Gacha Kingdom Building-Chapter 302: System Break (04)

Piper's eyes met mine, and for a second, it seemed like I was her only concern. She stepped forward, covering me with her extended arm.

Power wasn't the only determining factor in the AOTG's hierarchy. Yet, every single executive was a beast in their own right.

I knew not to take Finn Moore lightly.

Even Piper knew it.

Piper: "Can you take him with you?"

Without so much as turning her head, Piper whispered, only briefly glancing at the dismembered man on the bed.

Miwen: "Not to the Kingdom."

Even if I could wake him up, it'd undoubtedly take me a while to convince him we meant no harm. The shock alone might make him lose consciousness before I can invite him as [Citizen].

Our best chance to save him would be to break out of the facility. But that would mean fighting through the AOTG army standing guard.

Not to mention... Finn and the invisible sniper who shot wind bullets against us earlier.

Piper: "No choice then. Hide."

A small golden flute appeared in the palm of Piper's open fist.

Finn's eyebrows twitched; he wasted no time in responding.

Beneath our feet, a puddle of dark, almost black water began to form out of nowhere. In a matter of seconds, the entire floor was covered.

The dark water spat hundreds, if not thousands, of water bullets at us.

Having recognized the threat, Cassandra decided it wasn't the time for training and turned back into a pair of daggers for me to use.

Even then, I wasn't agile enough to block everything aimed at us. Even focusing only on my own body was too much.

At least, it would be, if not for Cass's movement correction.

With the water surrounding us, some projectiles were shot from such a short distance that Cassandra had no choice but to extend her blade to protect me.

Piper was in a similar situation.

She blew on the flute before the water needles were launched, causing a white wyvern with blue scales to appear before her.

I recognized the monster from a children's movie. Despite its appearance, the creature was docile to the innocent, and in Piper's case, the monster used its immense body to envelop her.

The wyvern shielded Piper from every bullet and, once the onslaught stopped, it charged against Finn.

Right as it reached Finn's head, the moment it opened its jaw to bite it off, the entire monster was split in half, as if it had charged headfirst against a blade.

Piper: "You want us to leave, but you're binding our feet to the ground... I'm not a big fan of these mixed signals."

Finn: "You will leave... Dead!"

Oh...

Even though it wasn't directed at me, I could feel the rage behind his shout.

Piper: "Bummer."

Pip didn't seem bothered. If anything, she had a blank, unamused expression on her face.

While he was distracted, I used my own [Water Magic] to create small whirlpools around my feet, so that I could push off Finn's magic.

It was effective mana-wise, but not nearly as interesting as Piper's solution.

She started to levitate as anti-gravity pulses hummed beneath the thin, smooth yellow plank under her feet. With the way she rode it, the plank looked like a futuristic surfboard.

In the spirit of the sea, a trident of dark bronze formed in her hand. Seawater spiraled around its shaft, stopping short of its blades, where whirlpools just like mine fluctuated above.

Without making any movements or casting any magic, her eyes turned blue. The water around us started to recede, almost as if it had recognized its master.

Finn looked even more pissed off at her, the veins in his arms bulging.

He launched a wave against us, its foam reaching the ceiling.

I prepared two fireballs to intercept it, but Piper flew in front of me.

She pointed the trident towards Finn. The water stopped and spiraled into a concentrated vortex before crashing against him.

Piper: "You know, I never got the whole Roman obsession. I'll show you a Greek epic that will blow your mind."

Once the splash subsided, it became clear that Finn hadn't taken the blow head-on.

Something stopped Piper's water beam before a single drop of water could touch him.

Miwen: "...Is that Poseidon's-"

A single wink from her was all it took to confirm it.

Piper: "If you ask nicely, I can get you one for your birthday."

It was unfair.

The amount of mana she used to summon a Divine Weapon was almost the same as what I used to make two small whirlpools.

Finn: "...Tch! Annoying!"

His face became red with rage, the blood rising to the point of leaving through his eyes.

Literally.

Blood tears fell upwards, forming a cloud of blood above Finn's head.

His expression was far more beast than man. He charged against Piper, almost blind to everything else.

Thinking I could get an easy shot on his berserk state, I enhanced the fireballs I had prepared earlier with [Lightning Magic].

This gave them more power and speed, but they weren't fast enough to reach Finn before another volley of wind bullets intercepted them.

Miwen: "Cass... Do you know where it's coming from?"

Not seeing the caster wouldn't normally be a problem.

However, the magic itself was also invisible.

I couldn't feel the slightest mana signature before it suddenly popped up.

Since Cass had reacted to it earlier, I thought she'd know, but...

Cassandra: "Not really. I can react to it, but that's all."

Miwen: "I see..."

While I wasn't having much luck with the sniper, Piper engaged Finn in close-quarters combat.

She swung the trident like a dumbass.

No experience, no technique.

If not for her floating surfboard and the physics-defying way it moved, she would've been hit at least a dozen times.

Yet, Finn was what worried me the most in their battle.

I thought he'd gone berserk, but I was wrong.

He had enough intelligence to grab Piper's feet and throw her off her board.

Luckily, she landed right beside me.

Miwen: "...It won't take long for their reinforcements to come."

Piper: "I know. But I can't blow them up with you and Mr. Sleepyhead here."

Finn didn't give us any time to talk before charging at us again.

He continued to focus on Piper, but this worked well for us. Thanks to Cass, I could at least react to the invisible sniper.

However, time wasn't on our side.

I couldn't let things continue this way.

Miwen: "Cass, I need you to handle my hands."

Cassandra: "Oh, but they are so big~"

I ignored her antics and began chanting.

We were five floors below ground. Some ceilings were super high, so...

Miwen: "About this much, I guess..."

I needed a lot of mana and time to prepare.

The sniper noticed it and tried to break my concentration with his magic, but Cass took control of my arms and blocked his bullets.

Miwen: "May this tree bear fruit. May we prosper under its shade."

It was the only [Green Magic] chant I knew, but it had to make do.

I waited for an opportune moment and cast it.

Finn's fists, coated in blood and with strings attached to the cloud, were stopped by the sudden growth of a massive tree trunk that encased Piper, me, and the dismembered man.

Despite being momentarily hollow inside, soon, the tree began to grow under our feet as well, acting like an elevator.

We traveled forty meters in a matter of seconds, being spat out from the top of the tree.

I took the man out of the bed, disconnected the tubes attached to him, and approached Piper.

Piper: "Good job. Let's get out of-"

Unfortunately, we hadn't cleared our way out of the facility yet.

While soldiers rushed towards the tree that appeared in the middle of their base, I felt the ground erupt a second time.

Debris and concrete exploded out of it, causing a few of the AOTG men to fall into the newly created hole.

Once the dust began to settle, the identity of our "invisible" sniper was revealed.

My tree had reached six, maybe seven meters above the ground.

The man standing before us easily clouded it, his shadow swallowing even the building next to us.

The giant looked down at us, his hands opening to reveal Finn, unscathed.

Neptune's leader jumped out, the blood strings attached to him growing thicker by the second.

Cassandra: "Whoa... We need his Gift."

I didn't dare ask her why, but despite being in her sword form, I could almost feel Cass salivating at the possibilities.

Miwen: "...So it's him, huh?"

Piper: "Yes. Him..."

...?

Seriously?

Did she not read a single file?

Miwen: "Gary Trent, Piper."

Even with the name, she still had no idea.

Not that it stopped her from pretending she knew.

Finn: "Get down here! Or I'll bring you down myself!"

The leaves of the tree swayed under the pressure of his voice, and the cloud above his head grew thicker.

Piper: "I thought you wanted us to leave!? Can you fucking decide already!?"

She got herself a megaphone just to shout back, seemingly glad to change topics.

Miwen: "I don't think we'll be able to leave like this."

The tree was already surrounded.

Even if I were to summon Angelica or the North Dragon, Gary could stop our escape.

We had no choice but to knock him down.

However, that would be difficult, as in the next moment, he once again disappeared from sight.

Piper: "Oh... He can change his size, then?"

Miwen: "That's part of it, but also... Seems like he can do the same with his magic."

The wind bullets and the blade that split the wyvern were standard [Wind Magic]. However, they were cast while he was minuscule.

He used so little mana that I couldn't even notice a fluctuation in the air.

Then, when he needed it, he used his Gift to grow the magic.

Piper: "Miwen... Can you protect yourself and our hostage with the tree?"

Miwen: "Not from you."

However...

Miwen: "I can fight while protecting him."

Piper: "...You really are such a great sidekick."

She looked serious for a moment, but as expected, Pip had nothing good to say.

I didn't really like being called a sidekick either, but I had no choice this time.

Gary wasn't a good matchup for Piper. At least not as much as Finn.

Miwen: "Since we're in a mythology mood, I'll bring the Valky-"

Piper held my hand, stopping me.

She stared me directly in the eye with a disapproving look.

For a second, I thought it was jealousy.

Piper: "Let's not. I'll handle the minions too."

I was wrong.

She seemed bothered from the moment I summoned Cassandra. Her voice now sounded slightly melancholic.

If I had to guess, she simply didn't want one of my girls to get hurt, as it happened in the other missions.

She refused to make today a bad memory.

Miwen: "Are you sure?"

Piper: "Haha... Aren't you underestimating me a little too much?~"

Miwen: "...Fine."

I couldn't stop her.

Not when she looked so confident.

I knew it was going to be troublesome, but...

I also liked the idea of keeping the girls away from danger, even if for a single day.

Using my [Green Magic], I enveloped the man in vines.

Pip jumped down, cracking her knuckles.

Of course, her sidekick followed.