Ch.130130. Titan Armor

A moment later.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes, I’m finished.”

Like a devout believer performing a religious ritual, he was fully equipped and met Teresia, who had been waiting near the entrance of this refugee village.

She wore a white bodysuit adorned with gold decorations exactly as described in legends and records, with an additional layer of fabric that resembled a coat, and held a rod in her hand that strongly resembled a light■■aber.

It seemed almost inadequate—wearing such thin clothing that wouldn’t even qualify as light armor on a battlefield—but there was no need to worry.

According to records, Teresia was a powerful psychic user who once single-handedly infiltrated and annihilated a cruiser-class monster ship (battleship-class Hive Ship, 10KM class). Besides, that seemingly flimsy outfit might actually be sturdier than the equipment he was currently wearing.

His powered suit consisted of an exoskeleton made of solid mythril, armor plates of adamantium-plasteel alloy, and rare psychic crystals used for energy conduction—theoretically allowing even an ordinary person to survive orbital bombardment.

But her bodysuit was even more powerful.

The inner lining was meticulously woven using thread drawn from dozens of tons of compressed mythril and orichalcon, while the white exterior was made of mythril with golden accessory parts that assisted with psychic usage.

The light sword (光劍) she carried was an old-style weapon that produced a blade made purely of psychic energy. Not only did its performance vary greatly depending on the user’s skill level, but it had fallen out of use with the emergence of better alternatives like plasma blades…

‘I can’t believe they actually used that just to make a supplementary close-combat weapon.’

It was a weapon that covered the equipment’s inherent limitations with an unimaginably expensive extravagance—containing a small fragment of a Psychic Knight.

“Alright, let’s get going. The data… should I send it to you?”

“Yes, please.”

And so, fully armed and exchanging words with Teresia, they slowly began walking forward, step by step.

Their goal was singular: to recover the Titan Armor, an ancient civilization’s bipedal war machine famous as Teresia’s personal craft.

※ ※ ※

About an hour and several minutes after their spirited departure.

“Hup—”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Click—ratatatatatatatatatatata!!!!!!

Thwack! Thud!

Upon encountering a pack of wolf monsters—judging by their movement pattern, they were likely planning to attack the village—the two methodically slaughtered them without much conversation.

Teresia wielded her hilt—a light sword (光劍) emitting a blue energy blade—and even with casual swings, the blade’s energy output was so powerful that anything it touched vaporized instantly, making it seem as if she were slashing through empty air.

Since the energy blade had virtually no weight, being formed of high-pressure energy, her movements appeared not just light but almost graceful, like someone performing rhythmic gymnastics.

In stark contrast, Yon’s fighting style was extremely primal and brutal.

The twin three-barreled psychic energy rifles mounted on the front of his powered armor’s massive pauldrons (shoulder armor) fired compressed ice bullets of psychic cold that easily penetrated force fields. Meanwhile, considering even the energy used for weapons too precious to waste, he engaged the monsters with his bare hands.

Of course, these “bare hands” weren’t truly unarmed—rather, it meant he wasn’t equipped with any weapons besides his gauntlets.

His fists, charged with force field energy and psychic power generated from his backpack, could crush a force field-protected wolf monster’s skull in a single blow, and his strikes could easily turn werewolf-type monsters into were/wolf monsters, cutting like actual blades.

With the ice bullets fired from the rifles mounted inside his shoulder armor covering what his fists alone couldn’t quite manage, the battle didn’t last long before ending in Yon and Teresia’s victory.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes. Not even a scratch.”

Yon, momentarily lost in memories of the not-too-distant past while examining a torn-off wolf head, answered Teresia’s question absently—then, coming to his senses, tossed the head back to the ground.

“Did you have some history with wolf monsters?”

“Yes, my hometown was famous for feral wolf monsters…”

As they continued walking for quite some time, Yon listened to Teresia’s somewhat exaggerated tales about the famous wild wolf monsters of her homeland, Mosung.

By the time the sun began to set—on a planet where days were about 1.7 times longer than Earth standard time—and darkness started to fall:

“Oh, I think we’re close.”

“Are we?”

As Teresia announced she had located their target through her holographic smartwatch, Yon felt a corner of his heart begin to race with anticipation.

And the place they arrived at after following Teresia was—

“A cave…?”

“…Yes, it’s a cave.”

It was a suspicious-looking cave with an entrance nearly 30 meters wide and an interior that was unnaturally dark.

Although Teresia could see with her psychic abilities and Yon with his powered suit’s helmet functions even in low light, the fact that the interior still appeared dark was quite bizarre.

Additionally, the entrance was cut in unnaturally smooth curves, and most decisively, there were complex psychic wavelengths emanating from inside.

It was a cave packed with every element that would make one reluctant to enter… but what could they do when Teresia’s holographic smartwatch pointed inside?

Despite their obvious reluctance, they had no choice but to turn on their lights and enter. They pondered various methods of illumination as they ventured deeper.

“Ah, the lights work.”

“That’s fortunate.”

After realizing that non-psychic light sources could dispel the darkness inside, Yon activated his suit’s small searchlight, and only then could they proceed…

But the real problem was just beginning.

■■■■■■■—!!!

“Behind you—!!!”

Whoosh—slash.

Thud.

Inside the already dark cave roamed psychic creatures with black skin that blended perfectly with their environment—forms that seemed wrapped in shadows.

These psychic creatures, appearing like a mishmash of various beasts of this world, weren’t particularly durable, but their explosive movement and acceleration were problematic.

They could momentarily achieve such agility that even Yon, a Grade 2 mercenary, barely had time to react. Their matter-penetrating claws could instantly tear through powered suit armor if not protected by psychic energy.

The one fortunate thing was that these psychic creatures, perhaps as a side effect of drawing power from this special darkness, would emit smoke when exposed to light, like vampires in sunlight, and eventually vaporize and disappear.

Therefore, the searchlight’s intensely focused beam was perfect for hunting these beasts, allowing the two to proceed after hunting them down at the cost of a few scratches on Yon’s suit.

The next place they arrived at had no darkness, but instead was populated by bipedal machines moving about.

Seeing these machines that looked completely out of place against the unrefined rocky walls, Yon naturally prepared to strike first before they could attack.

“…Wait, Yon.”

But Teresia stopped him and, rather than explaining, boldly stepped forward toward the machines.

“It’s danger—ous…?”

Contrary to Yon’s concerns, the machines didn’t attack Teresia; instead, they bowed their heads to her respectfully.

While Yon was confused by this unexpected behavior from what he thought were enemies, Teresia calmly approached him and explained:

“Those are psychic entities summoned by my Titan Armor.”

“…What?”

“It must have been damaged when it fell here, causing it to summon psychic entities. The machines are for repairs, and those beasts in the darkness are for defense. I didn’t remember until now because it happened so long ago.”

“I… I see…”

Yon was astonished by Teresia’s casual mention of something impossible by modern scientific standards—the summoning of psychic entities, and by a machine acting autonomously at that.

‘Finally, right ahead.’

He was considerably excited at the prospect of actually seeing the legendary bipedal war machine of ancient civilization—the Titan Armor.