CH 292

Secured!

Abandoning the escape pod, the Empress escaped to the wreckage of a battleship. The ship is a Granterra-class battleship usually employed by the nobles. Its thick triple-barreled main turrets are silently aiming upward. They looked like they were ready to fire at any moment but there were a number of large holes on the ship’s side. It probably got hit by multiple anti-ship missiles.

“If it’s this class then…….we should circle around to the stern.”

Following Diaroze’s guidance, the [Ex-Caliburn] was approaching the ship’s stern. None of the turrets tracked its movement, it did not even twitch. No laser or radar. This wreckage of a ship had already lost all its function as a warship.

“We can access the storage deck from that gate. The other side is on foot so she would have to get here using a different route…….still, since our destination is the same, it would be to our advantage to use the shortest route.”

“I see…..so the layout of battleships is mostly the same for most countries huh.”

With a nod, Kisei cautiously approached the battleship. He got blown away by a booby trap earlier so he couldn’t deny the possibility that the Empress might set something up here as well.

The gate Diaroze guided him to was the gate to the ship’s landing deck. Its armored shutter is shut tight and judging from the heat sensor it’s impossible to open it normally since the power has been cut.

“Seems like we have to force our way in huh…….”

Kisei hesitated for a moment then pointed his grenade launcher at the gate. He flicked the trigger on the control stick and the missiles electromagnetically accelerated toward the gate. And not just one, he fired all his remaining missiles at it.

The moment the first missile landed, a large explosion occurred. However, the shutter was heavily armored. A single shot only managed to distort its frame but it can not withstand multiple consecutive shots. The moment the 4th missile landed, the shutter turned into pieces of scrap metal.

“Let’s go.”

Throwing away the grenade launcher which had run out of bullets, Kisei advanced forward. There is still one spare magazine left but a grenade launcher is too difficult to handle in tight spaces so he opted for the photon saber instead.

Cautiously, they entered the ship through the broken shutter. After passing through a short passageway, they arrived at the storage deck. The emergency lights installed evenly on the ceiling and the floor are illuminating the place with faint red glows. The visibility is a bit poor but it’s still enough to see the inside of the deck.

“Striker……..there!”

Inside the mostly empty storage deck, a mostly intact [Jetta] was left at the deck’s corner perhaps because it’s a spare machine.

“Alright, let’s get rid of that.”

Kisei nodded and approached the [Jetta] with a photon saber in his left hand. However, before Kisei swung down the green beam blade at the [Jetta] the crimson striker’s trinocular camera suddenly flashed and came to life.

“You fell for it!”

The Empress who arrived at the storage deck a little earlier before them activated the [Jetta]. The crimson striker pulled out a photon saber from its back and attempted to swing it at the [Ex-Caliburn].

“You’re the one who fell for it!”

However, with Kisei’s ability to read presence, there’s no way that he wouldn’t notice such an ambush. He stepped to the side and kicked the [Jetta] in the back.

“Gwah!”

Although damaged, the [Ex-Caliburn] is still a Zenith-type. Oots physical strength is incomparable to a mass-produced striker like a [Jetta]. The Empress let out a miserable scream as she was sent flying and slammed into the wall with tremendous force. After that, Kisei easily stabbed his photon saber at its abdomen from behind.

“Master!”

However, they didn’t expect the Empress who put up so much resistance so far to yield so easily. Kisei opened the cockpit hatch at the moment Diaroze yelled out.

Diaroze kicked her seat and jumped out of the [Ex-Caliburn].

The artificial gravity inside the ship was already broken so there was no need to worry about the height. Right after, Kisei threw Diaroze’s favorite electric whip at her.

“Thanks!”

Without turning around, Diaroze deftly caught the whip. As she had expected, the Empress blew the cockpit hatch open with explosive bolts and tried to escape in a hurry.

“It’s time for payback, mother!”

“ABABABABABA!!”

With no hesitation, Diaroze brandished her whip at her mother. The Empress couldn’t dodge that because she just leaped out of the [Jetta]. The whip hit her shoulder and a violent electric discharge assaulted the Empress’s body…….

“So Vulds do a have concept of payback too huh…….”

While watching that unfold from the cockpit of [Ex-Caliburn], Kisei quietly whispered to himself.