Arknights, but the Family Has Fallen Again and Again and Again — Section 29

The instant W spotted The Shambler, Kal'tsit spotted W as well.

Protect him? How was she supposed to protect him? He wasn't even here... Damn it!

Mon3ter carefully tossed Oute to W.

The Sarkaz girl, meanwhile, frantically caught the falling Oute in a princess carry.

So light...

"Is this the seafood you were talking about!?" she demanded at random, trying to hide her emotional turmoil.

"That's right."

Oute nodded and flipped himself out of W's arms.

"Though it isn't exactly the same thing and can only be said to share a similar style, it does share similar design principles with the monsters of the sea... Destroy those little tentacles."

"Fucking speak plainly!" the Sarkaz girl snapped.

W threw an Originium bomb at the spot where The Shambler had been moments earlier.

As The Shambler retreated in that strange manner following its attack, small tentacles extremely similar in style to itself rapidly grew from the viscous fluid it had left behind.

Shambler hatchlings.

He Really Did Have Something Called a "Conscience"

The Shambler's attacks were completely unlike those of the skeleton mooks and cultist mooks scattered around the outskirts of the ruins, putting both Abyssal Hunters under considerable pressure.

Its claws carved bloody gashes across their resilient bodies, while venom seeped into them through the torn wounds.

"Those little tentacles are extremely dangerous. In some ways, they're much more dangerous than their mother." As Oute searched for Alina, he ordered W, "The moment The Shambler releases hatchlings, blow them up. Kill them."

The serrated blade tore huge scars across The Shambler's slick hide. Using her circular saw as a climbing axe, the nun climbed its massive body.

Most of the splattering fluid landed directly on her body, and that pungent stench, unbearable to humans, awakened certain memories within Specter.

Yet rather than being distracted, she laughed wildly. "Hehehe... Haha! Hahahaha!! Entertain me!!!"

Whether they ran into The Shambler in the pitch-black darkness or personally brought a torch to the altar, everyone's positioning would be thrown into complete disarray. Thus, with the supplies Alina had gathered from the town nearly exhausted, directly lighting a torch might instead place frontliners like the two Abyssal Hunters right in The Shambler's face.

But this time, their luck was even better than Oute had anticipated: Kal'tsit and Mon3ter protected him immediately.

As W ignited the Originium powder, the newly "born" Shambler hatchlings were wiped out before they even had time to buff themselves.

At the same time, The Shambler flailed its limbs while its lower body continuously writhed, once more attempting to retreat, as though it wanted to break free from the two Abyssal Hunters.

Of course, from the look of things, it was trying to escape Specter...

"It's giving birth again. Don't give the Shambler hatchlings a chance to stack up. Blow them up. If you leave them alone, they'll be more troublesome than the mother."

Within this false starry sky, Oute's voice faded farther and farther away until it was nearly indistinguishable, yet his orders came through the mental link.

"Oute! Where are you going!?"

"I'm going to find Alina. W, focus on eliminating the Shambler hatchlings."

Protecting Oute was Kal'tsit's "order," while attacking the Shambler hatchlings was Oute's "order." Which one should she choose? Which one should she obey?

"Tch!"

W had almost no hesitation between the two. Her body instinctively obeyed Oute.

The more interesting fact was that she had no need, nor any standing, to obey either of them in the first place.

"Don't you dare run!"

Her boots stomped viciously into The Shambler's hide. The nun leaped into the air, her roaring circular saw charging toward the evil god's head.

Behind the two Abyssal Hunters, Mon3ter raised its head. A glowing green light flickered inside its maw.

The towering Shambler also opened its bloody mouth. An indescribable howl struck this false starry sky, and darkness twisted like liquid once again...

Dark-Stirring Wail!

The light cannon in Mon3ter's mouth missed because of the change in terrain.

The combatants' stress levels were all still relatively healthy... Though Specter's stress increase was noticeably higher.

Her mental state had always been more fragile, so it was hardly strange that stress attacks hurt her more easily.

Oute looked at the somewhat dazed Specter and, through the mental link, asked her the question whose answer was already inevitable: Can I take over your body?

Proxy Protocol, activated.

The circular saw roared once more. Oute looked at Specter's stress value: it had dropped to zero almost instantly.

It seemed taking over during battle reduced more stress than doing so in daily life... This was probably Specter's individual issue and might not be universally applicable.

Pacing through the darkness, Oute finally followed the location of the stress bar and arrived beside Alina.

The Deer Woman curled up deep within the darkness, a family shield crest etched with an iron crown falling from her backpack.

Alina's chaotic murmurs stabbed at Oute's conscience. "It hurts... Little Tower... It hurts..."

Her condition was rather bad. More precisely, she was "terrified."

Before The Shambler's howl, Alina's stress bar had only been at twenty-one. Yet with that single long cry from the monster, Alina's stress immediately maxed out.

A miscalculation.

Warriors like Skadi and Specter were meant to shed blood in battle, but allowing someone like Alina to fall into this situation was undoubtedly Oute's fault.

Oute knelt on one knee and tried to approach the Deer Woman, but trembling, she instead curled even farther into the deeper darkness.

"Throw me."

Oute's order came from Specter's throat.

Skadi nodded, using her greatsword as a throwing spear launcher to hurl Specter's body toward The Shambler's head.

Then she and Mon3ter charged at The Shambler as well.

Specter's body had nothing to brace against in midair, making her look like a living target.

The Shambler blindly seized upon this locally optimal choice.

Blades pierced through the ends of its own tentacles, while the pseudopods that also served reproductive functions writhed densely, propelling The Shambler's abyssal maw toward Specter's body.

It actually had a throat?

In that brief instant, Specter's eyes caught sight of the black passageway behind The Shambler's mouth.

And from the slime left in its wake, hatchling tentacles poked their heads out.

Using Mon3ter as a foothold, Skadi swung her greatsword and severed the tentacles lunging for Specter's body.

While Mon3ter carved into The Shambler's flesh, its mouth glowed once more.

Specter's body finally drew close to The Shambler's head.

The circular saw buzzed as it cleaved vertically through The Shambler's head.

But to it, that injury was not much different from having its tentacles severed.

Alina finally allowed Oute to approach.

She seemed to have recognized Oute's voice and silhouette in this darkness, and no longer resisted.

"Everything is over."

Oute spoke words he did not believe himself, trying to comfort the Deer Woman.

If The Shambler fell, Oute could still use accessories to communicate telepathically...

But this was Hamlet, the place where accessories originated.

In every battle here, accessories could not be changed midway through!

Yet unexpectedly, those words actually moved the Deer Woman.

Her stress bar dropped slightly, from one hundred and eleven to one hundred and six.

But as an "Affliction" status, "Terror" could only disappear in a dungeon by reducing stress to zero...

At five points a time, Oute would probably have to repeat every comforting word he knew seven or eight times!

Come to think of it, was Oute actually rather bad with words?

Quickly finish off The Shambler and see whether Proxy Protocol could rapidly reduce stress!

Oute took a deep breath and sent a thought.

Kal'tsit, let me take over your body.

Even Mechanical Cats Dream of Electric Sheep!

Kal'tsit's reaction was subtly similar to Specter's.

Proxy Protocol... the handshake succeeded immediately.

There was none of the hesitation or uncertainty Oute had previously guessed there would be.

Considering Kal'tsit's neural response speed, it could even be said that she had basically had no time to think!

After all, even with the nun, a religious fanatic, the first time had encountered a few minor twists and turns—namely, the abrupt hymn of praise.

But Kal'tsit? Her response speed the first time was nearly identical to Specter's on the third...

"Alina... Don't be afraid. We're all here with you..."

Oute babbled nonsense.

The moment the words left his mouth, he immediately blamed that terrible "comfort" on multitasking.

But in truth, controlling three bodies at once placed almost no strain on Oute.