Chapter 7

Episode 7. Pirate Attack (3)

—

– “What the hell is that girl?!”

– “Kill her! Just kill her!”

– “She’s dodging all the bullets, what the hell are we supposed to do… Aaaah!”

Wow.

I remembered how games sometimes change perspectives to show a character moving.

Even in this dragged-in state, I wondered if there was something similar.

To my question, Jessica naturally said there was and handed me a device with a big smile.

Through the device’s screen, I could see Ignis’ one-man show.

No, it was a high-definition, first-person action slasher movie unfolding without any censorship.

After watching for about 1-2 minutes…

“Ugh.”

While witnessing our pirates’ decapitation show and talent show, I couldn’t handle the rising nausea and turned off the screen.

Of course, it wasn’t because I’m weak to gore and freaked out like, “Hueeeeh.”

The problem was that what was shown on the screen was being transmitted by the action cam on Ignis’ suit.

With energy blades in both hands, Ignis’ insane physical abilities and mobility perfectly harmonized as she unleashed Hix Kamikagura three times in a row.

‘The screen shaking is on another level of crazy.’

From the perspective of a weak ordinary person like me, the screen only induced photosensitive shock and 3D motion sickness.

So, despite Jessica going out of her way to get it for me, I turned off the device for a moment.

I was about to contact Ignis to ask how long it would take to deal with one pirate ship, but…

“Jessica, can you contact Ignis?”

“Yes, but she said unless it’s urgent, don’t contact her during combat because it’s dangerous.”

It was like putting the phone on silent. I felt a strange emotion inside.

‘Is this what it feels like to be an incompetent boss with a capable subordinate?’

Of course, before this thought could deepen…

“Oh, right. Ignis mentioned something before she left.”

“What is it?”

“She said it would take no more than 30 minutes to take care of one ship.”

“Hmmm, got it.”

After hearing Jessica’s interesting remark, I nodded in agreement.

[Time remaining until patrol ship production: 00:32:58]

[Pirate group base under attack.]

Looking at the blinking hologram status window in front of me, I picked up the command console I had set aside while watching Ignis’ battle.

“Alright, let’s try to buy some time.”

“Good luck, Commander!”

With Jessica’s familiar cheer from the original game, I started operating the patrol ship to move forward.

—

Meanwhile, as our Commander was majestically operating the patrol ship…

The Newbie Slaughter Pirate Group, notorious for driving both newbies and veterans insane, was…

– “Aaaah!”

– “G/G/G/God!”

– “B/B/B/Bastard!!”

The space cowboys—no, the filthy and disgusting space pirates—who had come out thinking the base’s defense power was just one patrol ship, were now panicking at the sudden appearance of an SS-Class Superhuman.

“Why is there an SS-Class in this crappy base?!”

It was understandable. Most of the pirates who started the raid weren’t even D-Class, just ordinary people.

Only the executives of the pirate group were somewhere between D and C-Class.

The captains of each ship were barely C-Class.

Only the Pirate Captain, aka the ‘Boss,’ was barely scraping into B-Class.

And now, a superhuman three levels above their boss had shown up.

“Boss! How do we stop that crazy woman?!”

“She’s slicing bullets with a machine gun, what the hell are we supposed to do?!”

“Ah, screw this game.”

It was a massacre. The pirates’ heads and guts were tragically parting ways with their beloved bodies in large numbers.

Watching this miserable scene, the Pirate Boss was deep in thought, but…

“Boss! Their patrol ship is moving in too!”

“…Ha, how dare those puny bastards!”

While one ship was rendered useless and floundering, the base’s attempt to attack them with a measly patrol ship made the Pirate Boss finally decide.

“Alright, forget the ship that superhuman is on.”

“Huh?”

“Then what about us?”

Naturally, the subordinates around the Boss protested, but…

“Hey, you bastards! Obviously, we should take out that stupid patrol ship first, since they’re looking down on us and charging at us, right?”

“Oh.”

“What the hell do you mean, ‘oh’?!”

At the boss’s quick explanation, the dim-witted pirates just looked confused.

Given their nature as pirates, there were a lot of idiots, and it seemed like the boss’s patience was burning up in real-time…

“Wow, as expected of the boss!”

“The highest intellect in our pirate group, someone we can trust and rely on!”

“Shut up and hurry! No matter how amazing that superhuman is, once we destroy that thing and take over the base, they’ll have no choice but to surrender!”

“Yep!”

Anyway, now that the boss had given the order…

While one of the pirate ships (?) was buying time by sacrificing themselves…

They decided to do their best to sink that pathetic patrol ship as quickly as possible and plunder all the information and resources in the base.

Of course, they figured it wouldn’t take much effort or time to take down a patrol ship that was at best on par with them or even weaker.

But contrary to the hopeful expectations of the pirate crew…

“Why the hell aren’t we hitting it?!”

“S-sorry, boss!”

“But that patrol ship’s evasion maneuvers are no joke!”

“Damn it, it’s dodging like a slippery eel!”

Facing two pirate patrol ships, they completely avoided direct combat…

And just kept dodging their attacks, so the time spent was increasing exponentially, contrary to expectations.

Sure, they managed to land one particle beam hit…

But even a weak patrol ship wouldn’t have its shields broken by just one beam…

So that was pretty much irrelevant.

And of course, while they were wasting time like that…

“B-boss! That crazy woman is right in front of the bridge!”

“Ratatatatatat!”

“Hurry, hurry! That door! That door!”

“Crash!”

The crew of the pirate ship, who were supposed to buy time against the superhuman, were literally being sliced apart.

Of course, the pirates weren’t completely brainless…

“Damn it, contact ship 3 and tell them to charge straight for the base!”

“Yessir!”

Even though the pirate boss himself was dealing with that annoying patrol ship…

He came up with a plan to send a subordinate ship to take over the base…

“Boss! We got a message from ship 3!”

“What now?!”

“They said a superhuman flew to the back of the ship and latched on, begging for help…”

“…What.”

Unfortunately, that thought came way too late.

And at the same time, the moment the boss heard that and momentarily let go of the controls…

As if they had been waiting for that moment, the patrol ship and the base’s defense turrets fired a perfect crossfire…

“Oh no!”

Realizing his mistake, the pirate boss frantically tried to adjust the controls, but it was too late.

The pirate ship’s flimsy energy shields were shattered…

And the thin alloy armor plates were riddled with new ventilation holes…

While the pirates, still unaware of what was happening, were pierced by the shells, which instantly hit the ship’s fusion reactor and ammunition storage.

The resulting overload of the reactor and the explosion of the ammunition storage, combined with the pirates’ habit of overarming and overcharging, led to a spectacular explosion.

“KABOOOOOM!!!!!”

And all of this happened in just 0.4 seconds.

—————————————-

[Pirate Raid] Cleared!

[System Evaluation: 2 pirate ships captured (no survivors), 1 ship destroyed]

—————————————-

Seeing the neat results screen, I clenched my fists and shouted.

“Pirates dealt with, nice!”

“You did it, Commander!”

And next to me, my adjutant Jessica was also genuinely happy, as if it were her own achievement.