Chapter 122: Embracing the Light of Ambition Part 8 Part 1

A new window popped in the corner of my field of vision, displaying me various information about the Non-Standard Tactical Weapon “Suzaku”.

「Now then, let’s see how much of a punch this baby can…… No, not that.」

I didn’t bring this machine here for its firepower.

While I wear the control helm and gaze at the machine hanging in the sky, it gazes right back at me with its lifeless eyes and a set of characters begin to appear in front of my eyes.

I cannot wear the whole Power Armor at once. However, supplying the energy from the reactor to the Non-Standard Tactical Weapon was a whole different story. And here’s the best part: to command the Tactical Beast, you only need a head piece!

The feeling of wearing that helmet was almost similar to my usual mask, but the metallic feeling of it certainly got the point across. It was a component of a Power Armor alright. However, it was a distinct feeling, different from a normal metal helmet.

「Isn’t that thing supposed to temper my visibility? Or maybe it’s some kind of exception……?」

Normally, wearing a helmet impairs your field of vision by a large margin. It wasn’t the case with this thing, but compared to the usual mask that I wear I couldn’t shake off a feeling that something was clearly different in here. Aside from seeing various information about “Suzaku” that the helmet was feeding me in real time, it felt as though my vision was even enhanced. Which was an awesome feeling, to be honest.

Also, the helmet was providing me with some sort of augmented vision which allowed me to see clearly in the dark, to the point that I could actually see my surroundings in great detail as well as witness Luukan as clearly as if it was daytime.

And lastly, the message. It was written in a clean way and apparently it was a message from Suzaku itself, asking for orders.

「Stand-by. Awaiting Orders.」

「Right, I know that it might be a little of a tall order, but those clouds that cover the moon…… Think you could do something about them?」

「…… Roger that」

Was that moment of silence just a processing of my words or was that disbelief alongside the lines of “You seriously called me here just for that!?”. But I could see in its eyes that no matter what order it may be, it was going to do everything in its power to fulfill it.

But right now, for me…… No, for us, it was of the utmost importance. Only Suzaku and Soryuu could fly out of the four Non-Standard Tactical Weapons, and the fact that it has wings made Suzaku just perfect for this task. It was only going to be like an oversized fan, but that’s more than enough in this situation.

Then Suzaku spreads its mechanical wings. Looking closely, those weren’t the actual wings, but rather a whole bunch of small boosters connected closely together. There was the fire coming from the boosters and a huge flame burst out of its tail as it started to move, spreading its wings in the night sky and having the moon behind it, creating one heck of a sight to behold.

「You know, somehow I already feel bad about using you for something as silly as this……

「Sanraku-san, over there! Watch out!」

「Oopsie!」

I’m terribly sorry Luukan-chan, but it seems that you won’t be able to use your special move for a while now. You may be mad at us, but it is our only chance to defeat you at our current level. Possessing an ability like that, one that disregards every single factor in the current battle and hits you like a truck the moment you least expect it…… It’s just…… It’s just that…… You are so strong we don’t have any other choice!

There were small sparks flying in the air and right after that there was a huge pillar of flames shooting into the night sky. Without the interference of clouds, the moonlight illuminated the battlefield and us participants dancing all over it.

Rei used “Apocalypse” about five times now and was currently using “Catastrophe” for the third. We managed to fully grasp the attack patterns of Luukan by now, and unless something completely unexpected happens, we should be able to bring it down if we stay with the current strategy. …… But there was a small problem with that as well.

「That bastard, did he figure it out as well……? Is he aiming for her on purpose?」

It’s been almost an hour since the battle started, but right now Rei was the only one who was targeted by Luukan’s attacks. And his aggro was staying locked onto her no matter what I did to bring its attention towards myself again.

I knew it, its AI is in a completely different league than that of normal monsters. It was learning throughout the battle, assessing the threat level of its opponents and estimating which threat to attack and which to ignore. Once it does that, it launches itself at the biggest threat and tries to kill it in a cruel, fast and efficient way. Rei’s skills are something to be afraid of, but her main source of damage is her skills. Now, it’s just a matter of time before something goes wrong: either she gets distracted, or her skills go on cooldown or her concentration might get broken.

One saving grace was that this whole area was a wide grassland with little to no obstacles in our way. So if worse comes to worst, we might as well try to run for it and put some distance between us. But Rei had it even worse than me, since Luukan was mostly after her this entire time.

「Sh*t…… I’d really like a group of tanks with aggro focusing skills right now……!!」