Chapter 187

As soon as we entered, the mechanical device gripping the control stick immediately spun its head 180 degrees to look at us.

And then it disengaged from the controls and charged straight in for an attack.

Yeah… This thing’s dumber than I thought.

The best course of action here is to yank the control stick hard, throwing it off balance before it can charge. Attacking me was a mistake within a mistake.

Crack!

And right on cue, Polaris came charging in for the perfect opening. With every punch landing on its body and head, you could see the tin crumple. Once I judged it was safe, I headed over to where the corpse was.

I pretended to investigate the pilot’s corpse while actually siphoning off its warmth.

Wow, this guy’s been dead for a while.

We probably should’ve come here first.

While I was digging through the pilot’s memories, Polaris had already completely dismantled the machine. Guess “Polaris” should be renamed “Polarbear”, huh?

Hmm… Controls…

The memory’s kinda faded but I got the gist. Can’t do any vertical drops or rises like a plane since it doesn’t work on lift. Instead, it seems to float using some kind of lighter-than-air solid material.

So… How did they handle landings again?

“Can you fly this thing?”

“I know the theory. Let me try.”

Since Polar’s the only living person left onboard, looks like I’m flying.

Me?

Well, technically I’m not human so I don’t count.

“Wait… Is that Bern City? No way…”

A city billowing with thick black smoke. If your eyesight’s good, you can tell the place is utterly devastated – no intact buildings in sight.

“What the hell happened here?”

Polaris asks shakily. I already know but don’t say anything. Neither does Polaris, who just stares blankly out the window.

Let me play along like I just figured it out.

“The reason Victoria’s parents’ letters were returned… And why these automatons are behaving differently now compared to the Bern City incident back then.”

Back then, the machines would just overheat and explode when they malfunctioned. But now, they’re actively trying to kill people.

Meaning someone’s controlling them intentionally.

But do they have something like cracking technology here?

If there’s some kind of wireless network equivalent, it’s not impossible. Or maybe they were programmed this way from the start.

“It’s been a while since the city was destroyed. What the hell happened? Why wasn’t this on the news?”

Polaris mutters, pressing her face against the window as she stares at Bern City.

Grab the control stick and tilt it left-right to turn, up-down to ascend-descend. Speed’s controlled by foot pedals like a car. Let off and it gradually slows down. No brakes.

User interface is pretty intuitive. Though technically speaking, this isn’t a jet using engine thrust for lift but more like an airship using buoyancy from some super light solid material instead of gas.

Even if attacked, won’t explode. But if the mechanism connecting the floating material to the hull breaks, the former will shoot up while the latter plummets.

In short, the weight-bearing areas are weak points. They’re working on combat models that circulate the solid material in liquid form inside the hull to mitigate this, but that’s irrelevant info.

“Where should we go?”

“Hmm…”

Polaris turns her head sharply toward me before returning her gaze outside. Unlike before, she moves around the rounded front window slowly surveying everything.

“Can’t go to Bern City. First of all, can you even fly this thing?”

“Yes.”

Even with fragmented memories, if I flew this ship multiple times before, I can piece together how by overlapping those memories. Slicing and viewing them in parallel is annoying but doable.

“Vehicle? No, special vehicle designed for rough terrain, right? Normal people can’t operate those easily… Wait, what’s that up there? Weird sphere?”

Suddenly Polaris runs toward me.

“Bell! Get us down now! Anti-air guns are targeting us! Someone’s coming to destroy the evidence!”

Destroy evidence?

Ah, so someone thinks it’d be dangerous if word got out they used automatons to kill people.

Following my memories, I lowered the airship’s altitude.

“This is bad… What do we do?”

Polaris looks pale, glancing around nervously. Then she spots something tiny, smaller than a bean, heading our way.

Guess Polaris has sharp eyes. I can sense something’s coming but can’t identify it yet.

“Hey! See that mountain ahead? When we pass under it, bank sideways and spiral down.”

“But won’t that expose our side?”

“Maximize the turn behind the mountain to hide and retreat. No, wait… They likely assume everyone aboard is dead since the automatons weren’t recharged. If we flee, they might try other methods.”

Polaris clutches her head with both hands, muttering “Think… Think…”

“We’re below the mountaintop. Should we turn?”

“Turn!”

Following Polaris’ instructions, we banked along the mountain.

Not too wide a turning radius for an airship, but still feels like spiraling outward rather than a clean circle.

Polaris rushes back to the window, staring intently at the group approaching.

“Turn harder!”

Harder?

Risking balance, I comply. The centrifugal force tilts the floor severely sideways.

Boom!

A flash narrowly misses where the ship was.

“You bastards! Really attacking? This ship has the royal crest! Are you planning treason?”

By the time we’re done talking, the ship has fully circled behind the mountain.

“Should we keep going straight?”

Polaris stares forward then slumps down, tracing something on the floor with her finger. Nothing’s actually appearing though.

Guess she’s visualizing in her mind.

“Bell, reduce speed. Know what happens if you let go of the control stick?”

I tried letting go once. The stick slowly rotates due to inertia.

Speed decreases since I’ve lifted my foot off the accelerator pedal. Watching this anxiously, Polaris brings over the remains of the automaton whose head was replaced by a chair near the entrance.

Then she rips off one of its arms with bare hands.

“See that hill? We’ll jump from there.”

She points out a slope outside the window then comes over to stabilize the control stick using the automaton wreckage.

Despite being brass, she bends it effortlessly into place.

Then she places the remaining debris nearby.

“Need to jump before we pass the hill or we’ll tumble dangerously down. Got it?”

“Yes.”

At my response, Polaris gives me an approving nod and pats my shoulder before pointing outside.

“Go prepare now. I’ll follow shortly.”

“Planning to put this on the platform, huh?”

I point at the headless automaton, which Polaris confirms with a nod.

“Right.”

Now I get what she’s thinking. She plans to use this as bait. We’ll jump out while whoever’s chasing us focuses on the ship.

We circled the mountain not just to avoid attacks but also to conceal our escape from them.

Smart thinking.

I nod and head out of the cockpit into the passenger cabin. Passing through cabins missing chairs and wrecked automatons into the corridor.

Walking through the hallway splattered with corpses and blood, I open the exit door.

Clang.

Whoosh!

The door slides open, wind rushing out.

Below, trees are getting closer. Not because the ship’s descending but because the terrain is rising.

Looking forward while holding onto the doorframe, I see tree tops will soon brush against the hull’s bottom within a minute.

So I glance back down the corridor. In the distance, Polaris shouts for me to run. Hearing that, I immediately sprint.

Feel a slight floating sensation then collide with branches.

Oof!

Tumble through various branches before finally hitting the ground.

Got a few scratches but otherwise landed safely. Looking up, I see Polaris leaping off the accelerating airship.

Unlike my clumsy descent, she grabs onto a tree branch, performs an acrobatic flip, then surveys the surroundings from atop the tree.

After a moment’s observation, she swiftly descends the trunk to the ground.

Judging by standards of the world with faded memories, that’s beyond human physical capability. Though in other worlds, such feats might be possible.

Here, with magic power usage, it seems to be fundamentally different from that world…

Still, the stinging pain from my scratches disappeared surprisingly fast. Checking the wounds, threads are weaving back and forth sealing them up. Found this function in Daegon’s artificial body memory: as long as there’s energy, it can regenerate limbs up to a certain extent.

Ah, that’s right. Since this body isn’t human, no need to suppress reality to heal wounds.

If you stack the specs of the host body beforehand, no extra effort needed.

Gained some wisdom.

“Are you okay? Unharmed?”

Polaris immediately approaches me, to which I nod.

“Yes. Polaris, what’s the plan now?”

“We need to move. Don’t know when monsters might attack here, so we’re heading to the coastline. As far as I know, dangerous monsters don’t go there.”

This area still retains untamed wilderness. Harsh enough that even Daegon’s vanguard failed to establish a foothold.

I nod and follow Polaris as she sets off in a specific direction.

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