Death… And Me

Chapter 4378: I’ll hold you to that!

Harksha didn’t have the luxury of mourning the loss of her life-saving treasure. Worse still, it had been the strongest defensive item in her entire collection. Compared to the pink lotus, every other treasure she carried was insignificant against attacks of this caliber.

There was no time to hesitate, however. Years of surviving one desperate battle after another had forged her instincts well. The moment she sensed something was wrong, she burst away from the remains of the shattered lotus, a decision that ended up saving her life once again.

*Ziu, ziu, ziu...*

*Bang, bang, bang, bang...*

The remaining lasers tore straight through the crumbling lotus, completely obliterating the last traces of the treasure before continuing into the distance. Had Harksha remained behind its protection for even a fraction of a second longer, every one of those attacks would have struck her directly.

The weird being had noticed that Harksha hadn’t actually dodged the first attacks, so it focused the rest of the lasers on the lotus flower.

She had barely managed to escape.

Unfortunately, the next sight before her almost made her lose all hope.

Hundreds!

Hundreds of tiny Godly Energy spheres began forming around the strange being, each one condensing at a slightly different speed. Harksha immediately understood the purpose behind such an arrangement. There would be no opening this time. Regardless of which direction she chose, another laser would already be waiting there.

Even so, she refused to surrender.

Clenching her teeth, she poured everything she had left into her movement technique and continued flying away at full speed, fully aware that it was probably meaningless.

As expected, the barrage began.

The first few lasers shot toward her, and just like before, Harksha anticipated their release by observing the condensation of Godly Energy rather than the attacks themselves. She narrowly avoided those opening shots, but the next waves were completely different. Laser after laser crossed one another until they formed a deadly web that sealed every possible escape route.

There was nowhere left to run.

Realizing that, Harksha gathered every remaining strand of Godly Energy around herself, creating the strongest defensive layer she could manage despite already knowing it wouldn’t be enough. Slowly, she closed her eyes.

Then...

*Ziu...*

*Ziu, ziu, ziu, ziu, ziu, ziu, ziu...*

Several moments passed.

No impact came.

Confused, Harksha opened her eyes again.

The countless lasers that should have pierced her body were curving away only a few dozen meters ahead of her. They bent around in every direction before continuing into the distance, leaving her completely untouched.

”This... how...?”

Before she could think any further, Rean’s voice echoed from the invisible airplane through its directional speaker arrays.

-Well, lasers will always be lasers. They’re basically concentrated light, and my Mark-Seven Autono—

*Pah!*

*-Ouch!-*

-Stop doing that!-

Roan’s cold voice immediately followed.

-Then stop using those ridiculous names.-

-Tch...- Rean complained before quickly continuing. -Fine! Mark! Happy now? Anyway, Mark bends light to become invisible, so I simply reconfigured the light-bending arrays to refract the incoming laser beams as well. Since they’re basically light, the same principle works.-

His tone quickly became serious.

-That said, these lasers are ridiculously powerful. They’re overheating the light-bending arrays much faster than I expected. We have to leave immediately. Senior, don’t move. I’m picking you up.-

Only then did Harksha expand her Celestial Sense instead of focusing solely on the enemy. Almost instantly, she noticed the invisible airplane rushing straight toward her at astonishing speed. A section near the front opened just enough for someone to reach outside, and Roan appeared at the opening.

*Grab!*

Without wasting even a moment, Roan seized Harksha by her remaining arm as the airplane flew past and pulled her into the cabin in one smooth motion. The instant the hatch sealed again, he gave Rean a simple nod.

”Go.”

”With pleasure.”

Rean shoved the control lever forward.

The Celestial Thrusters roared to life, immediately pushing Mark to its maximum speed.

Behind them, however, the attacks didn’t stop.

*Ziu, ziu, ziu, ziu, ziu...*

The strange creature continued unleashing laser after laser. Somehow, despite the airplane remaining completely invisible, it still knew exactly where it was.

Fortunately, the light-bending arrays continued redirecting the attacks away from the vessel, causing most of the beams to curve harmlessly aside before they could reach their target.

Still...

The defense wasn’t perfect.

Some of the lasers were simply too powerful.

Unable to bend them completely, the arrays only managed to alter their trajectories slightly, causing several beams to scrape across the fuselage instead of striking it directly.

*Crack!*

*Bang!*

The group watched as several fist-sized holes suddenly appeared through parts of the airplane’s outer shell.

Fortunately, none of the attacks penetrated the central cabin.

Kentucky, whose eyesight far surpassed everyone else’s, continued watching the battlefield through the rear observation window.

”It stopped!” he announced. ”That thing isn’t leaving the barrier. It’s retreating... and...” He narrowed his eyes. ”It’s much smaller than when it first appeared.”

Rean nodded while keeping both hands firmly on the controls.

”That makes sense. Attacks like those must consume a terrifying amount of Godly Energy. Not even a Law God could sustain that kind of barrage for long. Honestly, I doubt even two Law Gods together could continuously fire attacks like those without exhausting themselves. Whatever that thing is, it finally ran out of energy.”

Even so, Rean had no intention of slowing down.

He continued flying at maximum speed until the map showed they were well over fifty kilometers away from the ruins. Only then did he reluctantly begin reducing speed. It wasn’t because he felt safe. Rather, the airplane itself had already suffered considerable damage, and several warning messages were appearing throughout the control panel.

After locating an area where the radar detected no nearby Godly Beasts, Rean finally landed the airplane.

”We stop here.”

The moment everyone stepped outside, Roan calmly looked around before giving instructions.

”The airplane won’t be operational for a while. There aren’t any Godly Beasts nearby, but there are still plenty of Godly Spawns in the surrounding area. Until Rean finishes the repairs, the rest of us will establish a defensive perimeter.”

Rean nodded while already inspecting the damaged sections of the fuselage.

”I will leave the surroundings to you guys. I’ll repair Mark as quickly as possible.” He then looked toward Harksha. ”Senior, your only priority right now is recovering from your injuries.”

Although Harksha’s face remained pale from blood loss, years of battle had long since taught her how to endure pain.

”F-Forget about me...” she answered while regulating her breathing. ”I can stabilize my injuries. Regrowing my arm will have to wait, but I’ll survive. Just focus on what needs to be done.”

The others were already preparing to move when Harksha suddenly called out again.

”...Also...”

Everyone turned toward her.

She looked directly at Rean.

”Thank you... for coming back.”

A faint smile appeared on her exhausted face.

”I’ll make sure to memorize your airplane’s full name later.”

Rean’s eyes immediately lit up.

”I’ll hold you to that!”