we had to get as far away as possible.
Powered Armor was one thing, but Heavy Armor belonged in the realm of military weaponry. It boasted a scale and size that could never be operated in the civilian sector. As if to demonstrate that fact outright, even its weight class was on a different level.
“It doesn’t look like they intend to let us.”
Boom!
As if responding to that remark, another shell flew in and scraped along the side of the van. A beat later, the engine that had been sputtering finally stopped altogether.
It hadn’t missed.
It had grazed us on purpose.
As if to say that the slightest movement would turn us into minced meat.
It was abundantly clear they were treating us as nothing more than playthings, and Im Sol had no choice but to clench her teeth.
“We came all this way…”
“Why do you look so miserable? We just have to deal with it.”
“Even you know this is meaningless resistance, Ga-on.”
The military effectiveness rating of Heavy Armor was 4.
It was a level capable of gaining the upper hand in large-scale warfare. Although it was only one tier apart from the MUG—3 Powered Armor, that difference must not be underestimated.
The meanings evoked by the words localized warfare and large-scale warfare were clearly different.
It was not something an individual could stand against.
And yet, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, I pulled a long case from the back seat and stepped outside.
At a glance, it even looked like a guitar case.
Come to think of it, I had moved it over from the pickup truck.
Since I had treated the equipment with such care from the very start, Im Sol had been curious as well. But she did not need to ask. It was revealed soon enough.
An antique that did not suit the 24th century—
“A sword?”
There was no way something like that could contend against it.
At that very moment, flames burst once more from the muzzle brake.
This was on an entirely different level from the warning shots before. The barrel was aimed directly at the van.
This couldn’t be avoided.
In that fleeting instant, Im Sol despaired at the conclusion drawn by her Second Brain, but I stepped forward as though it were no problem at all.
The shell split into two and flew off into the distance before crashing down, after those contrasting reactions had crossed paths.
“Wha…?”
The entire sequence had been so natural that her mind could not process it. But the causality was obvious.
The moment I swung my arm, the shell had been cleaved in two.
As if searching for the answer, Im Sol looked at the sword in my hand and only then let out an exclamation.
A transparent blade that refracted sunlight in scattered reflections, it was—
“A monomolecular blade?”
“Hide somewhere suitable.”
Before Im Sol even had time to respond, I disappeared from her sight.
Leaving deep skid marks carved into the ground.
***
Humanity, engraving the lessons of the Third World War into its heart, had agreed not to use artificial intelligence in warfare. The development of unmanned weapons signified lawless military expansion. If wars took on the form of proxy battles, what followed was nothing but self-destructive attrition.
That was the reason the Artificial Intelligence Restriction Act had been enacted.
However, it was not applied everywhere. If one looked around, there were always one or two areas that fell into ambiguity.
Autonomous driving was one such case, and patrol drones were another.
As a civilization formed upon highly advanced technology, it was difficult to perfectly restrict its very foundation.
The modern autopilot system was no different.
Though it sounded like a device that merely assisted in controlling complex weaponry, inside it was a program that had repeated machine learning countless times, approaching artificial intelligence as closely as possible.
The pilot served as nothing more than proof that the program was not illegal.
They had reached the point of using even humans as resources in order to benefit from artificial intelligence.
Needless to say, Dive stood on that very extension.
Boom!
After calmly slicing apart another shell, I rapidly closed the distance with Dive.
That made three shots already.
The one that had been responding halfheartedly must have realized that something was going wrong, as it began firing in rapid succession.
Mounted at the center of its frame was a 250mm electrothermal-chemical cannon.
It was an artillery piece that sought synergy by combining the advantages of explosive propulsion and electromagnetic acceleration.
Moreover, unlike a railgun that could only fire metal projectiles, it could also deploy high-explosive shells with physical mass.
In terms of firepower, it was bound to be exceptional.
In that instant, the muzzle of Dive rotated along the trajectory of my movement.
Detection, targeting, firing.
The three processes unfolded in the blink of an eye, and once again a flash was engraved across the air.
It was a bombardment executed with ruthless speed, devoid of any extraneous thought—but as if I had been waiting for it, I set my blade against it.
Slice.
The shell separated with absurd ease.
It was no wonder its attacks kept failing. Every procedure was executed by the book. Since it did not attempt any psychological warfare, its patterns were bound to be read.
This time was no different.
The moment I was locked on, I accelerated one beat faster and charged straight beneath Dive’s main body.
A place that could be called a blind spot.
Which also meant it was the stage from which the most lethal blow could be delivered.
Thud.
Using my entire body as an axis, I spun.
Centrifugal force swelled limitlessly, and within it a single line flashed, cleaving through Dive.
Even if it was laminated armor designed for maximum efficiency by layering different alloys, before a monomolecular blade it was no more than onion skin. But I only indulged in the joy of cutting through it for a brief moment.
Suddenly, Dive collapsed downward.
Boom.
Just as I slipped out before being crushed, four pairs of sentry guns rose from within Dive almost simultaneously.
Avoiding the rain of bullets, I stepped on one of Dive’s legs and leapt high, gripping the monomolecular blade in reverse.
Then I brought it down with all my strength.
Certain that I could at least peel away the upper section of its hull.
But contrary to that expectation, the blade failed to penetrate and was instead deflected outward. It was not that the monomolecular blade’s battery pack had been discharged.
It was simply that the armor’s performance exceeded the sharpness of the sword.
What is this?
There was no time to ponder the unexpected anomaly.
Dive convulsed violently to shake off the pest clinging to it.
Though I landed in a near tumble, I used even that as a prelude to my next movement and widened the distance.
Naturally, I braced for another incoming shell—but to my surprise, Dive ignited the boosters at its rear and shot high into the air.
It wasn’t fleeing.
Quite the opposite.
As if it had risen to its limit, the machine spread its outer armor wide like wings and began to fall without hesitation. It even used the explosions generated by firing its shells as propulsion.
It looked no different from a meteor.
“So that’s why it’s called Dive.”
Even as I let out a hollow laugh, I did not stop running. If my prediction was correct, that was a super-massive weapon. In terms of sheer physical force, it would surely surpass even its main cannon.
Sure enough, the air above was torn apart, and a terrifying roar erupted.
Boom!
The moment Dive struck the ground, heaven and earth shook, and I felt as though the horizon itself were rising.
A foretold calamity.
Using collapsing buildings like stepping stones in a line of falling dominoes, I barely escaped the aftermath and leaned against a wall to steady my breathing. I could not even remember how many flying chunks of rock had struck me as they burst outward like an explosion.
If I were not immortal, I would have been reduced to pulp while running.
Still, speaking calmly, that was all.
The move Dive had displayed was certainly threatening. How could it not be? At a glance, it looked as though it had been developed specifically for use against armies.
But I questioned how long it could be sustained. It was an operational method no different from a suicide charge, where the frame had to endure the entirety of the impact.
Of course, reality differed from imagination.
“Not even a scratch.”
Its durability was abnormally high to the point of being tiresome. Then again, hadn’t it even shrugged off the monomolecular blade?
At this point, I had a rough idea what kind of material composed Dive’s exterior.
“A monomolecular structure.”
If the monomolecular blade was a weapon that realized the concept of cutting by severing molecular bonds, then a monomolecular structure was a technology that fixed an object’s structure into a single molecular unit to achieve extreme durability.
Just twenty years ago, its feasibility had been so low that it remained only at the hypothesis stage.
Time truly was relentless.
Now, it seemed the theory had been established to the point of being applied to military weaponry.
I needed to devise a strategy to break through it—unless I wanted to drag this stalemate on indefinitely.
Fortunately, there was someone I could consult for advice.
“Miss Phytoncide.”
[You contact me after so long and that’s the first thing you say?]
“We met just last week.”
[Well, that’s true.]
After Dive’s high-altitude fall, the surroundings had been reduced to ruins. As I ran between the abundance of cover, Noah voiced her doubt upon hearing my ragged breathing.
[By the way, what is that noise? Are you at a construction site or something?]
“Something like that. The demolition crew here is no joke.”
[I can’t help feeling like you’ve gotten yourself tangled in something troublesome. Is that just my imagination?]
“Whether it’s troublesome or not depends on your answer.”
[What is it?]
“What’s the method to counter a monomolecular structure?”
[That’s quite an abrupt question. It’s still something only parts of the Mars Defense Force and certain megacorps are researching… Wait a second. Who did you get tangled up with?!]
Perhaps because the question was so unexpected, Noah’s reaction was fervent. But I did not even listen and continued.
“I’m a late learner, you see. So I’d appreciate a simple and quick explanation.”