TGFTE 134

Chapter 134…

“South gate. What’s over there?”

He asked, recalling the cutscene he had only glimpsed briefly.

Jihan remembered how, back in Chapter 1, he had slowly collected information by using cutscenes like hints.

To his question, the burly guy replied,

“They say there’s an ancient monster there… The main reason the instructors won’t let anyone go in is because of that monster…”

“Monster? A machine beast?”

The cutscene had mentioned a machine beast. But calling it “ancient” seemed questionable.

‘In history class—or rather, the time we usually just get to see the setting—they definitely said…’

Machine beasts were currently humanity’s greatest enemy. They hadn’t existed in the past.

“I-I don’t really know that part! But Leo said it’s a machine beast! Maybe… maybe it’s a machine beast?”

The Martis family was literally a renowned lineage of pilots. They had fought machine beasts for a long time, so they should know their true nature. Enough to figure it out.

But.

‘Feels like something’s missing.’

At Jihan’s hesitation, the burly guy was about to break into tears.

“Leo… he’s not a bad guy! We, the underachievers, did a huge wrong to you! But… right now, the only one who can save Leo is you!”

[That’s right lol]
[We can’t bring the training craft outside, obviously]
[Jihan has the personal craft, so he has to move, right?]
[Of course, you can refuse lol]
[Lol I refused too. He was being so annoying lol]
[But you all know. You know what choice he’ll make lol]
[Ah, that’s a tricky situation!]
[But that’s just so Jihan, isn’t it?]

“Alright. Then, you guys figure out an excuse for the instructors.”

With a test flight coming up, this was basically him declaring he would skip the class everyone was waiting for.

[lol as expected, Jihan!]
[Knew it lol]
[Gonna go save him, right?]
[lol if he ignored it, we’d be more disappointed lol]
[Well… Leo is kind of cute though, right?]
[?]
[???]
[Is that your type?]
[No! I mean no! He’s bratty!]
[lol seems like a lot of female viewers like Jihan lol]
[But I prefer Leo a bit…]
[Isn’t Jihan better than Leo?]
[No! Guys! Jihan is a separate matter!]

He just chuckled faintly at the ridiculous chat flooding in.

“Got it?”
“Huh? Yeah! Yeah! We’ll buy some time somehow! Just make sure you bring him back, Jihan! Please!”
“Good.”
“Huh?”
“Because they won’t call me since I’m an underachiever.”

Jihan smiled faintly and dashed off. Toward the personal hangar where Red Hood was resting.

[Wow… Red Hood looks so cool.]
[But what about Red and Hood?]
[Lol we’ll add those later lol]
[Won’t the cape break if it gets caught in the joints?]
[Lol still can’t resist the cool factor]
[We designed it that way, so even if it kills the concept, we must stick to it lol]

Jihan rode the escalator device up and entered the cockpit.

A few patrolling guards yelled,

“Eh, eh!? Cadet!”
“Cadet! Get down immediately! Get out of the craft right now!”

They tried to stop him, but he was already seated in the cockpit. He connected the thick line from behind the Red Hood craft to the implant at the back of his neck.

Click!

The Gaia system activated immediately,

Wiiiinnng!

The pulse reactor began to thrash violently. Through his camera, he saw the view ahead. He spoke to the guards outside via microphone.

“This is… my craft. I, uh, need to run an errand for a bit.”
“…What?”
“An errand?”

[?]
[lol???]
[An errand as an excuse? Come on!]
[lol Jihan!]

At that moment, with the guards and viewers bewildered,

Click!

[HUD]
[STATUS: ONLINE]

SYSTEM INTEGRITY: 100% | [ALL GREEN]
PILOT SYNC_RATE: 94% | [DANGER]
PULSE-REACTOR OUTPUT: 98%
SUB-WEAPON SYSTEMS: 30% | [STANDBY]

A flood of information appeared.

[What!? Why is it in English!?]
[But it looks cool, so isn’t that okay?]
[You get this kind of hype in situations like this lol]
[Basically it says HUD, ready to launch, sync rate dangerous, how long you can move lol]
[Explaining it that way kills the hype lol]
[Exactly, hype is the point lol]

Bang!

Red Hood shot out of the hangar.

“An errand!?”
“Cadet! Stop immediately! Cadet!”
“Sorry! I’ll be back soon! Guards!”

Thud thud thud thud!

Dodging the guards trying to catch him, Red Hood charged forward. Meanwhile, the chat was going wild.

[Jihan! Show that! That one!]
[That one, you mean?]
[Ah~ that one?]
[Lol everyone’s just waiting for that one]
[You can’t resist, right? Right?]

Jihan chuckled faintly at the chat beside the HUD layout.

“You mean this?”

He started manipulating the controls.

Click, click!

The bipedal werewolf body lowered.

“Insane…!”
“What the hell is that!?”

[This!!!]
[Thanks to the mecha teachers, we get to see this lol]
[It took so much effort to implement, I gave it to our newbie. Remember?]
[Lol this is mecha]
[This is romance lol]

It transformed into a quadrupedal wolf.

Pavababat!

Now on all fours, Red Hood began to sprint crazily toward the south gate.

South Ruins.

“Ha… haah… haah…!”

Leo Martis was running frantically. Crossing the boundary triggered a cutscene instead of a loading screen.

Jihan and the viewers could only watch Leo dash madly.

[What’s he being chased by?]
[Lol probably machine beasts]
[The monsters are machine beasts, right?]
[No spoilers lol just watch]
[Ah, the mecha teachers… thorough as always]
[Jihan’s craft will appear soon, let him enjoy it lol]

Thud thud thud thud!

Behind him, countless machine beasts began to chase.

“Insane… how!? How are they detecting heat!?”

His skin glistened. He had applied heat-blocking cream, thinking it would evade their thermal cameras. But they seemed to sense his presence, chasing Leo madly.

[So, what craft is he supposed to get there?]
[Right? Isn’t it just full of mobs?]

“Hmm.”

Jihan watched the cutscene, pondering. Different patterns of machine beasts. And the ancient monster. The reason Leo left…

“Maybe the ancient monster is a craft? He’s from a pilot family. They’d know what’s nearby from reports and stories.”

[Oh]
[Lol wow]
[Our newbie is really sharp, huh?]
[Lol just guessed correctly lol]
[It’s convenient for cliche storytelling lol]
[So Leo rides the ancient weapon and wipes them out?]
[Wow, then rival gets ancient craft, Jihan gets personal craft. Double top system?]
[Lol these guys don’t know subculture, but totally like otaku lol]
[Nothing wrong with being an otaku!]
[Lol so funny]

…But I don’t think it will end that easily.

Jihan felt a persistent unease, a prickling sense of wrongness.

‘If that’s the case, why not just bring a new craft and fight inside the academy?’

His uneasy thought lingered for a moment.

“Haah! Haah! C-cave! Cave!”

Leo threw himself forward in a mad dash.

Crack!
Bang! Boom!

The machine beasts couldn’t pass through the narrow cave, colliding into each other repeatedly.

“Haah… haah. I… I survived! I survived!”

Leo wiped sweat from his brow. Simultaneously,

A voice echoed from inside the cave.

“Huh?”

Leo moved slowly, almost hypnotized, toward the strange voice.

[What? Why does he get the protagonist treatment?]
[Wasn’t this supposed to go to Jihan?]
[They said there’s a good ancient craft for the story, isn’t it that?]
Ssshhh… Jihan doesn’t get it, he does? That’s kinda annoying…

Step by step, he moved forward. In front of him appeared…

[?]
[????]
[Aaaah!]
[Why, why!!!]
[Why cut off here!!!!]

Shwoooosh!

With the viewers’ screams, the scene returned to Jihan’s control screen. They all shouted.

“Ah, I’m a bit mad too. It was so exciting to watch.”

Jihan scratched his cheek with a faint smile.

[Lol newbies!]
[Got played! That’s Liberty’s infamous cutscene hack!]
[Anyway, the next story is Jihan’s system lol]
[Ah!! What kind of game is this lol]
[But seeing everyone so mad shows they were immersed, right?]
[Our game is still in full operation ㅠㅠ The newbie reactions are overflowing…]
[Sigh… can hear the game coming alive even here…]

“Anyway, we should quickly go and join Leo.”

Jihan, observing the viewers’ reactions, for his curiosity and theirs,

Twokwak! Tadadadad!

He sent the wolf forward at full speed.

[Jihan, looks like it’s there.]
[We just go straight inside?]
[See the machine beasts gathering over there.]

“Then let’s clear the way quickly and start.”

Jihan pulled the control stick. Gaia system synced, and

Pa!

The wolf leaped onto the thick neck of an elephant-shaped machine beast.

Crunch!

Biting down,

Pa!

He pushed away with all fours, evading a bull-shaped machine beast’s attack.

Boom!

The bull hit the elephant’s side,

Crack!

Armor bent under the force.

Click, click!

Jihan didn’t miss the timing, changing midair. The wolf-like form of the craft,

Ziiiiing!

Pulled out the pulse claws from his nails,

Shreek!
Shreek, shreek!

Using the assault craft’s agility, he weaved through the machine beasts, cutting them down.

[Whoa…]
[Isn’t this insane?]
[Look at the movement…]
[Control like that?]
[That’s semi-auto?]
[Moves like manual?]
[Manual? That’s full-auto with hacks applied…]

Crunch!

One machine beast remained.

Phew.

Twisting its neck,

Boom!

He finished in an instant. Truly destructive and violent. An extreme dopamine feast.

[This is it…]
[This is why I keep watching Jihan’s stream…]
[Crazy… this is it… this is it…]

Just as the viewers’ excitement was about to continue,

Wiiiiing!

“Huh?”

Braaang!

From inside the cave came the reactor’s noise. A thunderous explosion followed. A black entity emerged, targeting Jihan.