Ch.131131. Throwing Weapons

With a pounding heart, Yon waited silently as Theresia took out an antique-looking key from the void (subspace) and walked confidently into a space where there was【NOTHING】.

Then, as Theresia inserted the key into the【EMPTY】void and turned it, suddenly—with a clicking sound around the key—it revealed itself.

Only then did Yon realize he had been under a psychic perception distortion, but he didn’t care about such trivial matters in the slightest.

The Titan Armor that appeared from the void was so magnificent it commanded all his attention, and simultaneously too beautiful to be believed a weapon.

Standing approximately 20 meters tall, the Titan Armor was a humanoid bipedal robot. Its most distinctive features were its frame (endoskeleton) made of mythril/psychic knight material, adamantium fiber muscles, and lavishly decorated golden orichalcum armor plating—the exoskeleton.

The surface appeared at first glance to be smooth, plain golden armor, but upon closer inspection, intricate patterns were delicately engraved across the entire plating. Red psychic crystals embedded throughout the exoskeleton parts activated the surface patterns as psychic circuits.

The legs featured robust yet sturdy suspension, while the soles contained psychic circuits that allowed it to step on and leap through empty air. Thruster nozzles positioned between various parts enabled spectacular three-dimensional maneuvers.

Aside from these mechanical components, the machine was essentially just a metal version of an idealized human body scaled to enormous proportions.

As Yon was scrutinizing the machine, experiencing a strange feeling as if looking at a being superior to himself, at that very moment—

Woooong—

“—What?!”

The head section of the unmanned machine suddenly lit up, and it began to move on its own.

“Tighty, Yon. Both of you, calm down.”

With just those words, Theresia calmed them both—the autonomously moving Titan Armor and Yon. Then, with a slightly embarrassed smile, she said:

“Well… shall we head back?”

※ ※ ※

Following her suggestion, Yon left the cave with the self-moving Titan Armor. The Titan Armor bent one knee and sat down—then with a sound that could be described as “chrrk,” opened its torso section (the cockpit).

Without a moment’s hesitation, Theresia leaped up onto the Titan Armor and slipped inside the cockpit. The torso closed again, and as the Titan Armor stood up—

‘T-transformation?!! Is this that discontinued nanomachine technology…?’

Despite being a machine, the previously austere form of the Titan Armor began to change, its components morphing like a monster’s biological transformation.

The waist section became more compact, the somewhat excessive shoulder components moved to the back to become thruster-equipped wings, and overall, the frame became slimmer while auxiliary wings with thrusters appeared throughout the body.

If its previous form had been like a tin can, it now looked like something worthy of being called a mecha.

While bipedal robots were somewhat common, humanoid robots like this were rare, so Yon’s amazement was natural.

Anyway, back to the main point. When the transformed Titan Armor extended its hand, Yon immediately understood the intention and naturally stepped onto it.

[It’s going to be a bit fast, hold on tight.]

‘Yes!’

Communicating through psychic transmission, the Titan Armor pulled the hand carrying Yon close to its chest, then accelerated instantly, rising to an altitude closer to the clouds than the ground in just tens of seconds before flying rapidly toward the village.

At this speed, they could reach the village in about 5 minutes, but… unfortunately, it seemed it would take a bit longer.

“Lady Theresia, those are…”

[The shape has changed a bit from before, but those are low-orbit monster ships, right?]

“Yes, I believe so.”

As they flew rapidly, they happened to spot three low-orbit attack monster ships descending.

Each was about 300 meters long (roughly the size of a Cold War-era American aircraft carrier), with hundreds of cannons aimed at the ground on their undersides, and escorted by numerous flying monsters.

These three ships, undoubtedly here to clean up the remaining humans on this planet, were clearly targeting the village.

[We need to deal with them here. Want me to put you down?]

When Theresia asked if he wanted to flee, Yon naturally replied with a voice tinged with amusement:

“Yes. If possible… I’d like to be dropped on that largest ship over there.”

[Want me to throw you?]

“Yes, please.”

The two, somehow well-matched in personality, spoke amicably like old friends as they prepared.

As the Titan Armor, hovering in midair, assumed a stance similar to preparing to throw a baseball, Yon readied himself for impact, protected by a one-time shield generated by the Titan Armor’s power.

Whoooosh—!!!

Just as the Titan Armor threw him straight into the ship, flying pterosaur-like monsters that had detected the Titan Armor began rapidly approaching her, expelling gas like jet engines.

‘Scenario C-16 complete… Prepare for C-20.’

[Roger that.]

And as Theresia communicated psychically with someone while watching the monsters, she—

—Slash!

—began by decapitating an approaching pterosaur with her Titan Armor’s light sword (光劍), then proceeded to slice through the monsters.

The light sword, powered by psychic knight energy and a giant version of what she used in human form, was a catastrophe for the pterosaur monsters weaker than her, just as her superior had called it “a weapon that despises the weak.”

No matter how much they strained their force fields, tried to block with psychic energy emissions, or attempted long-range attacks, they couldn’t block or evade the enormous light sword wielded by the Titan Armor, which was dozens of times faster and more agile than them.

Materials touched by the blade weren’t so much cut as torn apart, and even a glancing blow would grind away the material itself, making clumsy evasive maneuvers a choice that would cost them their lives.

The monster ships, unable to ignore this one-sided slaughter, abandoned close combat and began pouring attacks from a distance.

Anti-air laser cannons mounted on the sides, plasma cannons installed on the underside for ground strikes, and energy projectiles spewed from the pterosaurs’ mouths—all targeted Theresia and her powered suit.

[Shield activated… confirmed.]

Ting! Ting! Boom! Thud!

In response, Theresia pulled out a Titan Armor shield from subspace and flew toward the monster ships with the shield in front.

The shield, projecting an incredibly sturdy psychic barrier at the front, blocked everything from lasers to plasma masses. Having closed more than half the distance to the ships in one breath, she deactivated the shield’s barrier and immediately began firing the psychic cannon mounted on her right forearm.

Kwang! Kwang! Kwang! KWAAANG!!!!

The cannon, resembling the arm-mounted weapon of Rock■, used vast amounts of psychic energy emitted from the massive psychic knight as projectiles, with each shot equivalent to an escort ship’s main gun.

These cannon shots, designed to deal with monster fleet ships adapted to the harsh space environment, were too much for mere low-orbit attack monster ships to withstand.

Though their protective barriers prevented them from being completely perforated, they couldn’t block the impact.

More than half of the main guns had fallen silent as if broken, and over half of the glowing golden eyes embedded throughout the ships had burst.

Except for the one hive ship into which Yon had been thrown, the other two ships were essentially defeated at this stage.

“…”

Theresia silently switched her weapons to two plasma single-edged blades that emitted plasma from their cutting edges, then rapidly approached the monster ships again and began hunting the flying pterosaurs nearby.

The energy projectiles fired by these mere mid-level monster pterosaurs were easily absorbed by her basic barrier, while her enormous plasma cutters, over 8 meters long, severed the monsters’ skin as if tearing it apart.

She even attacked the ships directly, stabbing and gouging them with her blades, truly displaying the ability to shoot down ships single-handedly. Just then—

BOOM!

With a tremendous explosion, the ship Yon had infiltrated began to tilt and then started to crash.

Yon had, by himself, managed to shoot down the ship.