Demon Squad

The moment Su Luo pulled her over, Akashi manifested her rigging.

Watching the ugly creature in the distance eyeing her and her Commander hungrily, along with the faint, flickering thing above its head that resembled a monster health bar from a game, Akashi roughly understood what it was.

"Commander, stand behind me... This thing is probably a game monster generated by the Game Maker, nya!"

There was a hint of seriousness in Akashi's voice. She was not worried about herself; her main concern was that her Commander was beside her, and she was worried about his safety.

As a repair ship, she had no main guns. The only weapon on her rigging that could be considered offensive was her anti-aircraft gun, so she had to be cautious.

It was not as though she could not lower the anti-aircraft gun and fire at a ground target, but the problem was... this monster was far too close! If she used the anti-aircraft gun at this distance... the Commander would definitely be caught in the blast!

"Beep~ beep~"

Just as Akashi was considering how to kill the monster while protecting her Commander, the Game Maker in her hand sounded.

"Armament system activated!"

Several words appeared on the Game Maker's screen. The next instant, Su Luo and Akashi were enveloped in light. Then the light faded, revealing... Su Luo and Akashi, who appeared no different from before.

"What is this?"

Standing behind Akashi, Su Luo felt the changes in his body.

"Akashi... I feel like my body has gotten stronger! And I feel comfortable all over! Even my lower back doesn't ache as much... Do you feel anything?"

"A little, nya. It feels like I've gained some other abilities too, nya! But that isn't important right now. What matters is taking down this monster first, nya!"

After thinking for a long while, Akashi finally made her decision. When she had repaired Lala's Game Maker earlier, she had taken the opportunity to study it as well. The Game Maker itself operated according to a dynamic balancing mechanism: the stronger the players, the stronger the monsters. However, the monsters would not be overwhelmingly stronger than the players; they would always be the kind the players could handle. After all, this was a device Lala had intended to use for playing with her friends, not a Game Maker for murder.

"Commander, please prepare yourself. I'm going to attack that monster. Please be careful not to get ambushed!"

After receiving Su Luo's affirmative reply, Akashi handed the Game Maker to him, bent her knees slightly, clenched her fist, and charged at the monster in the distance.

Perhaps the Game Maker considered this the start of the game, when players were still getting familiar with their abilities, so the monster did not dodge. Instead, it stood there blankly as Akashi leaped high and smashed it down with a single punch. Empowered by her rigging, Akashi's fist punched straight through the monster's chest, making the ground tremble violently as well. The illusory health bar above the monster's head was instantly emptied.

The slain monster turned translucent and vanished. Even the blood that had splattered from its pierced chest disappeared along with it. All that remained was a huge pit Akashi had punched into the ground and an energy stone emitting a strange glow.

Akashi picked up the energy stone, hurried to Su Luo's side, and handed it to him. Then she took the Game Maker from his hand and rapidly tapped at its screen. A moment later, Akashi let out a sigh of relief.

"All right, Commander. I've paused the game, nya!"

She casually stuffed the Game Maker into her rigging's cargo hold, then took the energy stone from Su Luo and tucked it into the cargo hold as well, placing it together with the Game Maker.

Akashi looked at Su Luo, who was waiting for her explanation, and slowly began to speak.

"Commander, I'll tell you the conclusion first."

"Because I repaired the Game Maker, it is no longer the unfinished prototype Game Maker that Miss Lala used back then. So, although we have been brought into another world, we can actually use the Super Game Maker to control, pause, and even stop this game, nya!"

"When you say stop, do you mean we can leave this world at any time and return to the port?"

Su Luo caught the key point in Akashi's words.

"No. The Game Maker's remaining energy is no longer enough to support our direct return to the port, nya. It needs to be recharged! In other words..."

Akashi shook her head and took out the energy stone that had just dropped.

"In other words, we need to collect energy stones like this from monster drops to recharge the Super Game Maker, nya."

Su Luo nodded. Looking at the energy stone in Akashi's hand, then at the massive pit she had just punched into the ground, he spoke.

"So... we have to play this game?"

Akashi shook her head again.

"No, Commander, I wasn't finished yet, nya!"

Akashi casually took a Mind Cube from her cargo hold, making Su Luo's brow twitch.

Seeing his expression, Akashi took a small step back.

"Commander, this Mind Cube belongs to Akashi, nya! If Commander wants it, he'll have to trade Red Gems for it!"

Su Luo let out a breath and shook his head at Akashi, indicating that he was not buying it right now.

"Don't change the subject, and don't take the chance to make a sale. Akashi, continue what you were saying!"

"Okay, nya!"

Akashi walked back and continued explaining her idea to Su Luo.

"A Mind Cube is not only a ship girl's core, but also her source of energy!"

"So you want to use a Mind Cube to charge the Super Game Maker?"

Akashi nodded, her expression showing her approval of Su Luo's understanding.

"That's right, nya. Although the form of energy inside the cube differs from the energy inside the crystal, Akashi can make the corresponding equipment to convert the cube's energy into crystal energy, nya!"

"Once the Super Game Maker has been fully recharged, we can stop the game directly and return to the port, nya!"

"For the Commander's safety, Akashi recommends that we first find somewhere to stay, then gather some resources to make the energy conversion machine, nya. Once Akashi finishes making the device, we can return to the port, nya!"

Su Luo did not object as he listened to Akashi.

He knew his own physical condition well. Although this game had made his back stop aching and his legs stop feeling weak, it clearly required close-quarters combat. He did not possess the power Akashi had, enough to make the ground shake with one punch. And the fact that he had no combat experience was right there before him!

There was no need to neglect safety considerations for a momentary thrill. After all, Su Luo believed that his ship girls were all waiting for him to return!

"Then let's find somewhere to stay first!"

Seeing Akashi waiting for him to make a decision, Su Luo made his choice.

"First, we need to confirm where we are. After all, we know nothing about this world! Also, that Game Maker seemed to grant me some strange abilities. Once we find somewhere to stay, we can study them first. If they're interesting, Akashi, you can consider developing them too after we return to the port!"

Having quietly voiced his little thought, Su Luo turned toward the direction where he had seen cooking smoke drifting when he first woke up.

"I remember that direction..."

Su Luo looked at the scene in the distance, where it could no longer be called cooking smoke but thick black smoke, and froze for a moment.

"Akashi, over there... is there a fire?"

Hearing this, Akashi looked in the direction Su Luo pointed. Billowing smoke filled her vision. As a ship girl, Akashi's eyesight was better than Su Luo's, and beyond the thick smoke, she vaguely saw a pitch-black humanoid ugly creature flapping its wings...

That thing... resembled the image of a demon recorded in the church texts she had once read while trying to sell products to the ship girls of Iron Blood and the Holy See!

However, compared to the image recorded in the books, that thing flying through the sky on bat-like wings looked far fiercer and uglier!

Akashi narrowed her eyes. She did not see a health bar like the one above the monster that had appeared earlier, and she had already stopped the game just now. So...

"Is it a monster native to this world, nya?"