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There are many mysteries surrounding Barbara’s curse.
There were still many parts that had not been explained.
But first, we need to save our lives.
I ignored the pain slowly rising from my side. I blocked out unnecessary sensations and detected enemies outside.
‘Attack drone.’
Drones are effective weapons, capable of attacking enemies safely and unilaterally from a distance.
Wheeing.
I could tell where the drone was by the direction of the gunfire and the sound of its movement. It was flying from the north of the garden.
Giselle and I hid behind the marble pillars.
‘I don’t have any weapons in my possession right now.’
I was practically bare-handed. My only weapon was a pocket knife that could be used as a can opener.
‘Handling drones isn’t even a job… … .’
I was confident that I could dodge the gunfire since I knew the location. The drone’s reaction time was not enough to hit me. I was just hit because it was a long-distance surprise attack that I couldn’t even detect the direction. If only Giselle hadn’t been there, I would have avoided it somehow.
‘The problem is that if you move at high speed, the wound can become worse.’
If there were more enemies, I would have to protect myself. I didn’t want to roll my body roughly just to catch one drone.
A gunshot rang out, but since the drone had a silencer on its muzzle, it was doubtful whether anyone around would notice. For now, we should assume that we can escape from here on our own.
‘I’ll beat you so hard your nose breaks off, you fu*king bitch.’
I recalled Barbara’s face and strengthened my resolve.
“Do you have a mirror?”
At my words, Giselle took a folding hand mirror out of her pocket. I snatched it away as if I was snatching it away, and used the reflection to clearly confirm the drone’s location.
The drone’s shape was blurry, as if it were melting into the night sky thanks to its matte black surface.
‘Concentrate, Luca.’
I encouraged myself and closed my eyes loosely, then opened them again. As my senses expanded, the objects around me became more clearly visible.
Whirl!
I spun around and jumped outside the marble pillar. I used the centrifugal force of my body’s rotation to sling my pocket knife as if I was shooting it.
A silver trajectory shot up in a straight line. The pocket knife flew towards the drone like a guided missile.
Ka-Ang!
There was a flash of light as the metal crackled. There was a loud noise as the pocket knife and propeller tangled.
Toodoodoodoo!
The drone shot in all directions as it crashed down like a bird with its wings torn off. I ducked down to protect my head from the blinding bullets.
I didn’t check the condition of the crashed drone. It’s hard to completely destroy a drone with just a pocket knife. You could get shot if you approached it for no reason. However, since the flight function was removed, it won’t be able to chase after it.
While I was fighting, Giselle, who had come to her senses, was manipulating the terminal.
“Are the communication functions working?”
When I asked, Giselle shook her head.
“No. Neither internal nor external communication is possible.”
My terminal was the same. The screen would stutter and errors would pop up, just like an old terminal that had been running for a dozen years.
‘Is this something a mere student can do?’
I can say for sure that it is impossible. There was something more we didn’t know. There was some kind of background to Barbara.
Direct.
There was a noise from Giselle’s terminal.
-Giselle, Giselle, Giselle. I tried to protect you, why did you betray me? And Luca… … .
Barbara’s voice, mixed with noise, was even more eerie.
-I like you. So… …I wish you would despise me more.
As soon as I grabbed Giselle’s terminal, I gripped it tightly and broke it. The small parts fell like powder under my palm.
“There’s no need to listen to that crazy bitch. Maybe this time… … .”
I covered my side and kept my mouth shut. Even if she was the captain’s daughter, Giselle was still a civilian. I couldn’t say anything else.
‘He is moving above me.’
The captain of the guard recalled a lukewarm response.
‘He used me as bait, and even his own daughter.’
The disjointed pieces were falling into place in my head.
‘He’s my superior, but… … he’s so cruel.’
I tried to take Giselle to a safe place.
At the entrance to the garden stood a familiar face. It was Felix Eigen, a guard cadet who had been dispatched like me.
“Felix, is this an order from above?”
I asked as soon as I saw Felix’s face. He seemed to have come to support me with a knife and a pistol.
“Yeah, it looks like you’re the only one getting special treatment again. I didn’t get any word about this operation.”
Felix shrugged and laughed.
“It’s the same as not being informed in advance. I also only found out after the incident happened that they were moving according to the plan of their superiors.”
The guards were working on a grand plan. Even though they were the lowest of the low, they moved in such a way that they had to hide it from us.
“Wait, wait a minute. Now, this is all your father’s plan?”
Felix and I were soldiers, so we could understand being treated like expendables or tools. However, Giselle did not accept it easily. After all, the order came from her father… … It was understandable for her to be emotionally shaken.
Felix was more concerned with me than with Giselle’s reaction. His gaze lingered on the wound on my side.
“Are you serious?”
“If we don’t treat it right away, he’ll be found dead tomorrow morning?”
“They say there are still no problems.”
I snickered. Felix took the knife and threw the pistol to me, the injured person.
Felix took out his terminal and tried to report to his superiors. His terminal seemed to be fine.
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“Now Luca and Giselle Cousteau… … .”
Felix didn’t finish his report.
Taang!
A gunshot rang out. The bullet shattered Felix’s terminal and took his right hand with it.
Felix didn’t even scream. He and I dispersed as we had promised, and stuck to the wall at the entrance to the garden.
Kiing!
I pulled Giselle behind me, placed my finger on the trigger of my pistol, and exchanged glances with Felix, who was hiding against the opposite wall.
‘He’s a seasoned opponent.’
Even though we were taken by surprise, we didn’t even detect any signs of the enemy. We heard gunshots right away, so it wasn’t long-range fire.
This means that the enemy that has just appeared has been trained to kill and ambush. To the extent that they can fool our senses as Royal Guard cadets.
‘Luka, please cover me.’
Felix spoke with only his lips moving. He was planning to run towards the direction of the gunfire with his knife in hand. If we concentrated, we could deflect any number of bullets.
I nodded and took a deep breath.
“Hey! Let’s talk. If I had gone for the head, one of you would have already died.”
At the end of the path leading to the garden entrance, the attacker spoke.
The raider made a point of talking to us so we could identify his location. He seemed very confident in his abilities.
Felix and I quickly exchanged signals to change our plans.
‘While I was talking to the attackers, Felix made a flanking maneuver and aimed for the enemy from behind.’
The plan was made in an instant. Felix took off his shoes and started moving with quiet footsteps. And I raised my voice.
“Story? Are you telling us a story knowing who we are?”
The enemy will not even think that we planned the operation, because we answered almost immediately.
“I know. Isn’t that the cute student Nari? I don’t have much time, so I’ll get to the point. Hand over Giselle Custoria to me.”
“Are you trying to kidnap them and get a big ransom?”
I tried to kill time somehow.
“Our princess wants that woman. I don’t want to do this to my children. You’re a soldier too, so you know what I mean, right? Even if you don’t feel like it, it’s an order.”
I opened my eyes wide as I listened to the attacker’s words. I felt a sense of incongruity in his words.
‘I said you, not you.’
The raiders know that Felix is taking a detour!
I leaned my head and shoulders over the wall, prepared to be shot. I had to cover Felix now.
Boom!
As soon as I poked my head out, the first thing I heard was the sound of bones breaking and dislocating. It wasn’t loud. The static cracking sound quietly reached my ears.
‘Felix got hurt.’
I quickly grasped the situation. The attacker was holding Felix by the neck. He was looking at me as he broke Felix’s neck with one hand.
Felix’s limbs were limp and twitching intermittently. The knife he was holding fell to the floor.
I pushed my complicated emotions aside. Right now, I have to focus on the enemy.
OMG.
The attacker was wearing a full-body combat suit. It was a sealed full-body combat suit with no gaps whatsoever.
The surface of the combat uniform had a rippled paint job, and the color naturally changed depending on the surrounding scenery and objects. It was a combat uniform that had camouflage discoloration technology applied.
‘There was a reason we didn’t detect it.’
The attacker threw Felix aside and looked at me.
OMG.
The two pairs of eyes on the raider’s helmet glowed red. The color of the combat uniform was fixed at black, as camouflage was no longer needed.
bang!
I aimed at the assailant’s head and pulled the trigger, just to see how fast the enemy would react.
The attacker ducked his head to the side to avoid the bullet. He was quite fast. If Felix was so easily hit, then you should think of the enemy as a guard.
‘This might be a bit difficult.’
I only had one lip twitching.
“Giselle, if I start fighting, run as fast as you can and don’t look back. I’ll buy you as much time as I can.”
“I am…….”
I covered Giselle’s mouth with my palm.
“There’s no time to argue. Just do as I say.”
I said, showing my teeth as if I was snarling. This is the best. And the enemy’s goal is to capture Giselle. If Giselle starts to run away, it will also have the effect of diverting attention.
I walked away from the wall that served as cover.
“I don’t want to kill two juniors in one night.”
The attacker muttered as he looked at me.
‘Junior?’
I was distracted by that word for a moment.
Whoosh!
The attacker ran towards me without me noticing. He was running at incredible speed. His eyes were dazzling as he followed the trajectory of his movements.
Crunch!
I crossed my arms and blocked the attacker’s kick. Then I was blown about twenty meters away.
“To the extent that you’re disturbing my senses! How cute, really!”
The attacker laughed cheerfully as he blasted me away.
Crack!
I bit my tongue because I was so angry. Then I came to my senses.
This is an opponent I can only hope to defeat with all my might. In a situation where I should be focusing all my thoughts and nerves on battle, I had other thoughts. How pathetic, Luca.
One thing that is fortunate and frustrating is that the enemy thinks I am a joke. I didn’t use a knife or gun, and there was no follow-up attack.
… … and he even gave me time to prepare.
Creak, creak.
My right prosthetic eye was spinning around and around, a movement that would be impossible for a biological eye.
A huge amount of visual information was seeping into my brain. I even had the illusion that my occipital lobe, where my visual center is located, was getting hot.
I reconstructed the input visual information into a three-dimensional map in my brain, and recognized all objects within a radius of a hundred meters. Like a house I had lived in for decades, I could know the location of objects around me without looking at them.
‘Archies fighting techniques.’
Its essence is extreme analysis and insight that does not even care about brain damage. It starts with expanding the five senses to perceive the surrounding environment as if taking control of it.
My head was pounding as if I had a fever, and a hot feeling rose up from my forehead.
bang!
I fired repeatedly at the attackers.
Whoosh!
The attacker swayed his body from side to side to avoid the bullets. He quickly approached me. His gaze was only fleeting, but he was watching Giselle running away.
I moved, throwing away the empty magazine of my pistol. I ran backwards, getting closer to the wall at the entrance to the garden. Then, without looking, I leaped over the wall. The virtual map in my head and reality were perfectly aligned.
As I was crossing to the other side of the wall, I kicked off the wall and moved far away while floating in the air.
There was not a moment wasted in my movements. Even though I was lacking in speed, I was not overly fussy, so the attackers could not catch up with me.
‘I need to borrow your knife, Felix.’
I landed next to Felix’s body. I grabbed his sword and swung it around. As I started to move at high speed, the bleeding from my side was getting worse.
“You just figured out the location of an object and moved without even looking. Isn’t that a typical optimization of Akiest?”
The attacker crouched on the wall and pointed at me. I didn’t bother to answer.
The attacker stroked his chin as if thinking about something, then continued speaking.
“… … Since you seem to have mastered the Archies Victima, I won’t kill you.”
I raised my eyebrows and frowned. He acted like he was above me, even though he wasn’t my boss. There are few people I like, but he’s the type I particularly dislike.
