Access denied

"Spin, bro! Spin, spin, spin!!!"

Anton shouted, raising his "bro," the jackhammer, and slamming it hard into one of the tunneling machine's mechanical legs.

The tunneling machine reeled in pain and immediately spun up its demolition saw to strike Anton, but Ben, who had moved in alongside him, easily blocked it with his pillar-like weapon.

The tunneling machine tried to put some distance between them, but Anton stayed right on it, with Ben following closely behind, ready to cover him at any moment.

The two fought the tunneling machine for dozens of exchanges at least. Throughout the fight, Ben and Anton worked together to keep it firmly pinned down, dealing quite a bit of damage as well.

Ben and Anton might not have been particularly agile, but the tunneling machine was definitely far more cumbersome than either of them, especially Anton.

The tunneling machine's four legs were covered in wounds of all sizes, and even two of their hydraulic systems had broken. All of that was Anton's work. One of his blows had nearly pierced the leg armor and struck the critical structures inside.

As for Ben, his powerful bear Thiren physique and the weapon he carried allowed him to easily block every attack from the tunneling machine, limiting its destructive power.

The tunneling machine was thoroughly irritated by them. Its rigid thinking left it focused solely on fighting the two to the bitter end, which was exactly what Anton and Ben wanted.

They could not take the tunneling machine down quickly, so they had no choice but to hold it back with everything they had, drawing all its attention onto themselves to reduce the damage it did to the company.

Now they were slowly wearing down its mobility, disabling its legs one by one until it could no longer move at all. Then Grace would be able to shut it down easily.

That was the plan, anyway, but it was certainly exhausting Anton and Ben.

After blocking another strike from the tunneling machine's demolition saw, Ben panted heavily.

He normally spent most of his time in the office managing the company's accounts and operations, only occasionally accompanying the president into a Hollow to fight a few Ethereals or helping out at a construction site.

All of that was physically easy, though it did burn through quite a few brain cells.

Now, however, he had gained a profound appreciation for the power of this mechanical creation. Every strike was heavy and forceful. It was wearing this bear out.

He could safely say he had definitely exceeded his exercise quota for the month. Who knew how many calories he had burned?

And he was already struggling to keep up with their pace. He was getting slower and slower at providing support, making him lament his age.

Meanwhile, Anton noticed Ben flagging and shook the sweat off his face. As he dealt with the tunneling machine, he said to Ben:

"Big Ben, why don't you pull back and rest? Just leave this to me!"

"Whew... N-no need. I can still keep up."

Ben exhaled a hot breath, then planted his pillar in front of himself and braced it, watching the tunneling machine charge toward him as the two collided.

Seeing that, Anton said no more. He raised his jackhammer, aiming to drive his next blow straight through the framework inside the tunneling machine's leg armor and disable one leg. Things would be much easier then.

"Anton! Big Ben! I'm here!"

A familiar voice reached the ears of the two men and the machine, followed closely by several objects flickering faintly with electricity.

The battery grenades she threw landed precisely beneath the tunneling machine's chassis. With their silent detonations, fierce arcs of electricity swept over its entire body.

The tunneling machine could not withstand this targeted assault. Its demolition saw slowly stopped spinning, and with its systems temporarily paralyzed by the electricity, it slumped down helplessly.

Anton and Ben stopped and looked toward the source of the voice. Sure enough, it was Grace.

"Whew, finally."

"Hey, Grace! Your..."

Anton faced Grace and pointed his thumb at the tunneling machine beside him, still intending to give her a piece of his mind.

But Grace ran straight past Anton and Ben, who was sitting on the ground. With two nimble movements, she climbed onto the tunneling machine and reached the top of its cockpit.

"Thanks for the hard work, Big Ben, Anton. Leave this child to me now!"

With those words, Grace climbed into the cockpit, intending to shut it down before it rebooted.

Because machines like the tunneling machine had been designed with developing AI intelligence in mind, they were highly automated. Even inside its cockpit, Grace could not operate it manually without its consent, so hacking was her only option now.

Grace rummaged and pried around inside the cockpit before finally pulling out several wires and connecting them to the terminal she wore on her hand.

"Good, I'm connected. Now I need to give it a thorough check..."

Before Grace could finish, the tunneling machine's Ether-powered engine started working again.

Watching the tunneling machine slowly rise, Anton shouted a warning to Grace inside:

"Hey! Grace, this thing's back up!"

Grace said, "I know, Anton! Sorry for the trouble, but please hold out a little longer!"

Anton said, "Sure, just leave it to us!"

Ben looked dejected. "Seriously? Again?"

With Anton and Big Ben outside, Grace felt much more reassured. Ignoring the swaying around her, she got to work.

Grace said, "Now, first I need to shut this child down..."

"...Access denied..."

Grace said, "Huh? What's going on? Has the system been tampered with?"

"Error... Error... Access denied... Error... Access granted. Receiving instructions... Error... Operation denied... Error..."

"Hiss... How could this happen? What's wrong with this system?"

The cockpit's built-in air conditioner had yet to dry the sweat Grace had worked up chasing the pile driver. Now, unable to gain control of the system, she was sweating again from anxiety.

Grace found this extremely tricky. The system was like a set of tightly meshed gears with a foreign object stuck inside. Everything she tried returned either an error or an access denial.

Even when she finally managed to get in, a few more errors would forcibly kick her back out.

But fortunately, her persistence paid off. Through her meticulous search, Grace uncovered an inconspicuous little tail.

It was like a tiny bit of a red worm's rear sticking out of an apple's skin. Having written the entire system, Grace spotted that telltale fox's tail at once.

"Found it!"

Overjoyed, Grace prepared to drag out the fox responsible.

"Let's see what you are, daring to harm my children!"

Unexpectedly, Grace's attempt to pull that tail affected the tunneling machine as it fought Anton.

The tunneling machine, which had been making wide, sweeping attacks, suddenly stopped moving as though someone had pressed pause. Seeing this, Anton and Ben thought Grace had succeeded.

Ben wiped his forehead. "Whew, finally done over here."

Just as they were about to breathe a sigh of relief, the tunneling machine suddenly swung around and sped toward the nearest Hollow, in the same direction the pile driver had fled.

Anton exclaimed, "!!! Oh no, it's getting away!"

By the time Anton and Ben reacted, it was already too late to stop it. A considerable distance opened up between them and the tunneling machine in an instant, and even their desperate pursuit was of no use.

Grace was still frantically working on the system, trying to remove the culprit. Unless she removed it, shutting down the tunneling machine before it ran out of energy would be impossible.

All she could do was hope the tunneling machine would not hit anyone in the process and work as fast as she could. But that hope would soon be shattered.

Because the tunneling machine's current route led straight toward Red One and his two companions, who were hiding as they watched the show.