Ch.7Pirate Raid (3)

“What the hell is that woman!”

“Kill her! Kill her now!”

“Damn it, she’s dodging all our bullets, what are we supposed to—ARGH!”

Wow.

I recalled how games sometimes use perspective changes to show character movements.

I wondered if something similar might be available in my current situation.

In response to my question, Jessica handed me a device with a beaming smile, saying of course there was.

Through the device’s screen, I could see Ignis’s one-woman show.

No, it was more like a high-definition first-person action slasher movie playing out without any censorship.

After watching for about 1-2 minutes…

“Urgh.”

While observing our pirates’ beheading show and talent display firsthand, I had to turn off the screen as nausea threatened to overwhelm me.

It wasn’t that I lacked tolerance for violence or was screaming “Hoeeee!” in terror.

The problem was that the footage came from the action cam on Ignis’s suit.

With energy blades in both hands, performing what looked like three consecutive Hyper Kamikagura moves, Ignis’s insane physical abilities and mobility created a perfect storm.

‘The camera shake is absolutely ridiculous.’

From the perspective of a weak ordinary person like me, the footage only triggered photosensitive shock and 3D motion sickness simultaneously.

So despite Jessica going through the trouble of getting it for me, I turned off the device and tried to contact Ignis to ask how long it would take to deal with one pirate ship, but…

“Jessica, can we contact Ignis?”

“Yes, but she said not to contact her during combat unless it’s an emergency. It’s dangerous.”

Hearing what was essentially the equivalent of putting her phone on silent mode, I felt a peculiar sensation.

‘Is this what it feels like to be an incompetent boss with an overly competent subordinate?’

Before that thought could develop further…

“Oh right, Ignis mentioned something before she left.”

“What is it?”

“She said it would take 30 minutes at most to clear one ship.”

“Hmm, I see.”

After hearing Jessica’s interesting information, I nodded in acknowledgment.

<Time remaining until patrol ship production: 00:32:58>

<Raiding pirate base.>

Looking at the holographic status window blinking before my eyes, I picked up the command console I had set aside while watching Ignis’s battle.

“Alright, let’s try to buy some time.”

“You can do it, Commander!”

With Jessica’s familiar encouragement from the original game, I began operating the patrol ship to move forward.

———-

Meanwhile, at the exact moment our Commander was boldly operating the patrol ship…

At the Newbie Killer Pirates, infamous for terrorizing both newcomers and veterans alike…

“ARGH!”

“G-A-A-A-H!”

“VAL-HAL-LA!!”

The space cowboys—no, the filthy and unclean space pirates who had approached with a picnic-like attitude upon hearing there was only one patrol ship defending, were now panicking at the sudden appearance of an SS-class superhuman.

“Why the hell is there an SS-class at such a crappy base?”

It made sense for them to be shocked. Most of the attacking pirates were ordinary people who didn’t even qualify as D-class.

The pirate executives were barely something between D and C class.

Ship captains were only C-class.

The pirate leader, known as the “Boss,” barely qualified as B-class, if at all.

And now, facing them was a superhuman three levels higher than their boss.

“Boss! H-how do we stop this crazy woman?”

“She’s slicing bullets fired from machine guns! What are we supposed to do?”

“This game is so damn broken.”

With pirate heads and internal organs experiencing painful separations from their bodies en masse, the pirate boss was deep in contemplation…

“Boss! Their patrol ship is advancing!”

“…Ha, these worthless scum dare!”

While one ship was being rendered useless, seeing the base attempting to attack them with a mere patrol ship, the pirate boss finally made a decision.

“Boys, we’re abandoning the ship that superhuman boarded.”

“What?”

“Then what happens to us?”

Naturally, his subordinates around him protested against such a decision.

“Listen, you idiots, shouldn’t we first destroy that pathetic patrol ship that’s daring to challenge us?”

“Oh.”

“What the hell do you mean ‘oh’?!”

With the boss’s quick explanation, the slow-witted pirates could only show confused faces.

Being pirates, there were many fools among them, which seemed to be burning the boss’s patience in real-time…

“Wow, that’s why you’re the boss!”

“The greatest mind of our pirate crew, always reliable!”

“Shut up and move! No matter how amazing that superhuman woman is, once we destroy that ship and take over the base, she’ll have no choice but to surrender!”

“Yes sir!”

Once the boss’s orders were given, while their comrades(?) on one pirate ship sacrificed themselves to buy time, they would quickly sink that pathetic patrol ship and focus on looting all the information and resources from the base.

Of course, they calculated that it wouldn’t take much effort or time to defeat a patrol ship that was at best equal to or even more pathetic than their own.

———-

But contrary to the pirates’ hopeful observations…

“Why can’t we hit it…!”

“S-sorry, Boss!”

“But that patrol ship’s evasive maneuvers are no joke!”

“Damn it, slippery like an eel.”

Facing two pirate patrol ships, the defending patrol ship completely avoided direct engagement, continuously evading their attacks, causing the expected time to increase exponentially.

They did manage to land one particle beam hit, but even a weak patrol ship wouldn’t have its shields penetrated by just one beam.

That was a good thing, all things considered.

And naturally, while they were wasting time…

“B-Boss! That crazy woman has reached the bridge!”

*Ratatatatata!*

“Hurry, hurry and help us! T-that door! That door!”

*CRACK!*

The pirates who were buying precious time against the superhuman were literally being physically shredded.

Of course, the pirates weren’t completely thoughtless.

“Damn it, contact Ship 3 and tell them to just charge the base!”

“Yes sir!”

Belatedly, the pirate boss devised a strategy to have a subordinate ship charge the base while he dealt with the nimble patrol ship.

“Boss! Message from Ship 3!”

“What now?!”

“They say a superhuman flew to their stern and attached herself to it… they’re begging for help…”

“…What.”

Unfortunately, such thinking came too late.

And simultaneously, when the boss momentarily let go of the controls after hearing this news, perfect cross-fire launched from the patrol ship and the base’s defense turrets…

“No, don’t!”

Before the pirate boss could frantically operate the controls after realizing his mistake, the attack shattered the pirates’ thin energy shields.

It created numerous new ventilation holes in the thin alloy armor plating.

The shells that pierced through the bodies of pirates who still couldn’t grasp the situation instantly hit the fusion reactor and ammunition storage.

The resulting fusion reactor overload and ammunition detonation, combined with the pirates’ habit of over-arming and over-charging, led to a spectacularly brilliant explosion.

*KABOOOOOOM!!!!!*

———-

After witnessing all of this unfold in just 0.4 seconds…

—————————————-

<Pirate Attack> Cleared!

<System Evaluation: 2 pirate ships captured (no survivors), 1 ship destroyed>

—————————————-

Seeing such a clean result screen appear, I clenched both fists and exclaimed:

“Pirates handled, excellent!”

“You did it, Commander!”

And beside me, Jessica, my adjutant, was genuinely celebrating as if it were her own achievement.