## Chapter 130 – Chaotic Social Gathering Place (3)
『Detecting hostile organism. Eliminating.』
The eyes of the Autodrone, which had been slowly flickering with a green light, turned red. With a hiss, it briefly emitted steam from its joints before staggering to its feet.
The surrounding students gasped and recoiled in alarm, adding to the growing chaos.
Even the students who had been teasing Leah jumped back in surprise, creating a circle of students around them, like an arena.
The Autodrone, facing Leah within that circle, stared intently at her, as if scanning its target with its red, eye-shaped lights. Then, it suddenly dashed towards her at high speed.
Drawing back its fist, the Autodrone extended the piston in its arm and unleashed a powerful blow, resulting in an entirely unexpected outcome.
“Is that thing crazy?”
“Aaaaaah!!”
The sturdy iron bars twisted and then crumpled miserably.
Moreover, the restraints that had been holding Leah separately also began to crack, likely due to the impact.
Leah, gritting her teeth and relying on the bars to withstand the Autodrone’s blows, watched as the restraints shattered from the force of the Autodrone’s fist. She then pushed the bars aside and hastily retreated, now free.
『Initiating purification sequence.
Detecting partial malfunction in the main body.
Changing the method of physical purification.』
The Autodrone’s elbow joint folded inward, and a rusty blade shot out with a metallic screech, causing Leah to stumble back again.
But the problem was that there was nowhere for her to go.
The doors of the social hall were tightly shut, and the students were crowded around them, forming a human wall.
In a situation like this, fighting back might have been the right choice, but Leah was not in a condition to do so.
She was even more exhausted than when she had helped Pina escape.
It was no surprise that she couldn’t produce any webs, and her left hand, which she had used to support her weight, was still trembling. She almost felt more comfortable when she was still in restraints.
Furthermore, due to the impact of the fall back then, many parts of the spider-body’s tough carapace had broken, unable to withstand the weight.
Leah gritted her teeth and endured the pain, her physical condition comparable to when she had first escaped the underground dungeon in a terrible state.
If she moved carelessly and twisted or broke a leg joint, her death would be certain here.
‘Still… I have no choice……’
Spotting the Autodrone rushing towards her, Leah tried to remain as calm as possible and dodged the blade. As a gamble, she leaped to the side and grabbed onto a pillar supporting the large hall of the social club.
Fortunately, the marble pillar seemed capable of bearing her weight. Leah, now clinging to it, calmly assessed her next move. But then, she felt every hair on her body stand on end and dodged the Autodrone’s attack.
– Krrrruuumble!!
However, the attack shattered one of the pillars.
Perhaps because the blade was rusty, the Autodrone’s sword also broke. But looking down at it, the Autodrone returned its arm to its original form, displaying only mechanical indifference.
『Great monster blade damaged.
Reverting to Weapon Type 1.』
“Kkyaaaaaah!!”
“My leg!! My leeeeg!!”
When the Autodrone attacked another pillar that Leah had jumped to with its fist, that pillar also collapsed with a loud rumble, burying the students next to it.
“Kkh…”
Of course, Leah had no attachment to the students, but if the pillars continued to be attacked, the structure they supported would collapse, burying everyone underneath.
Leah, who had no intention of dying that way either, quickly climbed down from the pillar and glared at the Autodrone from the floor.
“Do something about that thing!!”
“Ugh… Damn…!!”
Fortunately, the students seemed unable to make a rational decision to attack, due to the PTSD from the unleashed Arachnella, and were in a state of panic.
“Everyone, step back!!”
“We can’t get in like this!!”
“Aaaah!! Don’t push me!!”
Although a moderate number of guards were always stationed at the mansion, they usually didn’t enter the banquet hall. The panicked students were like zombies rushing towards the doors, causing a bottleneck that even the guards were struggling to get through.
But just as Leah, quickly tiring, was panting and glaring at the Autodrone, unsure when it would attack again, other eyes were watching her from behind.
Those eyes belonged to Vivian and Lanie, who were observing the current situation.
“Vivian-nim… what do we do…?”
“I’m thinking.”
How did such a mess even happen?
If things had gone smoothly, her plan would have succeeded without a hitch.
Vivian bit her lip, watching the chaos caused by the variables that had intervened.
“Vivian-nim… uh… your face……!!”
“What… Ugh……”
To make matters worse, Vivian felt a strange sensation on her face and touched it.
Lanie, who was watching from the side, covered her mouth in surprise and stared at Vivian with wide eyes, as if they were about to pop out.
“Your face… it’s returning…!!”
“Ugh… not yet… but……”
She hadn’t heard anything from him, so she hadn’t expected this to happen.
Vivian felt her face, which had stopped moving and completely returned to normal, and frantically looked around. Something caught her eye.
“Tch… Take these guys and throw them into the earthworm.”
“N-neeh…?!”
“Throw them in!! Beat them up if you have to, but get them in there!!”
With no other choice, Vivian broke the glass of a picture frame on the wall, grabbed one of the decorative masquerade masks hanging inside, and put it on her face.
After making sure the mask was secure, Vivian left a short message for Lanie beside her and started running forward.
Lanie, wondering if she had heard correctly, looked at the Serkov gang next to her with a bewildered expression.
“Hey… hey…!! Follow me!!”
“What crazy talk is that!!
If you want to live, you better stay put…”
“Stop talking nonsense!! Follow me if you want to live!!”
Vivian, who had been watching out of the corner of her eye as Lanie and her group escaped through the inner door, which was empty thanks to the students who were only thinking about getting out and not about taking refuge inside, quickly pulled a short rod from her side.
“Alright… then I’ll see…
How strong I’ve become…”
When she flicked the rod, a sharp black blade unfurled like a whip, then locked into place, becoming a sword sharp enough to cut even a falling piece of paper in half.
In that state, Vivian quickly charged forward and swung her sword at the Autodrone, which was rushing towards Leah with all its might.
The Autodrone, struck squarely on the head, was unfortunately not cut by the blade, but was pushed back by the force, causing it to stumble back and kneel.
‘That hunk of metal…!?’
It took quite a bit of strength, but a human girl had managed to push back such a massive iron machine.
But the fight was not over yet.
The Autodrone, which had been pushed back and forced to kneel, began to show mechanical movements again…
“Why… are you……”
Leah, surprised by Vivian’s sudden intervention, looked at her and spoke in surprise. Vivian gently lifted the elegant masquerade mask covering her face.
Leah, realizing that it was someone she had encountered a few times before, and especially someone who shouldn’t be here, stood next to her and prepared to fight the Autodrone together.
“I… am not much of a fighter…
If you can’t defeat it…”
“Struggle, at least, if you don’t want to die.”
『Hostile entity 1, human female, additionally identified.
According to [Shtellana Jaeger Protocol], humans interfering with the purification sequence are considered to be of the same hostile level.
Eliminating. Eliminating. Eliminating. Eliminating. Eliminating. Eliminating.』
“Seriously… what is this…
Just wait until I get back……”
But just as Vivian was grumbling and preparing for the next attack.
“Stop ittt!!”
With a loud but somewhat weak shout from the side, something flew towards the Autodrone.
– Ku-kwaaaang
Unlike the youthful voice, the fist seemed to have no mercy. The Autodrone was immediately struck by the fist and sent flying towards the corner of the banquet hall, crashing into the wall.
“Hoo… that was a surprise……
Is it… stopped now……?”
“Carla!! It’s dangerous!?”
The owner of the voice was Carla, wearing the hydraulic-powered armor she had moved in earlier.
Finding a solution in this chaotic situation, she had run to the hydraulic armor that had been on display until just now, and despite Lucas’s objections, she had chosen to control it.
She paused for a moment, seemingly surprised that she had blown away the Autodrone, then turned to face the Arachnella with a confident expression.
“It’s okay!! The hydraulic armor is stronger than you think…!!
Now only the Arachnella is left…!!”
“Aah… I can’t watch this…
How long are you planning to make a fuss…
I’m joining in? Don’t hold me back, and do well.”
And next to her stood Hyeryung, rubbing several vials she had taken from her side in her palm like marbles.
“That bitch……!!”
The moment Leah saw Carla, her past memories surged up, and she glared at her with a furious expression.
Vivian, sensing a moment of crisis, shouted at her in a scolding tone.
“Get a grip!! You won’t be able to escape if you fight them all!!”
“Those bitches…!! They burned my flesh!! I’ll kill them…!!”
“Haa… consider the situation!! Are you crazy?
If you have eyes, look at whether now is the time to do that!!”
Vivian, realizing that she shouldn’t be the one to say that, since she herself went crazy whenever she saw Anne, let out a brief groan. She then hit one of Leah’s front legs hard with the hilt of her sword and glared ahead.
The fact that Carla had taken care of the Autodrone was a stroke of good luck.
However, the two in front of them were already proven winners of the special evaluation.
Even if the entire team wasn’t gathered compared to that time, the fact that they were a threat remained unchanged.
Carla, who had caused a powerful fire explosion that could be called a dragon’s flame back then, and Hyeryung’s combat style, which involved attacking with something similar to poison, were extremely dangerous to organic beings like herself and Leah.
‘This one is exhausted…
And I’m not invincible…
Then…… as quickly as possible……’
“We’ll look for an opportunity and charge out immediately.
Follow me. Got it?”
“Grrr… I got it…”
Leah’s voice responded to Vivian’s whisper, and a new atmosphere of battle began to flow in the chaotic social hall.
‘This is really… a mess……’
Truly a mess indeed