Chapter 198: Thank You, You Fuckers
In the half second before the mouth reached her, Akira drove her hand into her spatial ring and pulled out [Temptation]. And in that same instant she called her armor.
The dark plates appeared across her body in a single wave, with the cuirass, the gorget, and the greaves, all of it snapping into place as the Chilopoda’s mouth came down.
The teeth hit the armor and a loud creak filled the air as it scratched against it.
She felt the force of the bite travel through the metal and into her body, feeling like a crushing pressure across her chest and back, but the armor didn’t give in.
She twisted inside the grip, angling her sword arm forward, and drove [Temptation] upwards through the roof of the beast’s mouth.
The sword punched through cartilage and bone, going straight into the brain cavity above it, the tip emerging from the top of the skull with a spray of blood.
[You have killed a D-rank Razor Chilopoda]
"Fucking beast," she growled as she stored the corpse.
The weight of the corpse vanished from around her and her eyes widened. She was already moving, diving sideways as a second Chilopoda launched itself through the space she’d been just a second ago, all twenty razor legs thrashing as it sailed past.
It landed hard, legs cutting into the sand, scrambling to reorient itself. But before it could do more than shift position, an arrow slammed into it from behind.
The rear section of the beast was pulverized on impact, the force driving the body forward into the sand. It screamed, legs still cycling, unable to push itself upright.
Akira stepped in and drove [Temptation] through the back of its head.
[You have killed a D-rank Razor Chilopoda]
She straightened and looked around.
The remaining beasts were down. Karrakas stood several meters away, his bow at his side, breathing hard enough that his shoulders were rising and falling visibly. He was grinning despite it.
When he caught her eye he raised one hand and gave her a thumbs up before dropping to one knee in the sand, his body clearly done with heroics for the moment.
He looked around with an expression of surprise, as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened, but Akira knew.
Without [Kairos’ Fillet], the two of them wouldn’t have survived the encounter.
Akira looked down at [Temptation] in her hand, impressed. The sword had punched through a D-rank shell without slowing down at all.
She thought about the church that had given it to her, and everything she’d left behind when she’d come here.
"Thank you, you fuckers," she said quietly, exhaling as she gazed into the sky. Then she began walking towards Karrakas.
Karrakas pushed himself back to his feet as Akira reached him.
The grin hadn’t left his face, though his breathing was still working to catch up with the rest of him. He looked at her for a moment, then shook his head slowly.
"I’m glad I listened to you," he said. "If I’d held back, I’d have missed all of this and I wouldn’t have even known."
"Don’t beat yourself up over it," Akira said with a smile. "Besides, you did listen, so there was nothing to miss. Like I said, if we’d just given up without trying, it would’ve been a waste."
"You’re right." Karrakas acknowledged that with a single nod, then his expression became more focused. He looked past her towards the horizon.
"The most important thing right now is that we need to move," he said. "That explosion of yours helped us out, but it sent vibrations through the sand in every direction. Anything within range will have felt it."
"I’m hoping the population around here is thin enough that it doesn’t amount to much. What I’m more concerned about is whether the Spiked Turtle was close enough to feel it."
Akira frowned, turning to gaze at the horizon. "We better hope not."
He turned and looked towards the southeast. Two small figures moved slowly across the red sand in the distance, heading towards them.
That was Lukas and Melody, still maintaining the reduced pace he’d called for.
"Go to them," Karrakas said. "Tell Lukas to pick up the pace, so we can get out of here. I’ll recalculate our line and confirm we’re still going straight."
"Alright." Akira gave him a nod and took off.
She crossed the distance between them at a sprint, the sand throwing up behind her boots.
Melody saw her coming first, a frown on her face. The moment Akira drew near enough to hear her without her yelling too loudly, she spoke.
"What happened? We saw the explosion from here."
"There were ten D-rank Chilopodas," Akira said with a casual shrug, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. "We handled it. All of them are down."
She looked at Lukas. "But we need to get clear of this area before something comes looking for what caused the blast. So, we need you to increase your pace."
"Very well." Lukas gave her a nod, and in that instant, his stride lengthened. He began moving faster, his walk gathering enough speed that all he needed was to put just a tiny bit more effort to turn it into a jog.
Melody matched his pace, but with her shorter legs, she had to jog slowly to keep up.
Akira grinned, giving them a thumbs up before turning and racing back to Karrakas.
By the time Lukas and Melody had closed the gap to the front pair, Karrakas had finished his recalculation, compass in hand, and was already oriented on the correct heading.
He gave Lukas a nod, confirmed the line, and they set off.
Akira moved into position slightly ahead, activating the [Kairos Fillet] as she walked. Her eyes moved across the desert ahead, trying to find the danger before it arrived in front of her.
A few minutes later, a frown appeared on her face.
Karrakas noticed the expression from the corner of his eye. "What is it?"
"Three D-rank Deathstalker Scorpions," she said, her eyes still fixed on the desert ahead. "They’re moving towards us."
Karrakas looked at the empty sand in front of them, seeing nothing yet. Then he grinned.
"Let them come," he said. "Three D-ranks are enough for us to take care of."
