Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!-Chapter 91: Fall of a Depraved King (2)

As soon as the command was given, Cassandra's brainwashed troops surged forward.

Their numbers had been halved after the suicide bombing, yet despite their losses, their march was unstoppable. Cutting down every obstacle in their path, they advanced toward the ship's center.

After a brief pause, I turned to the two girls.

"Ready?"

"Yes..." Cassandra's reply was immediate, her voice steady—and her eyes burned with unshakable resolve.

"I'm tired of waiting." Eva, on the other hand, muttered as she double-checked the laser rifle in her grip. "It's about damn time we move. Let's show these fuckers hell!"

"..."

Well, at least she's acting like her usual self.

I, too, had finished preparing—both physically and mentally. With a cold heart, I stepped forward and led the march out of the munitions storage.

What welcomed us outside was a small group of patrols—

"...!"

Cassandra flinched momentarily before recognizing them. Right. These were the five pairs she had brainwashed without them realizing.

Now that the information centers and relays had been wiped out, we no longer had to skulk around like cockroaches, hiding in the shadows.

We could walk through the ship's passages with our heads held high!

"Get down!"

Suddenly, Eva lunged, slamming both Cassandra and me onto the metal floor.

I was about to snap at her—until—

*PEW!*

A high-powered beam seared through the air just above our heads.

"Bastards...!" Eva cursed, rolling forward before snapping her rifle up.

She fired—once, twice, again and again.

At the same time, beams streaked past from the direction she was shooting. A fight had erupted out of nowhere.

I checked the map—

There were no patrols in that area. No recorded enemy presence. Confused, I immediately sent a stealth nanobot to scout ahead.

And then—

"Shit...!"

The sight made my body tense.

Just twenty meters ahead, concealed behind a corner of the pale-white corridor, a squad of ten soldiers was hiding.

They wore the same uniforms as the patrols—military-style powered suits, their arms equipped with energy-based projectile weapons.

Eva's instinctive counterattack had taken down two of them, but now we were in a deadlock.

"Cassandra!"

But this stalemate wouldn't last long.

"Send a squad to Section B-32! We need them taken out—fast!"

"G-Got it!"

Although still disoriented by the sudden fight, Cassandra understood the urgency. Using her private channel, she relayed my orders to her brainwashed soldiers.

Still—

Even with reinforcements coming, we were sitting ducks.

The ten controlled patrols near us had already moved to shield us, using their bodies as barriers, but that didn't change the fact that we were pinned down.

Only Eva could fire back—she was the only one free to move.

"Think...!"

I flipped my terminal open, pulling up the ship's 3D schematics.

As soon as Cassandra's reinforcements reached Section B-32—flanking the enemy from behind—we should be safe.

Reinforcements were still thirty seconds away. And then—

"Fuck! H.E. Grenades...!"

Eva's warning snapped me back to reality.

My head jerked up just in time to see two grenades arc through the air—thrown straight from the enemy's cover.

'Are they trying to take us out along with them?!'

We weren't out in open terrain. We were inside a closed ship. An explosion here wouldn't just be dangerous—it would be straight up deadly!

The shockwaves would ricochet violently against the walls, hitting everyone—friend and foe alike.

At best? Ruptured eardrums.

At worst? Lung and brain damage.

And this wasn't the kind of explosion you could simply brace against. Even covering your ears and keeping your mouth half-open wouldn't be enough to avoid heavy injuries.

Acting fast, I lunged toward Cassandra, slamming her suit's visor shut for extra protection.

I did the same to mine before throwing myself over her, using my body as a shield.

"SHITHEADS! DON'T YOU DARE!!!"

Unlike me, who focused on defense—Eva did the opposite.

She leapt up, caught both grenades mid-air—

"HAAAP!"

—and threw them back where they came from.

*BOOM!*

The next moment felt surreal.

I recalled a time when I had stood next to a ten-meter-tall bass amplifier at a concert—feeling my entire body vibrate from the sheer force of the sound. But this? This was a hundred times worse.

And then—

Silence.

It wasn't that my eardrums had ruptured, of course.

The suits' built-in emergency systems had activated, shutting off all external noise and vibrations to protect the wearer from shockwave-induced damage.

Cassandra's suit had the same feature, so she should also be fine.

I didn't feel any shrapnel hitting me, which meant we had avoided a direct blast.

Slowly, I lifted my head—

The ten brainwashed patrols around us were still standing.

Their visors must have engaged at the last moment, protecting them—as expected of military-grade suits.

"Right, Eva—!"

Just as I was about to check on her—

A red blur streaked past my vision.

Eva.

She was running—or flying—her figure flashing through the passage like lightning.

Even though I barely caught a glimpse of her, I didn't miss the streak of blood dripping from her chin.

'She was injured...!'

She had jumped up and caught the grenades—meaning she hadn't even had time to brace for impact. Judging from where she came from… the shockwave must have blasted her a considerable distance.

I didn't know if she was just insanely lucky, or if she was simply built differently—but the fact remained: she survived that explosion with only minor injuries.

She was a monster.

"ARGH!"

"UGH!"

Agonized screams soon echoed down the passage—the sounds of those unfortunate enough to have picked a fight with us.

Well, considering they had just been hit directly by their own grenades, their injuries must have been severe—even with their military-grade powered suits protecting them.

Eva? She was just taking out her anger on them—finishing them off in the process.

"Can you stand?"

With the coast now clear, I rose to my feet before offering a hand to Cassandra.

She had been slammed to the ground, but with her suit's protection, she shouldn't have sustained any injuries.

"Y-Yes..." She took my hand hesitantly.

Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.

With a light pull, she was back on her feet. But as soon as she steadied herself, she quickly glanced around.

"Where's Eva? Is she alright?!"

It took her a second to realize Eva's figure was missing.

"Oh, she should be fine." I shrugged, lazily gesturing toward the supposed pile of corpses ahead. "She's over there, lynching the enemies. But I wouldn't recommend checking in—not a great sight."

*WHOOSH!*

Despite my warning, Cassandra rushed past me and the ten brainwashed patrols, sprinting toward Eva's position. As she arrived, she came to a standstill, as if she was hit by a petrification spell.

I couldn't see her face under her visor, but…

Her actions were enough of a giveaway.

'Anyway, this is dangerous…'

Those soldiers had clearly been aiming to kill us. And they hadn't even minded injuring themselves if it meant taking us down.

Seems like I had gotten complacent after our flawless execution of taking down the information centers.

"This won't do..." I sighed, lifting my left arm and accessing my personal terminal.

I quickly reconfigured the stealth nanobots, adjusting their positions to mark every possible ambush point.

Now, every corner and enemy was accounted for.

With this, surprise attacks wouldn't catch us off guard again.

"We barely started, and we already almost got ourselves killed..." I muttered, lowering my arm. "Well… things will only get worse once we reach King Meyers."

His special ability—according to Cassandra—allowed him to cut anything within a 50-meter radius.

In short—

As long as we weren't faster than his cognitive speed, killing him within that range would be impossible.

Even knowing this, we had still pressed forward with the plan.

Because Cassandra claimed she had a strategy to turn the tide.

"Hey, slowpoke!"

"...?"

Eva's irritated voice snapped me back to reality.

I looked up—And immediately froze. She was standing there, glowering at me—with her bloody face.

No, I wasn't cursing. I meant it literally.

A gash on her forehead had sent blood cascading down her entire face.

With that feral expression, she looked absolutely savage.

'...Is she okay?'

"What the hell are you staring at?" she growled, her eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

Then, with an annoyed grunt, she roughly wiped the blood from her eyes using her arm. "Hurry up, you bastard, or we'll leave you behind!"

…Well, I guess she's fine, then.

By the time I reached the girls, five more soldiers had arrived—reinforcements. These were the men Cassandra had called for earlier. Although late, they should be a great help later on.

With their arrival, our numbers swelled to eighteen.

At this size, moving as a single unit would be too slow and unwieldy. So, we broke into smaller formations:

Five stationed at the back, acting as rearguards.

Seven at the front, pushing forward as vanguards.

The remaining six—including us—positioned in the middle.

Each group maintained a ten-meter distance from the next, allowing for quick maneuverability in emergencies.

Not that it mattered much.

Thanks to my nanobots scouting ahead, not a single enemy managed to ambush us. If anything—

We were the ones pulling off the surprise attacks.

*ZIIIN!*

In one coordinated volley, the vanguards obliterated a squad of unaware enemies.

With the combined precision of the nanobots' espionage and our troops' efficiency, we continued our advance with zero interruptions.

Two kilometers.

That was the straight-line distance between us and this ship's bridge.

But considering the convoluted pathways, our actual journey was five times longer—roughly ten kilometers.

Still, even the other brainwashed soldiers were making steady progress.

Exploiting the radio silence and the enemy's complacency, they moved undetected—slaughtering anyone they encountered before their victims could even grasp what was happening.

Oblivious to the impending massacre, the enemy personnel died in the dark.

And our circle around the ship's center grew tighter and tighter.

Ten kilometers.

In less than twenty minutes, we covered the entire distance. It was slower than when Cassandra's other troops had managed 250 kilometers in half the time…

But that hardly mattered now. Because—

Everyone had stopped in their tracks, their gazes fixed ahead.

A massive autodoor stood before us—shut tight. The entrance to the Eclipse Sovereign's bridge.

It was finally time for the boss battle!