Sitting in the shelter, Mai devoured the fish, accompanied by various side dishes that Rémy had managed to cobble together near the edge of the safe zone.
This sorcerer was many things. Brave, foul-mouthed, and a fairly good shot, all while possessing a surprisingly noble conscience. But Rémy focused on her most dangerous trait, one he hadn't expected to see in someone whose profession demanded a serious demeanor and combat skills far beyond those of an average human.
Fragile, if he had to sum it up in a single word.
¿Was this the typical power level for a sorcerer? His doubt didn't stem from a lack of cursed energy, though that certainly reduced her offensive power by at least fifty to seventy percent. Throughout the journey, Mai relied entirely on her revolver. Her only strategy was to fire from the rear, take cover, or circle around monsters to avoid direct contact.
Even when he showed her how to forge weapons from forest resources, he had expected her to take the lead. Yet, the force she exerted when striking the hostile entities was shockingly weak, forcing them to choose evasion over combat. She acted in a way one might expect from someone like Rémy himself, compensating for human frailty by employing clever tricks, rather than how one would imagine a jujutsu sorcerer behaving.
«Thank goodness she forced me to come along», Rémy concluded, letting out a mental sigh of relief.
Had he known his kidnapper was this weak, he would have spared himself all the drama from the start and prepared more thoroughly for the challenges of this excursion.
His heart stirred at the image of Mai, wasting her bullets as she fought on relentlessly against an endless stream of enemies, only to end up cornered and beaten with wooden clubs the moment her ammunition ran out. That is, assuming the monsters reached her before her own body betrayed her, leading to a tragic death from starvation, as she lacked the skills to fish or forage for sustenance, or from the inability to find a place to rest in any comfort during this trial.
Maintaining the facade of the helpless, perpetually complaining student, bewailing the cruelty of the world, was no longer a viable option.
Prolonging such a deception in an environment this ruthless would only guarantee both of them a spot in the morgue. Faced with this grim certainty, there was no choice left but to pour all his ingenuity into ensuring Mai's survival, and, by extension, his own. Accepting his role as an incredibly endearing supporting character, tasked with guiding her toward the exit, was the only path remaining.
Without his weapons, which remained abandoned in Joel's backpack, inside Newt's case, and relying solely on "Butters' Eye" as his only tangible advantage, Rémy wasted no time. He set to work gathering materials and crafting weapons, armor, and anything else he could fashion from the resources at his disposal. He approached Mai and dropped an object onto the table. She stared at it, mouth agape, with bits of fish still clinging to her lips.
-----------------------------------
— REWARD (RANK C) —
TYPE: HEAVY PIERCING WEAPON / TACTICAL TRAP
NAME: Modified Rivet Gun (Infantry Prototype)
ORIGIN WORLD: BioShock 2
PRIMARY EFFECT: Originally a colossal construction tool designed to be wielded exclusively by the gargantuan "Big Daddies," this version has been trimmed down, lightened, and fitted with a stock, allowing it to be handled by a sturdy human. It fires red-hot, solid steel rivets, each the size of a thumb, at extreme pneumatic pressure.
A single hit bypasses bulletproof vests and combat armor, piercing through an enemy's flesh with such kinetic force that it literally pins the assailant against whatever wall or barricade lies behind them.
SECONDARY EFFECT: It features a secondary selector that allows for the firing of "Trap Rivets." When fired into floors, ceilings, or door frames, these rivets anchor themselves and deploy an invisible laser sensor. If an enemy crosses the sensor line, the rivet detonates, launching a steel striker at knee or torso height, enabling a single soldier to fortify an entire corridor in a matter of seconds.
DRAWBACK: Despite being the "lightweight version," it remains a massive block of industrial iron. The recoil from the pneumatic piston is so brutal that, if a soldier fires without planting their feet firmly and bracing their body, the kickback will instantly fracture their ribs and dislocate their right shoulder. Reloading the heavy front-mounted drum is a slow, agonizing process while under enemy fire.
-----------------------------------
—¿Did you... make this? — the sorceress asked, eyeing the weapon with bewilderment, seemingly unable to perceive the translucent box detailing its specifications.
Rémy slowly shook his head.
—While you were asleep, I paid a visit to one of those enemy bases we left behind along the way— he explained, immediately placing a finger over her lips to silence her protests, earning himself a sharp swat across the palm in return. —Don't get worked up. I'm not such an idiot that I'd walk straight into danger without a plan.
He went on to explain his little discovery. These fortifications functioned like side quests, offering random rewards based on the lethality of the monsters guarding them. Unlike the two previous excursions he'd experienced, where resources were granted as loot at the end of the journey, the rules of this domain operated like a video game.
You started with nothing and were forced to forge your own arsenal as you leveled up and conquered different areas of the map. Rémy gestured for her to follow him inside the imposing barn. He walked to a corner of the structure and pushed against a section of the wall, which gave way without a sound, revealing a secret door. Mai looked at him, raising an eyebrow. Such a high level of discretion was entirely unnecessary here, but for Rémy, it was a matter of personal, and somewhat nostalgic, preference. It was an old, deeply ingrained habit from his former life, an obsession with building invisible shelters and hidden passageways, done purely for the pleasure of it even when playing in solitary worlds where there was no human threat that could ever uncover his secrets.
The sorceress peered inside. It was no mere pantry, but the entrance to an intricate network of tunnels that plunged deep into the earth, branching off in various directions and dimly lit by torches. Clutching a worn-out tool, Rémy confessed that he had dug this entire subterranean labyrinth using nothing but a shovel, driven by a boredom that simply wouldn't leave him alone.
Rather than marching toward certain death by facing enemy hordes on the surface, he preferred the safety offered by the world below. The tunnels allowed him to avoid any hostile encounters, navigating beneath the mud and roots until he emerged right in the heart of the fortresses. Once there, he would silently loot the chests and retreat to his burrow, securing the spoils without ever having to fight.
¡If you survive to the end, you get to keep everything! ¡If not... well, you die!
—Though, the weapon is the only useful thing I've managed to find so far…
He admitted, his shoulders slumping in disappointment. The other items were just medieval-style clothing, a 'Pizza Planet' pendant, and various trinkets fit only for decorating a desk.
—If you truly want to reach the center of the island, or find your 'friends', we're going to need a lot more than wooden swords or stone furnaces.
Faced with the vast and unexpected skills this girl displayed in just a few hours, Mai felt, deep in her heart, that she was nothing more than a burden being escorted by someone who was supposed to be her charge. With her pride stung, she clenched her fists and stared at a crude map pinned to the wall, where paths still under excavation were marked with pigments reminiscent of cave paintings.
Hotaru was right. The weapon in her hands was strange, its sheer weight suggested a recoil that couldn't be ignored, but its firepower was likely equal to, or perhaps even greater than, that of her own revolver, with the added benefit of not having to expend any more of her own precious ammunition. And if taking the risk meant securing more "rewards" to help them down the line, then the decision was made.
—Hotaru… —Mai hoisted the heavy weapon onto her shoulder. —I need you to teach me how to use this 'crafting system' or whatever the hell it's called.
It had taken her a couple of hours to wrap her head around the absurd concept of the crafting table. Following Remy's meticulous instructions, Mai placed three carved branches and three fiber cords onto the rough wooden grid. There was no need to carve notches, apply glue, or tie any knots. As soon as the pattern was completed, the materials shuddered, losing their original forms as they merged in a flash of light, reappearing as a perfectly assembled hunting bow.
—¡Congratulations! —Remy clapped. —You've got a talent for making things, it's just a matter of keeping at it.
Mai watched her out of the corner of her eye before returning to her creation, a bow, testing the tension of the wood and the unyielding toughness of the string in silence. Throughout her childhood under the yoke of the Zenin clan, it had been seared into her mind that gaining power, respect, or even the basic ability to defend oneself required immense sacrifice, constant humiliation, and tears of blood.
Strength had to be earned through pain, but above all, it depended on the talent one was born with. Either you possessed the potential for greatness from the start, or you fell to the other extreme, resigned to being a nobody for the rest of your days.
—Yes… talent — she murmured.
Before plunging back into the bowels of the earth, Rémy prepared herself. She had strapped a wooden chest to her back using thick vines and a crude yet sturdy frame, which kept the box from swaying or becoming a noisy nuisance. After gathering some food and water from a nearby stream, the two descended into the tunnels.
They moved through the damp passages until they emerged directly beneath the foundations of an enemy stockade. Rémy lifted a hatch made of packed earth, peeking out just enough to retrieve the contents of a nearby chest. Above, the heavy tread of the wooden guardians made the ceiling vibrate, but down below, in this pit of worms, the theft was carried out without a single shadow breaking its rhythm. Mai watched in silence, an idea beginning to take shape.
«I don't think she's just an ordinary schoolgirl.»
The second objective led them much deeper, into an area where the air grew thick and the stench of rotting roots filled their lungs. Through a crack in the surface, Mai managed to catch a glimpse of the abominations patrolling the fortification. Grotesque mannequins armed with rusted tools the size of a small car. While she clutched the heavy pneumatic gun to her chest, ready for a confrontation, Rémy simply reached out from the shadows of the pit, plundered the riches from an abandoned safe on the periphery, and sank back into the darkness.
At the third base, the tunnel opened up right in the middle of an encampment, directly beneath a platform where the enemies appeared to be holding some sort of celebration, everyone dancing about like drunks.
The slightest brush of the vines attached to Rémy's chest against the earthen walls threatened to give them away. For long, agonizing minutes, Mai held her breath, cold sweat trickling down her forehead, convinced that their imminent discovery would force them into a fight where they were at a severe disadvantage. She carefully retrieved the loot and backed away, leaving the monsters to their oblivious revelry, completely unaware that the riches of their stronghold had vanished from right beneath their feet.
The trouble began at the fourth stronghold. The entrance, the point closest to the chest and supposedly the most secure, was steep and coated in a slick, slimy muck, a foul mixture of moisture and the rot seeping from the walls surrounding the stronghold. Just as Rémy grabbed the prize and prepared to retreat into the tunnel, one of the guards spotted him. Above, a horde of mannequins stopped in their tracks, turning their eyeless faces toward the opening. Rémy tumbled backward into the tunnel, and the monsters lunged toward them like wild beasts.
Mai didn't hesitate. She took a step forward, planted her boots firmly in the tunnel's mud, tensed every muscle in her body, and aimed her heavy rivet gun toward the pale light filtering in from the surface. She pulled the trigger, and the explosive release of pneumatic pressure deafened the entire cavern. The weapon's brutal recoil struck her with the force of a battering ram, nearly dislocating her right shoulder and sending a sharp, stabbing wave of pain through her ribs, but the kinetic energy of the shot was enough. A white-hot steel rivet, the size of his thumb, tore through the first guard's armor as if it were wet paper, dragging his body through the air before pinning it violently against the wall.
Without wasting a single second, Mai adjusted the weapon's side selector just as Hotaru had explained. She fired twice more, ignoring the sharp, stabbing pain in her bones, but she didn't aim at the enemies. Instead, she targeted the wooden frames of the opening. The trap-rivets anchored themselves deep into the wood, instantly deploying a web of invisible laser sensors. As the next wave of assailants tried to cross the line in a blind, frenzied rush, the mines detonated. A hail of steel strikers swept across the area at knee and torso height, shredding the monsters into a whirlwind of splinters.
In the wake of the blast, Mai's body still throbbed from the punishing recoil; though a dull ache lingered throughout half her frame, she pressed onward.
They continued through various strongholds until nightfall and sheer exhaustion forced them to return to the safe zone by the stream. Upon finally reaching the safe zone, they were so exhausted that they collapsed onto their respective cots inside the cabin.
The rewards, though vast in volume, turned out to be little more than a mountain of useless junk piled up in the living area. A collection of rags and scrap metal with no practical purpose for their current situation.
Only two items were of any real value.
-----------------------------------
— REWARD (RANK D) —
TYPE: ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORT / BIOLOGICAL ILLUMINATION
NAME: Lumafly Lantern
WORLD OF ORIGIN: Hollow Knight
---
— REWARD (RANK D) —
TYPE: MELEE WEAPON / SURVIVAL TOOL
NAME: Thermal Survival Knife
WORLD OF ORIGIN: Subnautica
-----------------------------------
Though prodigious in their own way, they were far from sufficient to guarantee long-term survival. The surrounding bases had been stripped of all their secrets, so, quite reluctantly, they had no choice but to gather their meager belongings and leave the safety of their refuge by the stream, venturing even deeper into the heart of the jungle.
—I can just make another one, anyway. —Rémy huffed.
Continuing to dig underground tunnels in an uncertain direction was no longer a viable tactic. It took a monumental physical toll on Rémy's frail arms and Mai's lack of stamina. Furthermore, moving blindly beneath the surface meant they would likely miss openings to ruins above ground, potential sites that might contain the equipment needed to stay alive. That, and the fact that hundreds of bus-sized, decidedly unfriendly worms had begun to spawn and occupy the tunnels.
Staying underground proved even more dangerous than traveling above.
The journey turned into a trek that would stretch on for two interminable days. To avoid running headlong into enemy hordes patrolling the jungle valleys, they were forced to seek higher ground. Scaling small, craggy mountains, blanketed in slippery moss and rotting roots, became their only escape route.
The first day was an ordeal of cramped muscles and lungs that burned with every breath of the stifling air. As darkness fell, they made camp on a rocky ledge, shivering and surrounded by the indecipherable howls echoing from the dense undergrowth. They relied on the faint glow of the lumelules to keep the path in sight, while eating in silence, the meat cooked by the searing edge of a thermal knife.
By the second day, the jungle was tearing at their clothes as they climbed up and down treacherous slopes that rose like prison walls. As they traveled, the thick, foul-smelling mud gave way to rough, grayish volcanic rock. It was toward evening when a subtle shift in the atmosphere brought their weary, dragging footsteps to a halt. The relentless stench of decaying vegetation was suddenly replaced by an acrid scent, a heavy, pungent blend of sulfur and minerals.
After surmounting one final, steep rock face, they pushed aside a curtain of giant vines to reveal an immense natural depression high atop the mountain, still cradled by the jungle canopy. From the rocky ground bubbled up pools of hot spring water, crystal clear and unusually still, sending thick plumes of hot steam rising into the twilight. There was no sign of wooden mannequins, nor any echoes of patrols lurking in the shadows. There was only a bathhouse facility overlooking the thermal waters.
-----------------------------------
—SAFE ZONE REACHED—
-----------------------------------
—¡Finally! —Mai was too exhausted to care about anything other than resting, and she hurried toward the facility.
Rémy lingered behind, long enough to read the wooden sign posted at one of the main entrances to the small building.
"¡Welcome to Uncle Ibuza's hot springs!
¿Fed up with the exhausting grind of survival?
¡This is your paradise!
Immerse yourself in our five-star, miraculous springs. We guarantee the healing of open wounds, torn muscles, and extreme fatigue in a matter of minutes.
What's more, our mystical properties rejuvenate your cells, washing away grime and restoring your skin to a smooth, flawless complexion.
¡Relax, set down your gear, and let Uncle Ibuza bring you back to life!"
—Hmm, I don't think I've ever been to a hot spring — Rémy said, scratching his chin uncomfortably. —It would be fantastic if I were alone…
After shedding the heavy iron armor created by Remy, Mai was finally able to enjoy the regenerative effects and the warmth of the hot springs. Her aching muscles received the well-deserved rest they had been desperately craving for so long.
With a sigh, she cast her gaze toward the far end of the area, as distant as possible from where she herself was resting, to observe Hotaru, who remained crouched and fully clothed.
With a bandage completely covering her eyes, the civilian made a titanic effort to keep her head perfectly still. She sought any posture that would prevent her, even by the slightest accident, from turning in Mai's direction.
—¿What are you doing all the way over there?
The young woman shook her head and crossed her arms into an 'X' shape.
—I don't intend to use my situation as an excuse to take advantage of your lack of awareness.
Mai raised an eyebrow. Initially, she had assumed that, given how little she knew of her own background, the young woman would be entirely reluctant to share such an intimate space with someone who was practically a stranger, let alone while naked.
It was true that they had endured some truly difficult moments together, had helped one another, and could, to a certain extent, be considered allies or at least on good terms. Even so, that didn't mean that stripping down in front of someone else was a trivial matter.
What was curious, however, was that during the last few days of their journey, Hotaru hadn't been the least bit bothered by being touched, pushed, or even dragged along by Mai in order to survive... at least, not until this sudden fit of modesty. She looked at Hotaru's slight figure, then back at her own.
«She must be jealous»
The sorceress brought a finger to her chin, a playful smile spreading across her face as an imaginary little heart floated away.
—How adorable.
Meanwhile, Remy felt a sudden, intense shiver.
—¡Ahem! — she feigned a cough. —Changing the subject —I think I've found a lead on your friends' whereabouts.
The mockery vanished from Mai's face in a split second. Knowing he had her full attention, Rémy tossed her a small brass spyglass and extended his arm, pointing out a route through the thicket. Mai adjusted the instrument, and her gaze spanned leagues of dense wilderness in an instant, a distance far greater than she had expected from such a small device.
There, atop a mountain massif twin to the one they occupied, lay the remnants of a crude campfire. There was no need to discuss their next move. Once Rémy had taken his turn in the water, demanding complete privacy and a bucket of ice-cold water, the purpose of which Mai chose not to investigate, they set off.
Turning their backs on the warmth of the safe zone, they headed back into the wilderness, following the estimated path that any of the missing sorcerers might have taken after leaving that camp. The warmth of the hot springs had lulled their bodies into a false sense of peace; as they re-entered the thicket, the damp, biting cold of the jungle struck them without warning or mercy.
A full day's journey lay ahead to cross the valley separating their mountain range from their intended path, a trek that, in any other world, might have been a simple countryside excursion, but here, it amounted to an exhausting slog that neither of them had any desire to undertake. As the hours wore on, the jungle grew increasingly bizarre, and the obstacles, in the form of hostile elements, became ever more troublesome.
Paths were choked off by thorny vines, while ravines lay hidden beneath carpets of dead leaves. Mai moved forward, her senses on high alert, gripping the weapon, a piece of gear that was, by now, a genuine feat just to carry. Had it not been for her companion urging her to keep it, combined with the fact that she had recently learned to craft compatible ammunition, she would have discarded the weapon long ago.
Her thoughts drifted to the slight figure walking behind her. The civilian's endurance was, to her, utterly incomprehensible. Despite carrying a heavy chest on her back, Hotaru kept pace without a single complaint, using a knife, heated to thousands of degrees, to clear away undergrowth and various obstacles, which would burst into flames the moment they were sliced.
By midday, the weather had become unbearable. The canopy of giant trees acted like the lid of a stifling greenhouse, trapping the vapors rising from the decaying earth. They had to traverse swamps of murky water, where the light from a lumélula barely managed to disperse the toxic spores floating on the surface, revealing a safe path through the poisonous mire.
Their trek did not cease until the sun had completely set. As the final rays of light filtered through the tree trunks, the flat terrain suddenly began to rise sharply toward the sky. They had crossed the green hell and now stood at the foot of their destination.
With muscles seized by lactic acid and lungs burning, they collapsed beneath the massive roots of a colossal tree. Unfortunately for them, that tree turned out to be another enemy base. The roots parted, and they fell straight into a small coliseum filled with the same old foes. Mai had to deal with them, while Rémy swung his knife like a madman.
-----------------------------------
— REWARD (RANK D) —
TYPE: AERONAUTICAL ACCESSORY / GLIDING
NAME: Void-Winged Exoskeleton (Elytra)
WORLD OF ORIGIN: Minecraft A pair of rigid wings, resembling those of a colossal beetle, crafted from a grayish, chitinous membrane that is impervious to conventional fire. They attach directly to the spine section of the user's vest.
-----
— REWARD (RANK C) —
TYPE: NAVIGATION TOOL / TRACKING ANOMALY
NAME: Compass of Desire
WORLD OF ORIGIN: Pirates of the Caribbean
PRIMARY EFFECT: This ancient maritime instrument does not point toward Earth's magnetic north. Instead, the needle glides fluidly and precisely toward the exact physical location of whatever the bearer desires most at that very moment.
-----------------------------------
—¡Aha!
Rémy grabbed both items, immediately equipped the Elytra wings, and grinned.
—...¿And what is that supposed to be?— Mai asked, approaching with a skeptical look.
This was becoming concerning. From her perspective, Hotaru seemed to be completely familiar with every object they had acquired so far, with very few exceptions. She knew their functions, their limitations, and the most effective ways to utilize them. Her cover, that of a small, seemingly defenseless little girl, was losing its credibility by the minute.
—¿How do you know about all this?
—The real question is why you don't know... —she replied, returning a look of intolerable condescension.
The physical urge to slam her fist into the girl's face pulsed furiously through Mai's veins, but the sorceress buried the instinct beneath a layer of iron-clad self-control.
Hotaru explained to Mai that the compass's mechanism did not point toward magnetic north, but rather toward whatever its bearer desired most fervently in the depths of their soul. Eager to prove its effectiveness, Hotaru took the lead in their search for the missing sorcerers, holding the instrument against her chest as she moved into the undergrowth. She took a few steps to the left, then veered sharply to the right, and seconds later, retraced her own path. The needle spun on its axis, unable to settle on a fixed heading.
—¿You know what? You handle it. —she said, giving up and thrusting the artifact forward with annoyance.
The moment the instrument passed into the sorceress's hands, the needle stilled instantly. The metallic pointer shuddered one last time before locking firmly in a single direction. They set off. The journey proved unusually short now that they finally had a concrete objective. They spent only a few hours moving through a rocky gorge, where mist clung to the ground, reaching as high as their knees. The vegetation grew sparser, yet the silence became all the more unsettling.
The path opened into a clearing of trampled earth, where an entirely incongruous object blocked their way: a traditional wooden palanquin, abandoned and half-destroyed. Its silk curtains hung in tatters, stained a dark, rust-like hue. Mai quickened her pace. As they drew closer to the wreckage, she caught sight of a figure slumped against one of the broken wheels. The unmistakable blue hair, now matted with mud and dried blood, drew a smile from her before she could even think. It was Miwa. The young sorceress lay in a wretched state. Her skin had taken on the ashen hue of a corpse; her clothes were in tatters, and her sword, now broken, rested beside the palanquin.
—¡Miwa!
As Mai rushed forward blindly and gathered the young woman into her arms, Rémy was suddenly struck by an overwhelming sense of familiarity. Upon reaching the two sorceresses, he fixed his gaze on the face of the unconscious girl. There was something about her features, especially her hair, that felt far too familiar to be dismissed as a mere coincidence or an insignificant detail.
¿Where had he seen her before?
Rémy strained to dig deep into his memories. He felt as though the answer was hovering on the tip of his tongue, but a mental fog kept him from connecting the dots.
Pushing those thoughts aside to focus on the more pressing issue, Rémy gripped Mai's shoulder.
—She's just hungry.
—¡She's dying! — Mai nearly throttled Rémy, but far from taking offense, he remained calm.
He used the "Butters Eye" to examine Miwa. Aside from a few bruises and minor, non-lethal fractures, his primary concern was that she clearly hadn't had a decent meal in who knows how long.
As if to prove his point, a deep, hollow growl rumbled from Miwa's empty stomach. This biological spasm confirmed his diagnosis, allowing Mai to let out a long, relieved sigh as she loosened her grip on the boy's neck.
—¡Well, don't just stand there like a statue! —the student commanded, shifting Miwa's body onto her back. —Build one of those huts of yours and get some food ready. ¡We don't have time to go looking for another safe zone!
«A little help wouldn't hurt, either», Rémy thought, though he complied with the order as quickly as he could.
He was the only one with the skill to pull it off…
An unnatural glow, a sickly purple streaked with blood-red, tore through the monotonous foliage, catching Rémy's eye. He narrowed his gaze, pushing his Butters Eye to peer through the dense wall of trees. A bolt of energy shot out from the undergrowth, striking him squarely in the shoulder.
The searing heat pulverized the fabric of his clothes in a fraction of a second, cauterizing his flesh into a black crater from which thick, gray smoke billowed. The unmistakable stench of scorched fibers and charred tissue saturated the air as Remy's body was hurled backward, ruthlessly knocked down by the force of the impact.
Mai reacted in an instant. Ignoring the deadly burden of Miwa's body on her back, she tensed her muscles and leaped, narrowly evading, by mere centimeters, a second incandescent projectile aimed straight for her temple. She landed heavily behind the massive roots of a tree.
The immense pneumatic tool she had been using as a cannon slipped from her fingers during the maneuver and vanished into the earth; left with no other choice, Mai drew her revolver, gripping it tightly as her breathing grew ragged. Mai scanned her surroundings, sighting along the barrel of her weapon, but the green abyss offered no target.
—¡Hotaru! —she cried out, seeing the girl collapse and writhe on the ground, struggling to contain the agony of her charred flesh.
Her first instinct was to leave cover to help her, but the girl spoke first.
—¡That bitch is hiding in the bushes! —she exclaimed. With the arm that still obeyed her, she pointed toward a dense thicket, then shifted her aim toward a nearby tree trunk, tracing the exact path the shooter was taking. —¡Don't worry about me, just kill the bastard!
Seeing the timid schoolgirl issuing orders to kill while bleeding out on the ground left Mai genuinely stunned. Taking in this sudden shift in demeanor, the sorceress nodded in silence. She laid Miwa down in the mud with the utmost care, gripped her revolver, and lunged toward the direction the civilian had indicated.
Mai did not hesitate. Trusting implicitly in the direction the wounded woman had pointed out, she raised her revolver and pulled the trigger. The roar of the gunpowder drowned out the cries of the jungle, but the projectile never reached its target.
Midway through its flight, a flash of purple energy erupted from the dense undergrowth, colliding with the bullet in mid-air. The resulting explosion scattered droplets of molten lead across the mud, finally revealing the silhouette of the other shooter.
From among the charred ferns, a carved wooden automaton, grotesquely shaped like a rabbit, leapt out. Its body was composed of articulated cylinders and spheres, with a crystalline, deep-violet horn on its forehead that pulsed with unstable energy.
….
—¿Huh?
Twenty-eight bullets. Mai calculated the number in a split second. That was all she had left. The automaton propelled itself forward with its wooden hind legs, covering a terrifying distance in a single bound. At the apex of its arc, the horn glowed and spat out another searing beam. Mai threw herself to the left, rolling through the mud just as the ray of light disintegrated the rock where she had been kneeling. From the ground, she cocked her weapon and fired twice in rapid succession.
The muzzle flashes illuminated the gloom. Twenty-six. The first shot splintered the bark of a tree; the second was headed straight for the rabbit's chest, but the creature twisted its mechanical neck mid-flight and fired a tiny spark, deflecting the bullet with a dull pop. The wooden rabbit ricocheted off tree trunks and rocks, moving in erratic patterns while unleashing continuous bursts from its horn. Mai was forced to abandon her position every few seconds.
She ran hunched over, sliding through natural trenches formed by tree roots, peeking out just enough to return fire and push the machine back.
She fired three more times toward a rocky outcrop to block its path. Twenty-three. The automaton responded with a torrent of energy that swept across the muddy ground, nipping at the sorceress's heels as she dove into the hollow of a fallen tree trunk.
The distance between them remained constant, and Mai realized that at this rate, the cylinder of her revolver would be empty long before she managed to destroy the… rabbit.
Such a tiny creature was causing her so much trouble. Shame, mingled with an uncontrollable, surging rage, caused her face to flush deep red.
She had to neutralize that sixth sense. Breaking her rhythm of fire, Mai ducked behind a thick barrier of rotted roots, forcing the creature to come to a halt. The rabbit assessed the sudden ceasefire and began to circle the cover with measured leaps, searching for a clear angle. Waiting for the precise moment, the sorceress plunged her free hand into the ground. She grabbed a mass of dense mud, heavy with moisture and hidden stones, and rose abruptly, hurling it with all the strength in her arm toward the monster's head.
The horn flashed instantly. Perceiving the dark mass cutting through the air as a threat, the mannequin unleashed a powerful intercepting beam. The pure energy slammed into the wet earth, triggering a violent explosion of scalding steam and debris that completely engulfed the creature's head. Mai seized that fleeting moment of blindness. She bolted from her hiding place in a suicidal sprint, closing the distance between them with heavy, mud-splattering strides; before the steam could dissipate, she pressed the barrel of her weapon directly against the base of the flickering crystal.
She pulled the trigger twice. The lead shattered the structure at its root, causing the horn to explode into thousands of iridescent shards. Stripped of its power core, the wooden body convulsed violently before collapsing, inert, beneath the sorceress's boots. Releasing her pent-up tension, Mai kicked the remains of the rabbit-like construct several times, spat disdainfully into the mud, and took off running toward the spot where she had left the others. Mid-sprint, the undergrowth to her right erupted.
A new mannequin emerged from the shadows, this one carved in the likeness of a wolf. Its foreclaws were forged from the same purple crystal as the rabbit's horn, humming as it drew near. The beast lunged straight for Mai's throat.
Exhausted and with no time to dodge, the sorceress braced herself for an impact that never came. A thunderous crash swept across the clearing. The wooden wolf disintegrated in mid-air, obliterated by a massive projectile that reduced it to a cloud of sawdust and violet dust. Mai spun on her heels.
Through the curtain of smoke, he found Hotaru lying in the mud. She had retrieved the massive rivet gun that Mai had dropped at the start of the ambush. Knowing that the recoil from such a monstrosity would shatter her shoulder, she had dragged the barrel into position, wedging it firmly between two large rocks that served as a perfect support. With the weapon still smoking and her cold gaze fixed on the remains of the enemy, she gave a weak thumbs-up.
They walked for nearly an hour until they found a temporary shelter in the hollow of a massive fallen tree, a spot sufficiently remote and quiet to allow them to catch their breath.
Miwa, whose body was finally absorbing the nutrients from the meal Mai had prepared, lay resting against the makeshift bed that Rémy kept in his chest.
Mai knelt before Hotaru. With extreme care, she tore away the charred fabric of her shirt to examine the impact of the purple lightning.
The energy had melted the skin and fat on her shoulder, leaving a blackened crater that still gave off a faint scent of roasted flesh. Fortunately, the intense heat had cauterized the blood vessels, preventing a hemorrhage that could well have proven fatal.
As Mai cleaned the edges of the wound with a damp cloth, she studied Hotaru's face. Any ordinary girl would have been screaming in agony, but Hotaru merely clenched her jaw, enduring the pain.
—I'll have to amputate the whole thing, there's no other way.
Hotaru pulled a handsaw from the chest where she kept her belongings, but just as she was about to cut into the flesh, Mai stopped her with a sharp slap to her hand.