Chapter 76

Aaron Stingray was a monster.

What more could I possibly say about him? If I tried to fully describe his strength, I’d waste quite a bit of paper.

It was the same in the original work.

Perhaps it was because he was the mid-boss positioned at the boundary between Part 1 and Part 2. The author had dedicated quite a number of pages to describing Aaron’s strength.

Among all the characters who appeared until the very end of the novel, there was not a single one who could decisively surpass his martial might.

Of course, it could be because he was a mid-boss in the early stages, before the protagonist had fully grown. But even after countless battles against monsters, mutants, and rampaging AIs, there was never a fight as grueling as the one against Aaron.

‘He might have appeared only briefly, but the impact he left as a villain was no joke.’

If we only looked at his pure specs, he wasn’t even designed to be beaten in the first place.

Even without equipping any module—just in his “pure spec” state—his physical abilities matched those of a decent mid-tier Adaptee.

When it came to his total combat module output level, he could easily exceed 100, and every module he equipped was at least Level 3 military-grade.

And on top of that—[Cloud Spider] and [Techblade].

A man who possessed not just one, but two Game Changer-class Arcane Modules. A man who, if he felt like it, could easily annihilate several production colonies. How was anyone supposed to handle that?

Yet, in the end, those “technical” aspects were only secondary.

The real reason Aaron Stingray was such a terrifying villain lay not in the “hardware” of module performance or pure specs, but in the “software.”

Space-time split apart.

A thunderous roar erupted, enough to make one hallucinate that reality itself was tearing. Something invisible had collided with something else invisible, shredding the air.

Paaaaaaaaaak—!

A storm raged between the two Aarons. That wind was like a blade, slicing apart anything it touched without mercy.

And yet, in the gap of that bladed storm, the two Aaron Stingrays simply faced each other as if nothing were happening.

To the eyes of an ordinary person, they would have seemed to be merely standing amidst the raging wind.

But to the high-level Adaptee soldiers equipped with military-grade ocular scanner modules, it was perfectly clear—the countless exchanges of offense and defense happening between them.

Threads clashed against threads.

When one side shot out a thread, the other intercepted it with their own. When one spread threads like a spider’s web, the other’s threads swept them away.

The process was barely visible, even to Adaptees equipped with modules.

The Arcane Module [Cloud Spider] was originally designed to produce threads so sharp and durable that they could cut through steel like tofu.

Those endlessly dividing and intertwining threads each became a blade, mercilessly shredding the environment around them.

[W-what is that…?!]

[The terrain… it’s changing…!]

The ground sliced by threads split apart.

Buildings sliced by threads split apart.

Cars sliced by threads split apart.

Everything sliced by threads split apart.

As if a natural disaster had struck, everything within a 100-meter radius was being shredded, the terrain and environment around them gradually transforming.

Monster versus monster.

Disaster versus disaster.

It was a sight that made it clear why an Arcane Module like [Cloud Spider] was nicknamed “Game Changer.”

If one truly intended to destroy everything with that module’s power, they could easily erase a mid-sized city or two.

Those watching the scene momentarily forgot their own goals or doubts. Even their sense of what they should be doing was erased from their minds by the overwhelming force of the battle.

But that was only for a moment.

[What are you all doing?]

A sharp voice from Aaron rang through the Internal Comms Network, snapping them out of it.

To be precise, it was the voice of the “younger” Aaron.

[Just going to stand there and watch? I won’t last long. Snap out of it and do your jobs.]

[……!]

Only then did they remember they were in the middle of a battlefield, and they hurried to carry out their missions.

At first, they hesitated—was it really okay to follow the boy Aaron’s lead?

But for the moment, he was helping them, and the target he ordered them to attack was the “adult” Aaron.

They couldn’t be sure what was really going on, but for the sake of the mission, they decided following the boy’s instructions was the right call.

[Fire! Just hit him with at least one shot!]

[Wizard team! Prepare more viruses!]

[Throw everything you’ve got at him!]

The Adaptee and Augmented soldiers once again aimed their guns at the original Aaron, pulling the triggers without hesitation.

Tatatatatatatatatata—!

Thousands of bullets rained down on Aaron Stingray. Those who had already emptied their magazines switched to weapons from their combat modules and began attacking him.

The Stingray-manufactured “Lv.3 [S203 40mm Grenade Launcher] Standard Module,” the Stingray-manufactured “Lv.3 [Nightmare Anti-Tank Rifle] Standard Module,” and other weapons the soldiers had kept hidden as trump cards all appeared.

And that wasn’t all.

[Air support! We need air support!]

Even five attack helicopters, which they hadn’t even considered deploying, entered the battle.

The helicopters roared in formation, unleashing their full firepower toward Aaron.

From the ‘30×113mm Chain Guns’ mounted under their fuselages, spitting high-explosive shells, to the ‘Cerberus 70mm Unguided Missiles.’

It was enough to make one doubt whether this level of firepower was truly meant for just a single man.

Kwooooooooom—!

The missiles fired in unison reached Aaron in an instant and exploded in a massive blast where he stood.

An ear-splitting roar.

Flames, smoke, and dust swallowed his figure entirely.

In just a matter of minutes, billions of Credits’ worth of ammunition and missiles had been spent for the sole purpose of killing “Aaron Stingray.”

But they knew.

This wasn’t someone who would fall to just that.

[...Interesting.]

Aaron’s short, heavy voice came through the Internal Comms Network.

At the same time, a flash swept clean through the helicopter formation pouring firepower from above.

The next instant—

Skeeeeerch—!

As though sliced by a blade, the helicopters were cut clean across. Their fuel ignited, detonating midair, and the remaining frames spun in the air before crashing to the ground.

A gust of wind blew, revealing Aaron once more. Even under such firepower, which would leave nothing but splinters of bone from an average Adaptee, he had survived.

The only difference from before was that his high-end suit had been damaged by smoke and wind—but it was a trivial level of harm.

[Damn it! How the hell are we supposed to…!]

Just as the soldiers began to lose heart again, the younger Aaron issued another order.

[Wizard team, respond.]

[T-this is Wizard team! What is it…?]

[There should be a girl headed your way. Get her help.]

[...What?!]

At the same time—

A short distance from the operation zone, an uninvited guest arrived at the Wizard team’s headquarters. The team had been deep in cyberspace, diving to target Aaron’s security vulnerabilities, and could not hide their alarm.

[Warning] [Warning] [Warning]

External intruder detected!

Terminate your connection!

No one was more vulnerable to outside interference than Wizards who had completely immersed their consciousness in cyberspace.

Even if their minds were busily gasping for breath in a virtual world, their bodies outside were practically asleep inside the Dive Capsules.

Startled, the Wizards tried to exit deep-dive state as quickly as possible. But at that moment, a wireless transmission from the younger Aaron arrived.

[There should be a girl headed your way. Get her help.]

[...What?!]

As they were still reeling—

[Notification]

A new hacking module has been installed.

Connected device: [Lv.4 Nice to Meet You.]

A hacking module?

And its name was “Nice to Meet You”?

They had no time to dwell on it. One of the Wizards wrestling with Aaron’s security wall suddenly let out a wild shout.

—Oooooh! We broke through! We broke through!

The virus that had been sluggish, blocked by Aaron’s Anti-Wizard security program, suddenly became ferociously active.

At the same time, cheers erupted from the Adaptee team. Footage from their perspective was shared with the Wizards inside cyberspace.

Astonishingly, the footage showed—

Aaron staggering.

[The virus worked!]

Several small explosions went off at the nape of the real Aaron’s neck. The modules he wore began breaking one by one.

Psssssshh—!

With a grimace, Aaron reached back to pull the broken modules from his smoking neck.

In his hand were modules charred pitch-black. They were the combat modules he had taken earlier from the sniper he’d killed.

[Tsk.]

Aaron clicked his tongue, and I threw him a jab.

[You eat things that have fallen, you get sick.]

[…]

[Glaring at me won’t change anything. Wasn’t this your own “plan” to begin with?]

I remembered.

Before his consciousness had been devoured by “Aaron Stingray,” he had made a plan to defeat the villain he would become.

Everything happening now had been planned by him.

Getting help from supporting characters like Iri, Silence, and Miyu. Creating a “Replica” of himself—duplicating his own mind and abilities—to play the role of protagonist.

Using a Dwarf to duplicate two Game Changer modules, downgrading the nanomachine security program, stripping all combat modules and perk points in advance.

Even using Benedict’s soldiers—everything had been aimed at stopping the “me” that had turned into a villain.

It was the correct call.

Fighting “me” had made that crystal clear.

If even one of those measures had been missing, “I”—no, Aaron Stingray—would have been an unbeatable opponent.

“I” knew Aaron Stingray better than anyone, and I could make near-perfect predictions about the thought process and patterns of myself as Aaron Stingray.

‘I can win…!’

It was a fight that had begun with my arms and legs already bound. The design and planning had been made so I couldn’t escape from the start.

But there were two problems.

‘One, the other side knows my plan inside and out from start to finish. And the other…’

[Time’s up.]

Time limit.

Murmuring the words, Aaron’s gaze drifted to my hand—or more precisely, to the module I had activated: the Dwarf-made [Cloud Spider].

‘Damn it.’

The moment I cursed inwardly—

The threads I had been endlessly trading with him were all severed at once. The strands that had showcased the full might of a Game Changer-class module suddenly turned into snowflakes, scattering into the sky.

‘So it comes to this in the end.’

It was the limitation of Dwarf-made goods.

In areas with low mana density, they would lose their original performance in less than an hour after being activated.

Sure enough, just as I had the main body cornered, the usage time ran out.

Originally, this was something meant for the “main body” to use, but because Aaron’s consciousness had exerted its influence earlier than expected, the real [Cloud Spider] seemed to have ended up in his hands.

But it didn’t matter.

[You know this was part of our plan too.]

[A foolish idea.]

Aaron belittled it like that—

But in truth, it wasn’t. I had already considered the possibility that Aaron’s awakened consciousness would discard my entire plan and swallow up all the combat modules for himself.

The Dwarf-made replica module was also a contingency for that.

For a short time, it could display performance nearly equal to the original, enough to complete the plan before the time limit expired.

‘Good thing it didn’t end up in the worst-case scenario.’

What I had feared most was my own consciousness being devoured by “Aaron” without any resistance.

If that had happened, “Aaron” would have erased the entire plan I had built, and we would have been defeated without a single chance to fight back.

Fortunately, I still had another weapon left—another Game Changer-class weapon called [Techblade].

And then—

Kwooooooom—!

The threads Aaron had shot came flying at me in an instant. Just before they could reach me, something like a massive wall appeared, blocking his attack.

[Why did you go on ahead! It was hard enough chasing you here! This thing doesn’t even have a mobility device!]

It was Iri.

Wearing Lv.4 Powered Armor, she had blocked Aaron’s attack with her shield. With Miyu’s engineering backing her, she was a sight as reassuring as ever.

‘Alright, now the real fight begins.’

If everything until now had been a preliminary skirmish—

“Now it begins.”

In my hand was a sword.

A sword that could cut through everything.

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