Chapter 43 – Are We Really Going to Do This? (3)

Chapter 43 – Are We Really Going to Do This? (3)

[Translator – Late Dreamer]

[Proofreader – Seeker]

Chapter 43 – Are We Really Going to Do This? (3)

The thick hatch slowly opened.

A fierce gust of wind from outside swept through the interior of the airship.

I held onto the safety rope tightly amidst the intense vibration.

I peeked my head out and glanced downward.

Outside the airship, the panoramic view of Neon City, enclosed by protective barriers, along with the vast horizon, came into view.

I didn’t have a fear of heights.

But still, maintaining composure at this altitude was challenging.

What am I doing here?

I absentmindedly admired the scenery.

Amidst the sound of strong winds, Catherine’s voice was heard.

“Are you ready?!”

I didn’t reply separately.

I simply raised my trembling hand, curling my index finger and thumb into an ‘okay’ sign.

I refrained from speaking out loud, fearing my voice might tremble.

I regretted not realizing this situation beforehand and my foolishness for not anticipating Natasha’s plan.

I briefly remembered Natasha’s plan. She had said,

[And taking advantage of this opportunity to infiltrate from the air, seize, then land at the designated external waste disposal site, and finally transport the target to the safe house completes the prepared plan..]

That’s right.

I should have asked back then.

How were we going to infiltrate from the air?

How were we going to seize the airship?

It wasn’t until just before boarding the airship that I could finally grasp the situation.

At that time, I had only thought of various excuses to survive.

“Is it really necessary to fall from an airship without using a parachute? There are tactical jetpacks or small aircraft, right?”

Out of the question, as the infiltration speed into the airship was slow and susceptible to interception by nearby tactical drones.

“If the vice-chairman’s airship is simply made to crash...”

It might not be Smile John’s airship. Since the main objective of this plan is abduction, not murder, it’s naturally out of the question.

“Let’s just not do this.”

I even went as far as saying that.

But Catherine grabbed my collar, and there was no way to resist as we boarded the airship.

Entering Neon City was strictly controlled, and launching the airship was also restricted under city law.

Why?

Even such problems were solved too easily because there were too many capable people around.

Eventually, that’s how Catherine and I ended up skydiving from the airship without parachutes.

Drake and Andrea wanted to join us in the same situation, but unfortunately, they had equipment specs that didn’t match the unconventional setup, so they are currently waiting at the designated ground checkpoint.

I wanted to opt out too. In this operation without ‘parachutes’, my role was the most crucial.

Even if Catherine was the protagonist in the game, dropping from this height without any device was extremely, extremely risky.

“...Haa.”

Why did I learn magic?

Today, of all days, I resented my mentor (the video channel).

《Exactly 15 seconds until the jump. I’ll count》

Natasha contacted me through the radio.

《If you need to say something, do it now, because once we enter the airship, communication might be disrupted due to jamming.》

Since we’ve come this far, there wasn’t much more to say.

I took a deep breath.

The wind, stronger than before, struck my face, covered by the mask, from all directions.

Because of that, only I could hear my own breathing.

《10.》

Natasha slowly began the countdown.

The countdown started, and before I could mentally prepare, we reached 5 in the blink of an eye.

《5,4,3,2–》

And then,

《1.》

I had my eyes tightly shut.

“Let’s go!”

Catherine and I leaped out of the hatch.

If the gods of cyberpunk exist, please just leave me alone.

Free-falling is more romantic than one might think.

“Confirming flare and chaff, radar is probably jammed now. It sounds like the defense system’s just been breached.”

“But the firing speed was faster than my calculations. I don’t know if there’s another problem.”

She mentioned there might be a problem, yet she didn’t slow down our descent.

But then again, we only had one choice anyway.

I prepared to use magic.

There were only two spells I planned to use.

One was the wind magic I had used before to send alley thugs flying into the air.

It allowed me to change the direction of descent by riding the wind.

I had identified a spot that seemed suitable for the vice chairman based on the blueprints I had examined beforehand.

The other spell was the main reason I was involved in this operation.

It was the magic I had used when I was attacked by Smile John’s henchmen while riding an unmanned taxi and got hit by tank-grade weaponry.

Through the hands holding onto me, I enveloped myself and Catherine in my magic.

It wasn’t like armor; if it were, something would have broken when I was thrown from the unmanned taxi.

It was more like a shield, a magic that absorbed the impact itself.

In simple terms, it absorbed the shock.

As the airship approached rapidly...

In other words, it made such an impossible operation entirely possible.

– Bang!

“Wh-what?! What’s happening again!”

As we fell towards the airship, Catherine suddenly pierced through the interior of the airship.

Indeed.

Just as the blueprint described.

As we abruptly infiltrated the airship’s interior, “William Kojak” looked at us with a bewildered expression.

Ding dong, delivery’s here.

...But something seemed off.

Inside the airship were not only William Kojak and his henchmen but also masked figures pointing guns at him.

I immediately thought of Smile John’s henchmen, but their masks were different from these.

“...”

We suddenly appeared through the ceiling of the airship, and anonymous figures were aiming guns at the vice chairman and his henchmen.

At that moment, a light flashed from the radio I had attached to my pouch.

Seeing the light also coming from Catherine’s radio, it was undoubtedly Natasha’s transmission.

“Um, hold on a moment.”

I asked for permission from the people around us.

Perhaps because they were so bewildered, no one stopped my actions.

Those facing unexpected situations usually couldn’t act.

Natasha’s voice came through the radio.

《We have a problem. There are people who fired missiles before we did.》

Hmm.

《It seemed too easy to breach the security channel when planning... There must have been someone already breaching it》

Umm.

《But according to my calculations, they won’t have arrived at the airship yet, so let’s come down to the ground first and check the situation-》

Then the radio went silent.

It seemed like the interference with communication inside the airship had been restored.

...

Even if others intervened...

The sequence of events seemed a bit odd.

Given that there were people with guns here, they were already infiltrators inside the airship.

And if so, their comrades fired missiles at the vice-chairman.

Since our goal was infiltration itself...

Firing missiles and then entering the airship...

That meant their purpose was something like abduction.

A softer approach was out of the question.

A short silence followed.

In the unexpected three-way standoff...

In the midst of the ongoing standoff...

William Kojak spoke.

“...Are you here to rescue me by any chance?”

‘We are here to kidnap you.’

I let out a silent sigh.

Things just got messed up like shit.

[Translator – Late Dreamer]

[Proofreader – Seeker]