Hunting the Spider (5)

As the sandstorm intensified, the Hunters cautiously moved from building to building, heading for the center of the city.

Despite Yakt Spinner terrible fighting prowess, the Hunters' momentum was uneven.

Yakt Spinner had taken heavy damage and retreated. Its main armor and joints were undoubtedly shattered and the Hunters thought it would take a long time for it to repair itself.

Even with Leon's refusal to cooperate, the attacks of S-class Hunter Golden Chul, semi-S-class Hwang Yeon-ha, and mage Gil Tae-sung were still effective.

Yakt Spinner was not invincible and the Hunters were confident.

"But will it be okay without that weird knight?"

"It's not like we're going to miss him."

"No, but still… if he can overpower that monstrosity, isn't he stronger than our guild leader?"

Even among the Hunters, Leon's identity is a topic of conversation and the Hunters who had some experience in this area come to the same conclusion.

"Most likely a survivor, and survivors tend to be selfish."

"Still, it's not that bad, is it?"

"Where did he come from, anyway? I haven't heard of any Survivors coming out of the Gate lately."

The Hunters tried to piece together Leon's comet-like appearance with what they knew but even they couldn't remember anyone that resembled him.

The man was different and they instinctively sensed that he was an alien to this world.

"Wait."

The Hunter in the lead halted the others with a wave of his hand and pointed a finger as if he'd found a dull metal.

"Two hundred and fifty meters ahead, on the roof. Machine guns out. That's him."

At his words, the Hunters behind him cautiously checked out the shape.

Its distinctive crab-like fuselage was exposed at an awkward angle to snipe with a rocket.

Luckily, there was a ten-story building across the street from Yakt Spinner with a good view. Sniping from up there would leave him helpless.

"Ranged dealers, make your way up to the building opposite. We'll wait here. If he sees us, we'll distract him and buy time."

At his command, the Ranged Hunters headed to the building opposite. It would take them a while to get up the stairs, breathlessly and slowly.

"We found it."

The hunter smiled and waited for the signal from his colleagues up the building.

One minute, three minutes, five minutes...but he didn't move for fear of being spotted by Yakt Spinner, but no matter how long he waited, the signal didn't come.

"What are these guys doing up here? Send someone up there and check it out."

...

He cautiously sends his colleague up, but there's no sign for a long time and when the hunter notices something strange-──

"Huh?"

The hunter felt his vision swim and as his vision spun, he saw the familiar shape of a spider.

"Y-you?"

Something… different… much smaller… no, wait, if that was Yakt Spinner, then what the hell was the rooftop entity they had been watching all this time──

His gaze shot up into the air, his subtle vision catching a glimpse of the building's rooftop.

A large carapace and there was also a 'model' of a crude machine gun on a wide armored plate that seemed to have been partially removed.

"Huh?"

By the time the man's head hit the ground, dozens of whips had already been swung.

* * * *

Yakt Spinner lived up to its name and its groundbreaking lightweight maneuverability allowed it to climb across building facades wire cutters wielded by a multitude of robotic arms emitted a distinctive air-splitting sound that crushed their prey.

It slaughtered the Hunters with nothing but its wire cutters, moving deftly on its lightweight fuselage and flexible legs.

"Shoot! Hit it with something to make it stop!"

Someone shouted, almost in a panic and at the same time, a magic missile fired in the gale force winds of the sandstorm chased after Yakt Spinner.

-Kirik?

With a marvelous movement, Yakt Spinner stretched itself vertically and deftly inserted itself into the narrow gap between the building and the wall as two Magic Missiles slammed into the building's exterior wall, unable to keep up with its precise dodge.

The three faster Magic Missiles realized they had lost their targets and turned vertically and the bolts of magic soar into the sky, straight for Yakt Spinner as it crawls through the gap in the building.

It can't maneuver fast enough in such a tight spot so a muzzle spins and the magic missile explodes in midair.

The AI is perfectly capable of intercepting Magic Missiles and the Hunters who witnessed it gaped.

"Crazy… is that possible?"

"It's not like it's acrobatics or anything...."

They couldn't imagine it. How could they understand the strong artificial intelligence of a killing machine born only to fight?

As they stood in stunned silence, Yakt Spinner caught up to them in a flash.

"Shit! Take cover! Take cover!"

The robotic arms swung the wire cutters they held and the onslaught of Yakt Spinner, who had switched to wire as its primary weapon, had killed over two dozen Hunters so far.

The Hunters swallowed their screams and sprinted as even the wizard's ranged support failed.

The horror of wanting to live and not wanting to die consumes them.

After a desperate run, the few surviving Hunters reach a cemetery, where they stumble over overgrown weeds and stone beaks.

"Kwak…!

Rolling on the ground with the momentum of his run, the Hunter gasped for breath and tried to crawl away.

-Screech! Screech!

But the four-legged Yakt Spinner was closing in, and the hunter despaired as he realized he couldn't escape.

"Oh, no. Help me… Lord, I don't want to die...."

He used the shabby headstone next to him as a shield, begging for mercy. A mercy he doesn't even believe in himself.

-Geek….

Yakt Spinner skidded to a halt in front of Hunter, machine guns trained on him.

The killing machine's logic circuits, which had never let an intruder live before, made their judgment.

[Second Logic – Priority. Destroy intruders.]

[Third Logic – Priority. Destroy invaders.]

The machine guns open fire. No matter the weapon, Yakt Spinner can overwhelm the Hunters. But──

[Autonomous Judgment. Logic decision hacking. Sub-logic silence. Forced prioritization.]

The weapons are retracted and at that moment of pause with all those weapons retracted, a magical arrow rained down from the sky.

The magic arrow strikes Yakt Spinner.

"That's it! I got it right!"

Yakt Spinner turns his wide-angle lens on the Hunters who attacked him. It's an attack that can be easily dodged by maneuvering inside the cemetery. But....

[Final decision. Prioritize. Protect citizens.]

It turned to the tombstone that the hunter hid behind and knew that fighting here would lead to inevitable losses so Yakt Spinner decided to retreat.

"Huh?"

Yakt Spinner ignores the hunter, who makes a stunned sound, and runs out of the cemetery. The hunter, who was being chased, couldn't speak but was relieved to be alive.

"Yakt Spinner is getting away!"

"Chase!"

He hops from building to building on his four remaining legs, running as far away from the cemetery as he can. Yakt Spinner didn't even fight back, not wanting to risk any losses.

[Yappy. Look, I made a crown out of flowers!]

The safety of the citizens was the most important thing to prioritize. Even if it was a citizen who was already dead.

* * * *

Yakt Spinner has returned to the repair shop once again.

He repaired the damage he took in battle, resupplied the broken wire, and reloaded his ammunition.

It hasn't been easy maintaining my body in a shop that hasn't even been a regular facility, but he's been able to keep up.

[Protect the seal. Don't let anyone get close.]

It was the last order in the machine's chain of command but the AI's sobering realization is that it was becoming impossible to fulfill that order.

If it stops this intrusion, what next? At some point, it will fail. Its time of fighting was coming to an end.

Replacing broken parts with homemade ammunition, wire, and parts made by melting down the city's scrap metal, he connected to the remaining surveillance cameras around the city.

-Estimated enemy survivors: 49. Level 5 threat alive, Level 3 threat alive, multiple Level 1 threats. 35.7% chance of defeat.

-Combat continues.

Nothing changes and the machine merely fulfills its orders.

With a grunt of effort, the machine reaches its full capacity and-─

"Did you have fun with the minions?"

"...!?"

The knight had been watching the scene from beginning to end.

* * * *

Leon worships chivalry. Nay, he is chivalry incarnate.

He abhorred cowardly assaults and sought out fair fights. Of course, his opponents don't always fight fair.

His many enemies harassed him with raids, plots, and all manner of sorcery. But this is no reason for him to forsake the virtues of knighthood.

He was the kind of man who would smash battlefield intrigue and shadowy sorcery from the front.

He was the embodiment of chivalry: broken, but unbreakable. That's what made him strong.

It was for this reason that he waited for Yakt Spinner to finish its maintenance.

With very few exceptions, a knight's honor is important, even if it's a non-human being.

Leon had encountered many dimorphic races, some of them completely alien to humanity.

He was an Earthling, but he had lived in the world of dimorphs and xenomorphs for much longer than that.

Yakt Spinner inhumanly cold armor plates and structurally different joints were just part of its personality.

"For a robot, you're majestic and powerful. It will be hard for those creatures out there to take you down."

Before he could finish his sentence, a swinging wire slashed across Leon's path. He ducked out of the way, but it struck a nerve with the Lionheart.

"Is it too much to ask for honor from a machine?"

Yakt Spinner eyes glowed red.

Armament check: 480 rounds of 60 mm machine guns.

Four wire cutters, two tons of last resort in the repair shop.

Supersonic whip after supersonic whip.

The Wire Cutters' trajectories, their speeds, all calculated to keep them from tangling with each other and supersonic whips struck Leon from the ground, overhead, left, right, and center, with no way to dodge but Leon gripped his holy sword and parried the onslaught.

His opponent's evasions were calculated, and the only attack that reached Leon was a wire cutter, which he deflected with his holy sword.

"...."

The mixture of molten iron ore and hardened steel should have shattered under the whip of the supersonic wire cutters but the iron sword remained intact and even the common sense in the machine's database couldn't understand it.

Yakt Spinner used his four legs to disrupt Leon with even more agile moves than before.

It's good if its opponent holds his ground like a heavy tank because immobile targets are just fodder for machine guns.

-Tut-tut-tut-tut-tut!

The machine gun opens fire and the first round misses as it should but Yakt Spinner analyzes the trajectory of the flying shells and makes adjustments before hitting Leon.

-Thud!

The concrete crumbles as it hits the ground, sending the figure soaring.

In the next moment, after the rising concrete blocked his view, Yakt Spinner condensed the hydraulic springs in his joints and leapt away.

-Quang!

A spear pierces through the spot where Yakt Spinner was just a moment ago. Yes, he expected it.

He analyzed the combat patterns of Threat Level 5 enough that he assumed every eventuality.

Spears appearing out of thin air, iron swords that don't break at all, or shattering tank-grade armor with sheer force. It all defied common sense and logic, but the threat in front of him was real.

The sound of a door closing was caught by the noise filter and sounds don't lie, even if they can't be detected through debris.

Yakt Spinner slammed into Leon like an artillery shell as he ran against the wall but before he knew it, Leon mounted his summoned beast and retrieved his holy spear.

Yakt Spinner couldn't understand how an organism can run that fast but he's long since abandoned logic. The lightened Yakt Spinner darted between the maintenance buildings, blocking Leon's approach.

"Stallion, he wants to play hide-and-seek with us."

The fleeing Yakt Spinner and the horseman that gives chase, smashed through building walls and pillars with their bodies.

It's a contradiction in terms, with Yakt Spinner guerrilla tactics using the terrain to his advantage and the horseman chasing him in a straight line, but Yakt Spinner isn't just running away.

The wire cutter's unexpected attack on the pursuing Leon was intimidating and deadly, but it was only buying time.

Leon calmly and skillfully deflects Yakt Spinner attacks while seemingly ignorant of its pursuit.

Yakt Spinner picks up the pace even more, thoroughly avoiding Leon's approach but its joints are slowly wearing out.

Its structural limitations designed to deal with armored vehicles and slow infantry are being tested by a superhuman.

-Squeak!

The machine has been overworked beyond its carefully calculated capabilities and has collapsed from within.

How will the machine handle the absurdity of exhausting itself before the human did?

After a few minutes of chasing, the reversal was a calculated move.

With a large building pillar in front of it, it hooked its flimsy legs over the pole and grimly changed course.

"...Stallion!"

Yakt Spinner moved in an instant and slammed straight into the horseman.

Weighing over forty tons, even if it was lightened, it was not the kind of impact an organism could withstand.

"Not bad."

But the Stallion held on, sliding smoothly as it was pushed back by the impact.

In the face of an impact too great for flesh and form to sustain, man and horse shake their heads lightly and gallop on again.

Nothing changed and Yakt Spinner took advantage of the distance and fired its remaining shells.

"──!"

Stallion dodges the fire with an amazing move and even with all the precious machine gun shells being fired, Stallion's sprint doesn't stop.

-Kugugung!

The hail of 60 mm shells chips away at the durability of the old building in real time as the walls, ceilings, and columns of the massive structure crumble like a sponge, spewing out huge chunks of stone.

Stallion leapt lightly toward the deadly boulders, and then began to climb, spurred on by the falling rocks.

The phantasmagoric beast, called a god, dodged the cascade of boulders and reached the ceiling in an instant.

────!!

As gravity pulls him back down, the camera lenses of Yakt Spinner and the eyes of the rider intersect.

Facing each other perpendicularly, they aimed their machine guns and lance at each other.

-68 rounds. All rounds fired.

"Glory be to the Lionheart…!"

Gravity-defying machine gun rounds rained down, and horsemen slammed vertically through the ceiling.

The ceiling, which had barely retained its shape despite the merciless misfires of the machine guns, completely collapsed under the impact of the white horse.

It was a charge like a white comet, a falling star pummeled by machine gun fire. But──

"...?!"

The glowing Stallion is unscathed since no physical attack can penetrate the Light Divine Beast, who has unleashed his divine power and is in sync with his rider.

-Boom!

A devastating blow of dense holy power slams into Yakt Spinner.

-Kwazizik!

Yakt Spinner is pierced and torn in half but Yakt Spinner robotic arms moved, even as it was thrown like a piece of trash from the massive impact.

With his opponent frozen in the aftermath of the impact and fall…it had 2.7 seconds to get his fuselage moving so it swung its four wire cutters.

The high-performance AI calculated the trajectory even as its body bounced around to kill the stationary enemy with certainty.

The trajectory determined that the sharp wire cutters swung from four directions would cut through the prey. This time, it was a must-kill.

"Excellent…!"

"...?!"

Yakt Spinner took a moment to review the camera malfunction as in a flash, the Stallion carrying Leon vanished into thin air, and he slammed into the ground.

The trajectory of the wire cutters had been calculated assuming a rider on horseback but when the target is less than half the size of the rider, the perfect calculation leads to a fatal miss!

Leon fired at it like a shell, hitting it right in the middle of its perfect trajectory. With the destructive power he's shown so far, it'll only take a moment to cut through the main computer.

[Yippee. What's sealed in here should never leave.]

The AI finished its calculations in a split second.

A workshop built on top of a sealed facility, the last way to protect this place. If there is even a 0.01% chance, the machine will not stop acting.

-Initiate self-destruct sequence. Detonating all the explosives in the facility.

-Boom, boom, boom!

A large number of explosives planted in various parts of the repair shop explode in unison.