Chapter 22.1: Hunting the Spider (5)
As the sandstorm intensified, the Hunters cautiously moved from building to building, heading for the center of the city.
Despite Yakt Spinner terrible fighting prowess, the Hunters’ momentum was uneven.
Yakt Spinner had taken heavy damage and retreated. Its main armor and joints were undoubtedly shattered and the Hunters thought it would take a long time for it to repair itself.
Even with Leon’s refusal to cooperate, the attacks of S-class Hunter Golden Chul, semi-S-class Hwang Yeon-ha, and mage Gil Tae-sung were still effective.
Yakt Spinner was not invincible and the Hunters were confident.
“But will it be okay without that weird knight?”
“It’s not like we’re going to miss him.”
“No, but still… if he can overpower that monstrosity, isn’t he stronger than our guild leader?”
Even among the Hunters, Leon’s identity is a topic of conversation and the Hunters who had some experience in this area come to the same conclusion.
“Most likely a survivor, and survivors tend to be selfish.”
“Still, it’s not that bad, is it?”
“Where did he come from, anyway? I haven’t heard of any Survivors coming out of the Gate lately.”
The Hunters tried to piece together Leon’s comet-like appearance with what they knew but even they couldn’t remember anyone that resembled him.
The man was different and they instinctively sensed that he was an alien to this world.
“Wait.”
The Hunter in the lead halted the others with a wave of his hand and pointed a finger as if he’d found a dull metal.
“Two hundred and fifty meters ahead, on the roof. Machine guns out. That’s him.”
At his words, the Hunters behind him cautiously checked out the shape.
Its distinctive crab-like fuselage was exposed at an awkward angle to snipe with a rocket.
Luckily, there was a ten-story building across the street from Yakt Spinner with a good view. Sniping from up there would leave him helpless.
“Ranged dealers, make your way up to the building opposite. We’ll wait here. If he sees us, we’ll distract him and buy time.”
At his command, the Ranged Hunters headed to the building opposite. It would take them a while to get up the stairs, breathlessly and slowly.
“We found it.”
The hunter smiled and waited for the signal from his colleagues up the building.
One minute, three minutes, five minutes……but he didn’t move for fear of being spotted by Yakt Spinner, but no matter how long he waited, the signal didn’t come.
“What are these guys doing up here? Send someone up there and check it out.”
…………
He cautiously sends his colleague up, but there’s no sign for a long time and when the hunter notices something strange-──
“Huh?”
The hunter felt his vision swim and as his vision spun, he saw the familiar shape of a spider.
“Y-you?”
Something… different… much smaller… no, wait, if that was Yakt Spinner, then what the hell was the rooftop entity they had been watching all this time──
His gaze shot up into the air, his subtle vision catching a glimpse of the building’s rooftop.
A large carapace and there was also a ‘model’ of a crude machine gun on a wide armored plate that seemed to have been partially removed.
“Huh?”
By the time the man’s head hit the ground, dozens of whips had already been swung.
* * * *
Yakt Spinner lived up to its name and its groundbreaking lightweight maneuverability allowed it to climb across building facades wire cutters wielded by a multitude of robotic arms emitted a distinctive air-splitting sound that crushed their prey.
It slaughtered the Hunters with nothing but its wire cutters, moving deftly on its lightweight fuselage and flexible legs.
“Shoot! Hit it with something to make it stop!”
Someone shouted, almost in a panic and at the same time, a magic missile fired in the gale force winds of the sandstorm chased after Yakt Spinner.
-Kirik?
With a marvelous movement, Yakt Spinner stretched itself vertically and deftly inserted itself into the narrow gap between the building and the wall as two Magic Missiles slammed into the building’s exterior wall, unable to keep up with its precise dodge.
The three faster Magic Missiles realized they had lost their targets and turned vertically and the bolts of magic soar into the sky, straight for Yakt Spinner as it crawls through the gap in the building.
It can’t maneuver fast enough in such a tight spot so a muzzle spins and the magic missile explodes in midair.
The AI is perfectly capable of intercepting Magic Missiles and the Hunters who witnessed it gaped.
“Crazy… is that possible?”
“It’s not like it’s acrobatics or anything…….”
They couldn’t imagine it. How could they understand the strong artificial intelligence of a killing machine born only to fight?
As they stood in stunned silence, Yakt Spinner caught up to them in a flash.
“Shit! Take cover! Take cover!”
The robotic arms swung the wire cutters they held and the onslaught of Yakt Spinner, who had switched to wire as its primary weapon, had killed over two dozen Hunters so far.
The Hunters swallowed their screams and sprinted as even the wizard’s ranged support failed.
The horror of wanting to live and not wanting to die consumes them.
After a desperate run, the few surviving Hunters reach a cemetery, where they stumble over overgrown weeds and stone beaks.
“Kwak…!
Rolling on the ground with the momentum of his run, the Hunter gasped for breath and tried to crawl away.
-Screech! Screech!
But the four-legged Yakt Spinner was closing in, and the hunter despaired as he realized he couldn’t escape.
“Oh, no. Help me… Lord, I don’t want to die…….”
He used the shabby headstone next to him as a shield, begging for mercy. A mercy he doesn’t even believe in himself.
-Geek….
Yakt Spinner skidded to a halt in front of Hunter, machine guns trained on him.
The killing machine’s logic circuits, which had never let an intruder live before, made their judgment.
[Second Logic – Priority. Destroy intruders.]
[Third Logic – Priority. Destroy invaders.]
The machine guns open fire. No matter the weapon, Yakt Spinner can overwhelm the Hunters. But──
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[Autonomous Judgment. Logic decision hacking. Sub-logic silence. Forced prioritization.]
The weapons are retracted and at that moment of pause with all those weapons retracted, a magical arrow rained down from the sky.
The magic arrow strikes Yakt Spinner.
“That’s it! I got it right!”
Yakt Spinner turns his wide-angle lens on the Hunters who attacked him. It’s an attack that can be easily dodged by maneuvering inside the cemetery. But…….
[Final decision. Prioritize. Protect citizens.]
It turned to the tombstone that the hunter hid behind and knew that fighting here would lead to inevitable losses so Yakt Spinner decided to retreat.
“Huh?”
Yakt Spinner ignores the hunter, who makes a stunned sound, and runs out of the cemetery. The hunter, who was being chased, couldn’t speak but was relieved to be alive.
“Yakt Spinner is getting away!”
“Chase!”
He hops from building to building on his four remaining legs, running as far away from the cemetery as he can. Yakt Spinner didn’t even fight back, not wanting to risk any losses.
[Yappy. Look, I made a crown out of flowers!]
The safety of the citizens was the most important thing to prioritize. Even if it was a citizen who was already dead.
* * * *
Yakt Spinner has returned to the repair shop once again.
He repaired the damage he took in battle, resupplied the broken wire, and reloaded his ammunition.
It hasn’t been easy maintaining my body in a shop that hasn’t even been a regular facility, but he’s been able to keep up.
[Protect the seal. Don’t let anyone get close.]
It was the last order in the machine’s chain of command but the AI’s sobering realization is that it was becoming impossible to fulfill that order.
If it stops this intrusion, what next? At some point, it will fail. Its time of fighting was coming to an end.
Replacing broken parts with homemade ammunition, wire, and parts made by melting down the city’s scrap metal, he connected to the remaining surveillance cameras around the city.
-Estimated enemy survivors: 49. Level 5 threat alive, Level 3 threat alive, multiple Level 1 threats. 35.7% chance of defeat.
-Combat continues.
Nothing changes and the machine merely fulfills its orders.
With a grunt of effort, the machine reaches its full capacity and-─
“Did you have fun with the minions?”
“…………!?”
The knight had been watching the scene from beginning to end.
* * * *
