Chapter 303: Infinite Stratos 5

(Umaru Perspective) (Himouto! Umaru-chan)

We are now on a plane on our way to Germany.

Our group is made up of the members of the chat room and the cast of Infinite Stratos with the exception of the male protagonist Ichika Orimura.

Hiroki mocked the protagonist many times by calling him a useless idiot, but this only increased Chifuyu's anger.

The attack plan was prepared by Chifuyu, Esdeath, Mei Xueyan, Hiroki, and me.

Frankly, I don't know what I'm doing here.

Eto knows how to run an organization with terrorist tendencies, but her strategies are based on manipulating and confusing the enemy, so she is not suited to lead an attack against mindless monsters.

Medaka is very intelligent and has abnormal charisma that helps people want to follow her, but she is too idealistic and kind, she is incapable of making sacrifices so she is not suitable to be a general.

Kiss-Shot has no experience commanding groups as he is a loner.

Mirko knows how to work in a team and coordinate with others when fighting, but she is not good as a leader as she is too impulsive.

Hiroki is a fanfic protagonist so he's obviously very smart, though it is just plot convenience.

In fact, that idiot is using tactics from strategy games like X-COM and Age of Empires.

The truth is that I have never considered myself to be intelligent since my brother always manages to humiliate me in board games, but I have a lot of experience in tower defense, territory conquest, and military strategy video games. I have even won a few tournaments online.

I'm not going to let the waifus have admiration for Hiroki's intellect, so I showed that that idiot is just plagiarizing video game strategies.

I identified all the flaws in his plans and mocked his stupidity in thinking that everything will go according to his plans, after all, a battlefield is unpredictable.

Actually, I understand Hiroki's attitude, he has struggled to survive since he was reborn, but he's only fought brainless creatures, and the monsters we're facing seem to be rabid animals, but I have a feeling this is like the locust in Gears of War. Monsters that look like idiots, but at the critical moment they will show a strategy that will put us in danger.

My whole life I have been in the care of a paranoid madman who sees the world as a death trap, so I try to be pessimistic and anticipate any possible danger.

I'm not smart, but I want to help my new friends and by the way, I want to humiliate the stupid fanfic protagonist...

At least that was my initial idea, but Esdeath recognized my talent in developing military tactics, she said that with enough battlefield experience, I could become a decent general.

It makes me happy to receive recognition from my waifu, but I'm scared of pain and blood, so no thanks.

Even though I really don't want to go to the battlefield, I was insistent on accompanying the attack squad.

Several days ago, Tabane made me a custom IS since we became good friends.

I wanted the robotic suit because I love futuristic weapons, but I don't want to be a warrior or a soldier. Violence in real life scares me.

Despite my fear, I insisted on going with the waifus and showed my combat outfit so they would let me accompany them.

Mirko and Medaka were very worried.

Medaka treats me like her little sister whom she wants to protect.

Mirko treats me like a defenseless child who needs to be protected.

They are both correct, I am completely useless on the battlefield and I don't want to be a burden, but I need to go with them to protect them.

I don't know why Paranoia-chan insists that I have to accompany the waifus, but I trust my friend.

In the end, my insistence allowed me to accompany my friends into the black mist.

Esdeath, Eto, and Kiss-Shot agreed with my participation since they say that a person must become strong on their own merit, and if I die it's because I was weak.

Hiroki sneered that I'll just be a nuisance, but strangely, he doesn't seem to want me to die.

Maybe that idiot considers me a member of his harem despite my obvious displays of disgust. Idiots who only think with their dicks are so disgusting...

Mei Xueyan privately talked to me and told me that if the situation turned dangerous, I should escape while she will protect my back.

She's the only one who believes me that Paranoia-chan is real, she also heard me about how dangerous the location we're going to is.

Hiroki is a fanfic protagonist so everything will work out for him, it's impossible for him to make a mistake since the plot protects him, but I can't help but feel anguished.

I tried to talk to Paranoia-chan to find out what we were about to face, but she said that she doesn't know exactly what we were about to face, she only knows that it will be a very good thing for me.

It's very difficult to talk to Paranoia-chan since I can't understand most of the things she tries to tell me. According to her, I am not able to assimilate the most important information since the human mind is not capable of understanding certain things, so my mind refuses to assimilate the information in order to protect my sanity.

That sounds like something from Bloodborne...

Despite the communication problems, Paranoia-chan has told me some things about my brother, for example, he has a harem with extremely dangerous women that could cause the end of the world, he is associated with an organization with influence in an innumerable number of worlds, and what caught my attention the most is that he has daughters…

I'm an aunt!

I'm upset that my stupid brother didn't tell me something so important, but at least now I know his body isn't dying anymore. I can finally stop having nightmares about him dying.

I want to meet my nieces, I hope they are adorable girls to play with, that would be cute…

Paranoia-chan tried to explain my brother's strength, but I couldn't understand what she said, I only understood that my brother is so strong that he could beat up all the chat room members.

Paranoia-chan also mentioned that my brother is able to travel between anime dimensions, so he's coming to see me after fixing some problems I couldn't understand.

I am very scared, he will punish me for leaving the house and running toward danger…

But I'm happy to know that he cares about me, I always thought that he would try to get rid of me at the first opportunity.

I cried a lot when I found out that my brother is not going to leave me.

Despite my happiness, all this only raises a lot of doubts, but if I consider that my brother married one or more Lovecraft creatures, then they may be the cause of the mysteries surrounding my brother.

Regardless of the cause, my priority right now is to protect my friends.

My brother is already strong and can protect himself, so I don't need to worry about him, but… I don't know why… thinking about it makes my chest hurt…

My brother always takes care of me and I have never been able to do anything for him. Now it seems that he is getting further and further away from me.

Hiroki is right, I am a useless burden that only causes trouble for others...

[...: Q-Q]

Do not worry, I'm fine.

[...: <3]

Thank you, I love you too Paranoia-chan.

[...: <3 <3]

I looked out the window to distract myself from any pessimistic thoughts.

We are about to reach the military fence that was built in the surroundings of the black mist.

From a distance, we can see the fog that covers a large part of the territory of Germany.

They call it black mist, but it actually looks like an accumulation of clouds as black as inky.

Despite the fact that the clouds block all types of visibility, the drones showed that inside the fog it is possible to see easily even though there is no light, it is as if the darkness itself were a type of light that both the machines as human eyes are not able to fully identify.

"We are about to reach the target" – Chifuyu entered my cabin while wearing her IS.

This plane is huge so each person received a personal cabin, so we could prepare our equipment in private.

I nodded. – "The older sister said that she will be ready in five minutes"

Chifuyu nodded and left to call the other members of the group.

Although Mei Xueyan has been cooperative, she is always cold and aloof so only I can talk to her in a friendly way.

Mei Xueyan hardly talks in her chat room, but I often meet with her to talk.

She has a very blunt and cold personality, but she is very nice to me, even though she makes me uncomfortable when she uses a masculine voice.

For now, I'm done preparing for combat.

Combat suits are divided into three parts;

1) The protective suit, which is just a cheap excuse to put tight clothes on women and thus give fanservice that attracts otakus.

2) IS, it's the cool-looking robotic limbs, although I find it stupid that they don't protect the torso and head. Stupid design made for fanservice…

3) Customized weapons for different types of fighting that can vary between swords, spears, energy cannons, etc.

The IS that Tabane made for me has two weapons; a sniper rifle that helps me take advantage of my excellent aim, and a semi-automatic assault rifle for close and medium-range combat.

Although Esdeath and Mirko have trained (beat) me in hand-to-hand combat, I prefer firearms.

If one day I have to kill someone, I prefer to use a gun since the idea of stabbing or cutting another person terrifies me.

Although the IS is comfortable, it bothers me that the protective suit looks like a one-piece swimsuit. It bothers me that my butt is visible...

Later I'll see if Tabane can make me medieval armor, something like Guts' armor would be great…

The plane landed so I went to the exit of the plane.

The protective suit is so comfortable that it feels like my body is naked, but that only adds to my sense of disgust and discomfort.

My only relief is that Hiroki is ignoring me because he's too busy looking at the bodies of the sexiest waifus.

Besides me, Mirko also has a custom IS, although hers is not a robotic suit since those armors limit her speed, instead, she was given an exoskeleton similar to the one in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. The exoskeleton does not have all the defensive abilities of a normal IS, but focuses on improving speed and leg strength.

I once saw Mirko train with the exoskeleton and I get the feeling that she could beat up All Might, at least in a friendly match.

Medaka was given an exoskeleton similar to Mirko's since normal ISs only limit her PowerUPs.

Esdeath does not have an IS as her ice powers evolved since her teigu fully submitted, now she is able to generate Absolute Zero with the contact of her hands, but this has caused the IS circuits to stop working, so Tabane is designing a new alloy capable of withstanding Absolute Zero, but that will take time.

Eto and Kiss-Shot didn't want any kind of equipment, they say that their own abilities are more than enough since they evolved with my brother's food.

Eto's kagune is now more resistant, flexible, and fast, on the other hand, Kiss-Shot said she doesn't seem totally sure, but she believes that her body is now immune to small weaknesses that could still suppress her regenerative abilities.

Kiss-Shot doesn't even need a weapon as she has the sword Kokorowatari, and according to experiments in Tabane's lab, that sword is capable of hurting creatures with black blood.

Lastly, Hiroki also has a custom IS. He focused on looking cool rather than utility, but well, protagonists' stuff.

Lastly, Mei Xueyan also did not receive any equipment since her cultivation techniques seem to have a technology incompatibility problem.

The powerful spiritual energy seems to cause interference in the electrical system of the IS.

Tabane also wants to research spirit abilities to integrate into IS, but time wasn't enough, in fact, I'm surprised that she could design and build all this equipment in a single day. Her title of genius is fully deserved.

After landing, a group of soldiers escorted us to a lookout post to give us access to the black mist.

Even though the soldiers were professional and didn't even look at the attractive bodies of the waifus, something in their gazes made me uncomfortable.

There was no hostility or desire to kill, but my brother is capable of killing while showing a gentle smile, so it's dangerous to rely on appearances.

[Esdeath: They are analyzing our strength to determine how to kill us]

… This was to be expected.

[Eto: Most likely they received orders to execute us after rescuing the government officials, so they would eliminate any possible evidence linking them to this disaster]

I think the same, people blinded by ambition see people as disposable objects.

Paranoia-chan, how likely is it that Eto is right?

[...: 100%]

Oh… I'm not surprised.

[Medaka: I don't think they could do something so horrible, after all, we are here to help]

[Mirko: After seeing the history of my world, I can confirm that the government is capable of doing ridiculous things despite the dangerous consequences]

In My Hero Academia, the hero system is actually a social system that forms a pyramid based on the power of superpowers, furthermore, classifying people into heroes and villains only causes greater inequality.

Mirko hates thinking about complex things, but she has begun to see that the political and social system of her world is a disaster that only causes the birth of more villains, although in reality, that is the social system used in Japan and that is why there are so many suicides...

Hell, all my brother's complaining has made me too pessimistic, how depressing.

[Hiroki: Don't worry, I'll protect you all!]

…I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

Does he really think he's cool?

Seeing his stupid proud smile, it seems his superiority complex keeps growing.

Finally, we were facing the fog.

[Mei Xueyan: This fog does not generate mental corruption, it seems that just seeing the eyes of the creatures causes damage to the soul and the sea of consciousness, but be careful, we don't know what kind of evil creatures we will see on the other side of the fog]

I'm nervous…

[...: <3]

I smiled, thank you Paranoia-chan.

Chifuyu and Esdeath led the group as we pushed through the mist.

I imagined that the place would look like a hell of horror, with tentacles, and blood, but everything seemed normal.

Everything seemed to be illuminated by the sun even though the sky was totally dark like a starless night.

The strange thing is that the situation was different from what was seen by the drones, in all the time we advanced towards the capital we did not see a single person or animal, it was as if all living beings had disappeared from the world.

We keep moving forward.

Tabane stayed out of the mist and communicated with us through a radio, but after a while, the signal became weak and we could barely hear it.

Even though we didn't encounter a single enemy, the anxiety was only increasing by the minute. The unknown was much more terrifying than millions of enemies.

The Infinite Stratos waifus and I were the only ones who seemed to be afraid, the members of the chat room and Chifuyu could remain calm, although they too showed seriousness and constantly looked in all directions.

The only person who seemed relaxed was Hiroki, which caused weak-minded women to feel safe around him.

I can't deny that Hiroki's attractive appearance causes a feeling of stability and security, but his attitude and intellect are rubbish.

Finally, we arrived, we approached Berlin and we understood why there was not a single living being along the way.

All the people, animals, plants, and insects that had been trapped by the black mist were surrounding the Alexanderplatz square.

Instead of attacking, Chifuyu took out what looked like a telescope attached to a laptop, and we watched what was happening in the plaza.

Every living thing seemed to be kneeling in worship towards something in the center of the square. Living beings without legs or whose limbs prevented them from kneeling were lying on the ground.

Every living thing was shedding black blood, but that blood was not staining the ground, rather the blood was moving as if it had a life of its own and heading toward the center of the square.

All the blood was pooling in a black pool that bubbled as if some kind of animal was trying to break the surface.

What was strangest was that what looked like a book cover made of black leather was floating on top of the puddle.

The book had no pages and was just the cover, but there were strange symbols that resembled Bloodborne runes.

"It's like the birth of The One Reborn, this is a plagiarism of bloodborne…" – I murmured in a low voice.

"I don't know, I got bored and left the game after the first boss" – Hiroki shrugged.

"What?!" - I looked at the idiot in disbelief, but I calmed down. – "I see, you were not able to defeat the first boss and you gave up… Pathetic"

Hiroki glared at me. – "I just got bored of the stupid repetitive mechanics, if I wanted I could finish that game without dying once!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say, you're the best" – I sneered.

"You!" – Hiroki seemed to want to fight.

"Children, this is not the time to play" – Chifuyu sighed with annoyance. – "Concentrate, we must think about what to do… There are too many enemies, and the insects can be dangerous since we don't know if they have some kind of unknown poison"

I ignored Hiroki and looked at the computer.

"This seems like a ritual to summon a demon or a nightmare creature" – I pointed to the book that was floating above the pool of blood. – "Whatever it is, it will undoubtedly be very dangerous to allow the creature to be summoned"

"It certainly looks like the Necronomicon" - Eto seemed interested in the book. – "Although the work of the writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft is fiction, he mentioned that there were copies of the Necronomicon in some libraries in Europe, although he does not mention a library or museum in Germany"

"It is possible that the government of Germany took the book from another country" – I made a guess, but I'm not sure.

"Wait a moment" - Chifuyu interrupted us and massaged her forehead. – "Are you really making conjectures based on the books of a simple horror writer?"

"He is not just a horror writer, he is the father of cosmic terror!" – I frowned angrily.

"Well, objectively Lovecraft was a bad writer since his narrative was full of errors, however, he is one of the authors who inspired me to write and if you make another comment like that, I will rip your limbs off" - Eto smiled innocently, although her kagune seems to form a rather scary mouth.

She's crazy, but her passion for literature is real...

Chifuyu frowned.

We told her our identities so she knows that Eto is a human-eating monster. She is upset with this, but her desire to protect the world caused her to ignore Eto's actions, although she did make a condition that Eto and Kiss-Shot should not eat people while we were in this world.

Eto and Kiss-Shot had no problem with this as my brother's food can fill them up.

"Although they are fictitious stories, we cannot rule out that this may be a ritual to invoke an evil god or Satan himself" – Medaka intervened to avoid a discussion. – "We have a vampire, a ghoul, an immortal cultivator, a superheroine and we are from other worlds… it is not impossible that Lovecraft's stories are real"

We all nodded, that makes sense.

"Anyway, we must act quickly" - Mirko seemed bored with the talk. – "That black puddle seems to be moving"

The bubbling of the pool of blood was increasing which gave me a bad feeling.

We decided that it was best to attack before the ritual was finished.

We don't know if that can have negative consequences, but it's better to wait for the final boss to emerge and exterminate us all.

I asked Paranoia-chan if that puddle was dangerous, but she said that I should go near the puddle since it was good for me.

A puddle made of the blood of millions of living beings... Ugh, I'm going to vomit...

The strange thing is that even though there are millions of living beings giving up their blood, the pool is so small that only a thin person or a small animal could emerge from it. That is ignoring the law of conservation of mass.

I really don't want to go near that place and I know that the waifus won't listen to me that I should go there, so for now I could only follow Chifuyu's orders.

[...: 7-7]

Come on, that place is scary and I don't want to go alone, Chifuyu knows what she does.

[...: -.-]

…

We launched the first attack.

All of us with long-range weapons aim at the pool of blood and shoot.

Although the attack had been sudden, thousands of people jumped toward the energy shots to protect the blood.

Although these people are shedding black blood, their appearances are still human, so many of us felt a deep sense of unease when thousands of innocent people were torn to pieces by our attacks.

Although the IS Academy trains the students to be soldiers, most of the girls have never had the experience of killing people, so it is possible that this will cause them trauma.

At least for my part, I won't be able to sleep for a week.

My hands are shaking, I want to drop the gun and run, but I clung to the rifle and kept shooting into the puddle.

Each shot was intercepted by a person, each of my bullets was taking the life of a person.

They are not human, they are monsters, they are enemies… I tried to tell myself that over and over again, but seeing innocent people dying because of me was painful.

Men, children, the elderly, animals... All kinds of living beings kept dying from my shots.

I hate leaving the house since I have bad luck and there are almost always degenerates harassing me, but those idiots always die at the hands of my brother.

I hate sexual degenerates, but it makes me feel guilty that other people die because of me.

I know that my brother is only protecting me, but knowing that many people have died because of me is painful.

Now people don't die indirectly because of me, now I'm killing them with my own hands...

With each kill, my heart ached, but I didn't stop shooting.

The infected began to run towards us.

Esdeath used Ice Commander in Chief, one of her trump cards.

A storm of ice and cold air covered the enemies.

The insects and small animals were completely frozen, but the humans managed to break the ice that covered them to continue advancing.

According to our experiments, black blood can affect all living things, but it has the greatest effect on intelligent creatures. The more the mental capacity is developed, the greater the influence of black blood will be.

The humans became much stronger, but Esdeath's abilities had truly evolved.

The humans who managed to resist the cold snap lost one or more limbs, even the black blood that came out of their heads had completely frozen.

We were managing to take out millions of enemies just with Esdeath's firearms and abilities, everything was going pretty well, but that's always the sign that something bad is about to happen.

[...: !]

Danger? I am in danger?

[■: e.e]

So who's in danger?

Esdeath?

[...: n.n … >]

"Esdeath, move to the right!" – I yelled with all my might while I didn't stop shooting toward the enemies.

Esdeath would normally never listen to orders from someone weaker than her, but I've already shown her that Paranoia-chan's predictive abilities cannot be underestimated.

Esdeath moved to the right and by a few inches, she managed to avoid a black tentacle that emerged from the ground.

The tentacle was the same as the ones we saw in the drone video. It was covered in human mouths which seemed to be muttering something incomprehensible.

Quickly, Kiss-Shot slashed the tentacle with her sword.

The tentacle was easily severed and disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

We couldn't think about what happened as the ground began to shake.

"We have to get away!" – Chifuyu shouted and gave the signal to withdraw.

Quickly we all got away from the place and we could see something worthy of a Hollywood movie.

The ground around the plaza broke, and thousands of tentacles emerged from the cracks.

Each tentacle was as tall as an elephant, but the terrifying thing was that the tentacles began to devour living things.

The most horrible thing is that thousands of horrible and inhuman creatures had appeared along with the tentacles. Those creatures were similar to the monster with hundreds of eyes, but they were much bigger, the teeth that covered them were sharp, and they had more eyes.

If the monster we saw was a scout, then these should be the soldiers.

"The puddle!" – Medaka has too good eyesight, so she can see the center of the square without the help of technology. – "Something is emerging from the puddle!"

…We acted too late, the ritual was completed…

I looked at Mei Xueyan, she had sat down on the ground to meditate and try to hasten her recovery.

She's supposed to only fight when facing the queen bee to save her strength, so she must be thinking of fighting the creature that emerges from the puddle.

"We have to destroy that thing" – Chifuyu spoke seriously. – "That thing must be the cause of this disaster, if it comes out of the fog then the whole world will be in danger"

The Infinite Stratos waifus looked scared, they weren't prepared for this kind of disaster and I understand them, I'm scared too.

"Don't worry girls, I'll protect you" – Hiroki smiled like a brave knight.

The fucking idiot is using the suspension bridge effect to conquer the waifus…

I don't have time to think about the idiot's stupid things, we have to get out of here.

"Come on, I'll open the way for the cultivator to face the creature" – Mirko smiled wildly as she squeezed her knuckles.

She is not afraid of death and will fight even if she loses her limbs.

It's sad that my fear of monsters prevents me from enjoying Mirko's heroic appearance.

Medaka's skin began to change, her presence becoming intimidating and overwhelming. She appears to be in the process of activating her War God Mode.

The temperature dropped, Esdeath was covered in ice, and soldiers mounted on great warhorses began to emerge from the ground. They were all ice sculptures, but they looked stronger than steel.

Kiss-shot had a crazed smile as she clenched the hilt of her Japanese sword, she seemed excited at this situation.

Hiroki had a confident smile as he raised a greatsword, he was following the cliché of a heroic protagonist.

The attitude of the women helped the waifus of the academy to calm down, they held their weapons and prepared to fight.

It seems that the final battle in an epic novel is about to happen, but I don't feel the slightest bit of happiness, I'm too scared...

This is dangerous.

Many people have died and continue to die every second.

I do not want to be here.

I need my brother.

I want to go home and eat with my brother.

I'm scared…

"Stay here" – Mei Xueyan spoke softly to me in her real voice while her hand patted my head. – "Your older sister will take care of everything"

…. That feeling is familiar.

I... I no longer want to be useless who lives protected by my brother, I want to show that I can also help.

I held the rifle firmly. – "I will also help"

"…" – Mei Xueyan patted my head. – "Stay behind me and obey my instructions"

I nodded.

According to Medaka, the only thing that has appeared is a human right arm, but it seems to be having a hard time getting out completely so maybe we have a chance.

Altogether we head towards the square to destroy the creature that tries to emerge from the black puddle.