The World of Otome Games is Tough For Mobs - Volume 13 - Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

A Real Narcissist

AFTER LEAVING CHRIS BEHIND, the rest of us continued forward, finding our way to the hallway that ran along the fortress’s inside wall. It felt like a convoluted detour.

Anxious, I finally asked Luxion, “Are you sure this is the right way?”

“Yes, though I admit that the interior design of this fortress is difficult to comprehend. It lacks simplicity and elegance.”

I couldn’t tell whether his judgment was genuine or borne of his hatred for new humanity. Either way, Arcadia’s confusingly complex interior was quite literally a labyrinth.

“Think it’s a countermeasure against intruders?”

“That is a possibility,” said Luxion. “But if they were resorting to such tactics, they could at least have focused on incorporating a more convenient design.” Not content to let that be the end of it, he continued, “It’s too inefficient. They obviously aren’t using all the space of the—Master!”

I leaped back instantly at his warning. A hole exploded through the wall where I’d stood, the result of an outside attack. Whoever had created it was obviously aiming for me. If Luxion hadn’t warned me, I would’ve been caught in the blast. 

Imperial Armors flooded into the hall. They weren’t as powerful as Demonic Knights, but they had numbers on their side.

“There you are, intruders!”

“Hold up just a sec! Isn’t this your fortress? And you’re poking holes in it? Are you out of your mind?” I said mockingly.

“We can repair the wall as needed after we kill all of you!” one retorted.

Demonic Knights filed through the hole to join their comrades. They started to lunge toward me, but a red Armor blocked their path.

“You’d better not forget about us!” Greg shouted, thrusting his lance and impaling a foe right through the cockpit with pinpoint precision. It probably helped that Greg’s Armor had enhanced capabilities. Still, that kind of accuracy wouldn’t have been possible without a certain amount of weapon skill and piloting technique.

Sadly, even after we finished off the initial onslaught, it was far from the end.

Julius peered out the hole, observing the battlefield outside. “This spells trouble. A number of enemies are gathering to come in after us.”

Battleships had returned to the fortress out of concern over the sudden crisis, and a swath of monsters and enemy Armors were joining them.

“There are a lot of them out there,” continued Julius. “We can beat them, of course, but the process…”

Will take ages.

“Facing so many enemies would require substantial time and effort,” Luxion agreed.

It was tempting to ignore them and keep charging blindly ahead, but they’d just catch us from behind. And now that some had spotted us through the hole, they were on the move.

Brad shouldered past us and burst through the hole. The lances on his back reached wide, almost like wings. He’d thrust both arms out like a celebrity taking the stage to meet fans. “That means it’s my moment of glory,” he said. “My Armor is best suited to taking on multiple opponents, so the rest of you can continue ahead knowing I have your backs covered.”

Those lances were weapons he could control remotely, and since he had so many of them, they were perfect for engaging multiple opponents at once. Even knowing that, though, it was too dangerous to leave him here alone.

“Numbskull! You don’t seriously think we can ditch you here? Of all of us, you’re…” The weakest. I swallowed the words before they made it out of my mouth.

“I’m the weakest, right?” Brad finished for me. There was no anger or annoyance in his voice; he was easygoing about it. “I know that better than anyone, but I can help by staying here and buying you more time.”

“You’re really pulling the same idiotic move as Chris?”

“It pains me to look like I’m copying him,” Brad admitted, “but it wouldn’t be wise for us to waste more time here than needed. That’s why I’m going to stay. You have to make sure our mission succeeds, Leon. No matter what.”

First Chris, now Brad. Why’re these dummies so self-sacrificing? As much as I resented it, I was also grateful.

“I wish you guys could be half this badass all the time,” I grumbled at him. “Just make sure you don’t die out there.”

“Pfft,” Brad scoffed. “We were born badass. And you should at least encourage me to catch up later, even if you don’t think I can.”

Before we could entirely leave Brad behind, Luxion said, “I will have some drones stay to assist you. Use them as you like, Brad.”

Brad hesitated, shocked but also pleased. “I never expected you to show me any concern…but thank you.”

The drones in question followed him out of the fortress, positioning themselves around him to serve as support. While the rest of us started to pull ahead, Jilk stood frozen in his green Armor.

Julius paused, glancing back at him. “Jilk?”

“Leon. Your Highness. If we left Brad here by himself, I think we’d all be too worried, so I’m going to stay too.” Since they’d shared the same nursemaid, Jilk was almost permanently attached to Julius’s side. From a young age, he’d been raised to keep Julius safe. Despite that, he was volunteering to leave the prince and stay behind.

“If you think that’s what you need to do, you should do it,” Julius said. “Help Brad as much as you can.”

“I will,” Jilk promised. “We need to keep the enemy from spilling in through this hole.” 

The rifle he carried was perfect for sniping imperial forces from a distance. He knelt at the hole, peering through his weapon’s scope. When his finger found the trigger, enemies outside began dropping like flies. 

Over his shoulder, Jilk said, “Sorry to ask this, but please look after His Highness.”

“You’re seriously sticking me with that duty?” I teased back.

He chuckled. “Yes, I am.”

“Why are you guys treating me like a child?” Julius grumbled at the two of us. “Leon, let’s get moving. There’s no time to waste.”

“You guys’d better not die on me!” Greg hollered back at them.

They both laughed.

“Same to you,” said Brad.

“Be careful on the path ahead,” Jilk added.

***

Cold sweat poured down Brad’s back as he stood outside the hole in the fortress wall, swarms of enemies heading his way. “It’s a little late to regret it now, but I kind of do.” He shook his head. “No, I can’t let myself regret it. That would reflect badly on me.”

Brad fired his lances at the throng of encroaching monsters. The missiles flew and spun through the air, impaling creature after creature in the process. His Armor held the same type of lance in its two hands, but his real weapons were the six he controlled remotely.

“Don’t assume you’ll get past me so easily,” he said.

He manipulated all six lances at once with such effortless precision that one might mistakenly assume each had a will of its own. They plowed through the monsters around him, clearing the air. 

Soon enemy Armors joined the monsters, targeting him.

“We won’t let you kill our families, barbarians!” an enemy knight bellowed. His superiors had probably informed him that losing this war would necessarily mean the death of his entire family, which explained his zealousness.

“Then you should understand we can’t back down and sacrifice our families!” Brad shouted back at him. 

As his opponent approached, Brad lifted his left hand. The gun built into it blasted through the enemy’s cockpit at point-blank range. Its pilot gone, the Armor rapidly lost altitude.

While Brad dealt with the knight, his lances were still busy dispatching enemies around him. There seemed to be no end to them. Just the opposite, in fact; their numbers were increasing.

“This is insanity.”

Jilk sniped at the enemies from his spot inside the fortress, prioritizing the most dangerous ones. One of his bullets had just shot through an enemy ship’s bridge; the next pierced straight through its engine, sinking it. The drones Luxion had left behind engaged the imperials as well. Brad found the support from the drones and Jilk reassuring.

“Your sniping skills come in handy in this kind of situation,” he told Jilk.

“Happy to be of service,” Jilk replied. “That said, these numbers are a bit daunting even to me. All we can do is pray Leon takes that reactor out as quickly as possible.”

Victory could be theirs if they held out long enough for Leon, Julius, and Greg to carry out their mission.

“I only hope that’ll stop them,” said Brad, anxiety twisting in his gut.

Destroying the reactor would stop Arcadia, of course, but the imperial army was a different matter. There was no guarantee that they’d back down once Arcadia was out of commission. That might galvanize them instead. Plus, Jilk and Brad weren’t the only ones out here fighting with their lives on the line. According to Luxion’s predictions based on information he’d gathered earlier, around two hundred royal ships had probably sunk already. Even if their mission succeeded, it would be pointless if none of the royal army remained.

“I figure we’re only holding on because of the Republic and Fanoss. Not sure how I feel about Fanoss’s help,” said Brad.

His family, the Fields, occupied territory at the border with the former Principality of Fanoss and had been saddled with the duty of defending against them. The Fields’ struggles with Fanoss had gone on for decades. It was a cruel twist of fate that their very survival now depended on Fanoss.

“The Republic’s putting up a good fight too,” Jilk reminded him.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect them to come help us out.”

Brad’s mind went back to his time in the Alzer Republic, where aristocrats had assaulted and tormented him. They’d treated Leon and the others horribly as well, yet here they were, fighting alongside Holfort as allies.

“Well,” said Brad, “if they’re putting up a good fight, we need to show them we’re made of tough stuff too!” 

As monsters closed in on him, Brad deployed several magic circles, launching wide-range offensive magic. Flames swallowed the monsters, which disappeared in puffs of black smoke.

We’re up to our necks just dealing with the enemies in front of us. I feel bad for our allies, but for now, they’ll have to find a way to hold out on their own, he thought. It was all he and Jilk could do to defend themselves. At least we can buy some extra time.

Just when he thought they could withstand the constant onslaught, a large group of Demonic Knights reached him, their forces separated into several squadrons. Brad’s stomach sank. He had a bad feeling about this.

“Hey, what’s with this? You guys have a completely different demeanor from the other Demonic Knights we’ve faced,” said Brad.

The others had excelled at one-on-one combat, but this group moved with heretofore unseen cohesion.

As Brad’s hackles raised, Jilk assured him, “They may be Demonic Knights, but remember, we have equipment made specifically to combat them. There’s no need to be so worried.”

Jilk wasn’t exactly wrong about that. They were certainly well enough prepared to take on Demonic Suits in battle. But that didn’t change how big a threat the group in front of Brad presented.

“No,” he said to Jilk. “These ones will put up a tougher fight than the rest.”

The group’s leader seemed to hear them. “So you recognize that we’re a threat,” he said, his voice intrigued. “You’re right to be wary.”

“Good to know.”

“My name,” continued the leader, “is Hubert. Hubert Luo Hein.”

“Brad Fou Field,” said Brad in turn.

They’d likely bothered to introduce themselves because they sensed a common thread between them: an affinity for fighting multiple opponents. Brad’s intuition told him that their battle strategies were similar.

Brad manipulated his lances, keeping his guard up against Hubert and his knights.

“It seems the goddess of luck really does love me,” he noted. “If anyone else had to face you, they’d be in for quite a tough time. I made the right choice staying behind.”

Hubert scoffed, a sign of his disappointment. “Your arrogance is one thing, but the way you talk, it sounds like you actually think you can defeat us.”

“I will win.” Brad grinned. “Fate loves me too!”

“You’re a real narcissist.”

***

Back on the Licorne, Livia clutched her chest. Sweat ran down her brow as she gasped for air, each breath a struggle.

“Their voices,” she rasped.

She was referring to the voices of the people on the battlefield, which rang in her head. Cleare was helping her, filtering out as much of the information pouring in as possible, but she couldn’t completely quiet the voices of soldiers dying on the front lines.

“They’re disappearing,” Livia said. “Crying out that they don’t want to die.” Her face crumpled with pain, tears in her eyes.

Angie gently stroked her back, shooting Cleare a hard look. “Can’t you do anything about this? Livia’s heart won’t hold out.”

“I’m actually cutting out the worst of it already,” Cleare said. As far as she was concerned, the trickle reaching Livia was nothing compared to the virtual typhoon she was suppressing.

Angie shook her head. She didn’t think Livia could go on like this. “At least rest a little bit,” she told Livia.

“Suddenly losing our communications network will throw all our allies into disarray,” Cleare warned.

“Oh. Uh…” Angie’s gaze drifted aimlessly; she was lost for words. As much as she wanted Livia to rest, she knew they couldn’t risk that sort of disorder on the battlefield. The royal army was already fighting at a serious disadvantage. She didn’t intend to make that worse.

Livia smiled at her. “Thank you, Angie, but I have to give this everything I have, or I won’t be any help to Mr. Leon. I’m going to hold out.” The tears brimmed over and trickled down her cheeks. Her body trembled, as if she might collapse at any second.

Marie glanced out the window at Arcadia. “Big Bro and the others will pull this off, right?” She and everyone else on board were praying desperately for their safety.

Suddenly, a hologram appeared on the bridge, displaying Gilbert from the waist up. His face was all hard lines and angles, his brow scrunched above his eyes. “I’m going to lead the ships in the rear to the front lines,” he announced.

Angie gaped at him. “Wh-what?”

“What’s with the vacant expression?” Gilbert snapped. “Father’s ship already went down, and someone needs to move to the front and lead our forces. Surely you don’t want us to rely on Fanoss for everything?”

“N-no.”

It hit her that, if Gilbert went to the front like her father, he might never come home to her again. That gave her pause.

“You haven’t come all this way to start hesitating now! This is the path you chose,” Gilbert admonished her.

Angie shook her head, as if shaking off her reservations. “You’re right. I wish you luck.”

“Good. That’s more like it.” He smiled at her.

Peering out the window, Carla called back to them, “Our men are moving to the front!”

Gilbert and the ships under his command zoomed past. Together, those ships would give the vanguard much-needed assistance while combating the enemy. Those at the front of the formation began firing on the imperials immediately.

“If I die, you’ll have to find an heir for our family,” Gilbert told Angie. “If need be, one of your children can succeed me.”

She inhaled sharply, alarmed.

Gilbert’s expression softened, and his eyes filled with sadness. “You have a duty to protect our nation, even at the cost of your family’s lives. Don’t forget that.”

Angie lowered her gaze and steeled herself. When she lifted her chin, there was no emotion on her face. “Rest assured I will take care of our family. I promise to protect our lineage.”

“There. Now, that’s more like my sister.”

The royal army had lost close to three hundred ships, but the imperials had also suffered massive losses. Neither side could afford to back down, nor could they be conservative with their forces. If this were an ordinary war, Holfort would’ve admitted defeat and retreated by this point, but it wasn’t. Retreating now would mean death, so they couldn’t withdraw; neither could the empire.

Hands still clutching her chest, Livia stood straight, her gaze focused directly ahead. “Let’s move to the front line too,” she said.

“Liv?!” Cleare squeaked in dismay. “Nelly’s at her limit already!”

After her earlier stunt with Lelia, using the Sacred Tree’s power to shield them, Noelle was completely wrung out. But at the sound of her name, Noelle—who’d been lying down—tried to pull herself back to her feet. “Is it my turn again? It’s tough being so popular.” Her body couldn’t support her, and she flopped back into Yumeria’s arms.

“Lady Noelle, you can’t,” Yumeria said, her cheeks wet with tears.

Noelle let out a strangled laugh. “Why’s it always times like this when my body won’t work like I want it to?” Tears of frustration filled her eyes.

“Thank you for wanting to help,” Livia said to her. “But please rest for now.”

Noelle looked at her in confusion. “Olivia?”

Livia’s eyes were still fixed ahead. “Please have the Licorne move to the front line. I’ll protect everyone.”

“No!” Cleare said. “You’re already under enough strain. If you increase that load any more, you’ll break down!”

“I have no other choice!” Livia’s voice cracked, forcing her to pause for a moment. Once she recovered, she added, “I won’t be able to live with myself otherwise. Right here, right now, I need to do everything in my power to help. So please…!”

While everyone else was intent on stopping Livia from going down this path of self-destruction, Angie instead cut in, “You’re just like Leon, you know. You both take on more than you can reasonably handle.”

“Angie?” Livia said questioningly.

“I’m saying that, if you’re set on this, I’ll stay with you to the very end.” Angie scanned the faces of the others in the room. Hands on her hips, she added, “You heard me. We’re taking the Licorne to the front. If any of you want to disembark, do it now.”

Carla and Kyle looked at one another, but since Marie didn’t speak up, they kept silent.

“Don’t make me laugh,” Noelle said with a pained smile. “I haven’t come this far to quit now.”

Yumeria nodded. “I’ll stay too. Lady Noelle needs the support. More importantly, I know Kyle won’t leave either.” Her eyes darted to him, and she smiled.

Kyle made a face. He probably wanted his mother to leave the ship for her own safety, but he also knew how necessary she was to support Noelle and help her control the Sacred Tree, so he couldn’t bring himself to ask her.

Marie rested her staff on her shoulder and puffed her chest out. “If you hadn’t volunteered us to go to the front, I was ready to kick some butts in gear and make us charge the enemy myself.”

Angie stared back at her, dumbfounded. After a moment, she cracked a smile. “I said we’d go to the front, but I never mentioned charging the enemy,” she corrected in a gently teasing tone.

“Oh, same difference!” Marie grumbled, her voice cracking with embarrassment.

Everyone snickered at her.

***

Jilk surveyed the battlefield through the scope on his rifle. “Looks like ships from the rear have moved to the front. Our side must really be feeling the heat right now.”

He knew already that they were at a serious disadvantage. Even with most of the Demonic Knights off the field, the empire’s regular forces were sufficient to outmatch Holfort’s own. It was only thanks to the combined help from all the AIs that they were putting up some resistance. 

The drones handled the more fearsome enemies, which reduced the strain on the royal army, but even those drones were falling one after the other. The empire was winning through sheer numbers.

“Kill their sniper first!” bellowed an enemy.

Jilk had been sniping foes one at a time, and the successive shots had overheated his barrel. His gun was losing accuracy and efficacy; his most recent round barely grazed the enemy’s shoulder.

“That’s another gun down,” he said to himself. As an enemy charged him to try and end his sniping spree, he tossed the rifle aside in favor of a handgun. His blast pierced right through the foe’s cockpit, sinking them.

Jilk turned to the closest drone. “I need a new rifle,” he told it.

The drone carried a container on its back similar to the one Arroganz used. At Jilk’s request, it approached and pulled out a new rifle to give him.

He snatched it, leveling the scope so he could look through it via his monitor. Once he located an enemy, his breathing slowed to a pause. His finger squeezed the trigger. He’d timed it perfectly so that, as two enemies overlapped, the bullet pierced straight through both. Two birds with one stone. Without pause, he began searching for his next targets, pulling the trigger each time he found one.

“I really hate this,” Jilk said. “The way people lose their lives so easily.”

A few years ago, he’d known he would eventually become a knight, and he’d been confident that he wouldn’t fear battle or anything that came with it. Fighting was part of knighthood. If someone outwitted or outmatched him, he would die, and he was willing to accept that.

But everything had changed.

After serving alongside Leon these past couple of years, and fighting on numerous battlefields, Jilk had realized war was something to avoid. Moreover, he had realized how foolish he’d been when he was younger.

“I’m far better suited to desk work. I’d rather fire guns at targets than at people.”

Assuming he survived this, he would avoid war as best he could in the future. Fortunately, the new king was a pacifist. No, that’s not quite right. He’s more an idealist. But Jilk was fine with that. It’s a retainer’s responsibility to support their liege’s weak points. That’s exactly why neither Leon nor I can afford to die out here.

Inwardly admonishing himself for his growing desire to run from the enemies pressing in on him, Jilk hunkered down, intent on carrying out his duty.

***

From the looks of things, we’d picked the right corridor within the fortress; we came upon a vast number of defense forces stationed along it.

“You’re in the way!” I howled at them. I forced my way through, destroying one Armor after another until we reached a spacious room. There were dozens of Demonic Knights inside.

“Demonic Knights,” Luxion remarked. “This place is suspiciously well guarded.”

“It proves we’re on the right path,” I said.

The man who seemed to be their leader stepped forward. “I didn’t really think you’d come here.”

“You have an awful lot of people guarding this route. I’m guessing the reactor’s just beyond this point?”

“Don’t underestimate us,” he scoffed. “Master Arcadia prepared Demonic Suit Cores expressly for our use and appointed us all new Demonic Knights. No one can stand against us!”

The knights’ batlike wings fanned out behind them. Each of the foes brandished different weapons.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Arcadia can even create Demonic Suit Cores?” I grimaced at this revelation.

“I suspect they are not on par with those created by Brave,” Luxion said. “The knights here are equipped with inferior replicas.”

“Are you insulting us?!” their leader cried shrilly, having apparently overheard our conversation. “We’re the Imperial Guard personally approved by Master Arcadia himself!”

I heaved a small sigh of relief that they weren’t as strong as Finn. Inferior or not, though, they were still Demonic Knights. “They’ll be a bit of a pain to deal with.” And we didn’t have spare time to waste here.

I took a battle stance, but Greg and Julius shouldered past me.

“Leon! Calm down a little, would ya?” Greg said. “You’ve been pushing yourself way too hard.”

“Resupply and let yourself recover,” Julius added. “We’ll take care of these guys.” 

The two raised their weapons, ready to handle the enemy on my behalf. They were up against thirty Demonic Knights, though. On top of that, there were a number of regular soldiers in Armors—defense forces—behind those knights. They wielded enormous shields, intent on preventing us from passing through.

Given how much Julius and Greg had trained, as well as all their suit enhancements, I honestly figured they could find a way to take these forces down. But it would require time we didn’t have. And I’d already put more on Chris, Brad, and Jilk’s shoulders than I ever wanted to.

“Master,” Luxion said, interrupting my thoughts, “the enemy’s main cannon is preparing to fire again. If we take too long here, our allies will sustain significant casualties.”

“You’re right. Luxion, inject me with the performance enhancer.”

“You must avoid that!” he cried. “I cannot approve!”

I knew he didn’t want me to use it, but arguing about it would only waste more time.

“Luxion, it’s an order,” I told him firmly.

After I said that, he couldn’t rail against me. “Very well. Injecting the enhancer now. You have nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds until I must administer the neutralizer.”

A needle jabbed my skin through the pack on my back, forcing the liquid into my system.

“Nrgh!” I let out a strangled cry.

A wave of heat charged through my body, and my field of vision narrowed. The pain was so intense I was left gasping for breath, a droplet of drool running down my chin. I braced myself against the anguish for what felt like minutes, until my body finally began to acclimate and the strain abated. My limbs felt lighter, and my vision opened back up. A burst of energy overcame me—a sense that I could do anything I wanted. There was more power in my body than ever before. My pulse quickened, my heart thundering madly.

I wiped the drool from my chin. “You two, fall back.”

“Leon, you didn’t!” Greg gasped. 

I shoved him out of the way and stepped past him.

“So you’re going to face us yourself, Scumbag Knight? Master Arcadia will be most pleased when I offer him your head,” the enemy knight said.

He seemed to feel awfully indebted to Arcadia for giving him and his men Demonic Suit Cores. They didn’t really have any business calling themselves the Imperial Guard, in my opinion, since they never even mentioned the imperial family or their own emperor.

Not that it mattered. I didn’t care about that right now.

“Sorry, but I’m not interested in what you have to say,” I told him.

“Releasing Arroganz’s limiter,” Luxion announced.

The limiter was a safety measure. Allowing Arroganz to operate at its full capacity placed an unbearable burden on the pilot, which was why the limiter existed in the first place. If anyone released it and tried to pilot Arroganz, the cockpit would turn gruesome and bloody. Only the performance enhancers allowed me to withstand the strain. The drugs Marie had retrieved for me were just that powerful.

Arroganz blasted forward, closing the space between me and the enemy in an instant.

“Wha—?!” cried the knight.

Before he could turn his weapon on me, I grabbed the head of his suit and crushed it in my fist. Then the axe in my other hand cleaved him in two. The drug let me wield Arroganz’s full power with ease. 

“Sorry, but I’m in a hurry.”

Time seemed to move in slow motion. The other knights yanked out their weapons in a panic, but I sidestepped the nearest one’s incoming attack and pressed the flat of my hand against their suit. Anyone else would’ve found their movements agile, but not me, not with everything slowed down.

“Do it,” I told Luxion.

“Impact.”

With that, the second knight exploded.

The rest of the Imperial Guard crowded around me. They swung weapons and unleashed magic, doing everything in their power to fight back. I sliced through them with a simple swing of my axe. A countdown appeared on my monitor, warning me how much time remained until Luxion injected the neutralizer. Even the digital numbers seemed to slip by as slow as molasses.

“Thanks to you, Marie, it looks like I can complete this mission,” I said.

I moved so quickly that, to the enemy, it probably looked like I was almost teleporting. I ripped through them with ridiculous ease, gripping the control sticks so tightly they creaked under my fingers’ strength.

But something felt wrong.

“Tears?”

There was something wet on my cheek. I dabbed the pad of my finger against it and came away with blood. Blood, not tears, was leaking from my eyes. That was to be expected, though. The more potent the drug, the more strain it placed on one’s body.

I was so focused on destroying the enemy that I ran the clock out before I knew it.

“Master, the neutralizer!” Luxion’s voice brought me back to reality. 

I scanned the area around us quickly. “Right,” I said. “Guess it’s over.”

In under ten minutes, I’d destroyed the Imperial Guard and the defense forces with them.