Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 228

Flying over the city from a flyer was always something else. It was an experience I’d only been through a few times in my life, and this time was truly special compared to those other times.

I looked away from the window, glancing around the cabin full of Crusaders. There was a certain… I don’t know what to call it? Pride? Maybe? Traveling with a large group in uniform had a certain warm feeling. Like I was a part of something bigger than myself. It was hard to put into words, but it was definitely hitting me at the moment.

I shifted my gaze back out the window, staring at the city speeding by below. In the distance, I spotted our target hidden by the storm. It floated far out at sea, and yet way too close for comfort considering the leviathan of a sea vehicle’s size. The rain seemed to pick up as we flew. Lightning erratically flashed like dragons fighting in the clouds.

The scent of metal and firearms merged with the faintly burnt ozone. The mix of a storm’s usually calming scent and that of warfare created a rather dissonant combination that made me feel relaxed and on edge at the same time.

Underneath, the churning of the Waymaker’s engines and the wind slamming into its metal sides created a constant vibration. Before I knew it, my leg was bouncing rapidly, trying to bleed off some of the nervous tension filling me. It didn’t work.

Most everyone was silent. I knew it. They knew it. Hell, even the people in the city down below most know it by now with the entire Blue Crusade suddenly moving. This was the calm before the storm… and I had a feeling the city was about to be hit by a cataclysmic one.

– – –

“Three mikes.” A low voice came across the ship's internal sound systems. “Enemy AA weakened, but still active. Buckle in tight.”

We were coming late to the party. Thanks to a variety of reasons, our flyer was slowed down drastically. Mostly though, we had stopped to pick up another group. All Adepts from what it looked like. They had a more scholarly feel than most of the Crusaders I’d seen.

I looked out the window, getting my first view of the situation. The entire flight deck was covered in debris and smoking wreckage. Signs of an intense fight were prominent. In sections of the ship, which spanned almost half a mile, there were still firefights raging.

Vines covered the place, and the large shapes of sentient and malevolent trees ambled about. They were suppressed by serious amounts of firepower, both mundane and aetherial. The trees were the same as the ones that Inquisitor Varus and I ran across, though now there were easily dozens of the monstrous entities.

The heavy cannons and AA emplacements across the Supercarrier were blown to bits. The smoking wreckage merged with the rest of the scrap metal across the flight deck. Assuming Sentinel wanted their ship back, they’d have a lot of repairs ahead of them.

Even though the proper AA guns were offline, the surviving Circle members still tried to bring us down. Massive thorns and dense whips lashed up from their positions. There were even a few plants that fired bulbs at us like some kind of mortar. I held my breath, trusting the pilots knew what they were doing.

The guns across the Waymaker whirled to life as we approached, gunning down all the approaching attacks. Only a few thorns made it through the storm of fire, harmlessly bouncing off of the vehicle’s heavy armor as we made our descent. The Circle members that revealed their locations attacking? They were slammed with heavy shots of the Waymaker's cannon, completely obliterating their positions.

We landed in a cleared-off section of the flight deck, dropping down onto what looked like the Crusade’s rear position. Through the window, I spotted piles of supplies and a medical tent, all surrounded by hundreds of Crusaders either on guard or resting.

The back hatch of the Waymaker popped open, allowing in the scent of burning metal and blood. Everyone dismounted swiftly. I followed along behind Inquisitor Ligh as we headed for what looked like a command tent of some kind.

Four knights argued around a holographic map of the carrier. I memorized the map instantly, though it unfortunately wasn't a technical one. Just a common map with the ship's corridors and rooms marked on it.

“We should press our advantage! They’re on the back foot!” A Knight hollered excitedly as he leaned over the table. His silver armor was exquisitely carved, and the pauldrons looked like the howling heads of wolves. The rest of his armor was engraved with bolts of glowing blue, showcasing wolves of various shapes and sizes.

A higher-level Knight? What ranked above Knights in the Blue Crusade? I wish I paid more attention to these things.

”And risk running into an ambush?” Another Knight waved her hand, though still respectfully. The wolf knight was definitely someone high-ranking. “Don’t forget their estimated numbers. They have at least seven thousand to our twenty-five hundred-”

A different knight, this one in extremely lightweight armor, interrupted her. “Had. They had seven thousand. We’ve executed at least two thousand by now, and most of their numbers barely count as meat shields.”

The last knight raised his hand, gathering the group's attention. He had a calm voice, unlike the rest of the group. ”The real issue isn’t their numbers, it’s their summons. The big ones take too long to bring down, and they just summon more of the monsters. If we take out the summoners, we’ll be able to roll them.” 

“Exactly!” The wolf-armored man shouted. “We press our attack and tear the bastards apart!”

The woman sighed, shaking her head. “Fine… fine, fine fine. We go with a frontal assault… as a distraction. We should send the sneakier Knights out and around the long way to take them out.”

The calm one nodded his head. “Blow through the flight deck down into one of the halls? That was… Inquisitor Percy’s recommendation, no?”

As they were wrapping up their argument, Inquisitor Ligh coughed lightly. “Don’t let me dishturb you.”

The four turned to us. The wolf-armored guy stood up, his mask flashing in the light. Hope and Dev shuffled next to me as he stared at us. “Oh, Inquisitor Ligh… what brings you here?”

”The ritual. Commander wanted ush to check it out, see if the eggheadsh can’t figure out what its exact purpose ish.” 

The calm guy tapped on the holographic map, zooming in on a massive cargo bay. “It’s down here. The scouts reported it an hour ago. Still trying to get a large enough force down there to clear it out. It’s covered in plant monsters and heavily guarded by the Circle. They indicated at least five hundred entrenched down there, most of which were adepts.”

"The longer we delay, the longer they have to ushe their ritualsh." The Inquisitor looked at the map, sloppily poking at it. The map zoomed in on large ventilation shafts that went all the way down. “We’ll go through here. Cut behind the bulk of their numbers.”

”It’s not like we haven’t thought of that, but anyone sent down will get pincered by the Circle. It’ll take too long to get a sizable group down there.” The woman immediately shot down the idea.

”We’ll get the Adepts to cast a Drop Zone down there. Rapidly deploy a thousand to overwhelm the ritual site, then pincer the remaining Circle.” Inquisitor Ligh shrugged. “It’d be a quick clean-up.” 

Drop Zone… must be some kind of spell. Probably magic similar to my Drop Chutes if I had to guess. Though… well, there must be some reason they didn’t already do that, right?

The wolf-armored man laughed heartily. “I like it! Will they be able to sustain a Drop Zone for that though? A thousand of us dropping down will be quite the drain.”

”Mosht of our group were Adeptsh. And they don’t need their magic to try and figure out the rituals purposhe, sho itsh fine if they’re worn out.” Inquisitor Ligh said rather matter of factly.

The group went silent, all thinking through the plan. The wolf-armored guy was the first to flash a thumbs-up. “I’m in. I volunteer the Blue Wolf Order to go down and start the attack.” 

The relatively calm man slowly nodded his head. “It’d be a good way to break the stalemate. We’ll have to ask for volunteers alongside to dive down there first.”

The lightweight Knight flipped a dagger around his finger. “I’ll go down. We can lightning strike the back lines. We can get behind and cut the leader’s heads off, making a gap for the group topside to push in.”

”I’ll stay up here and coordinate the effort. Hmm… call in the Waymakers to add to the pressure.” The woman sighed. “Something to note, though, Injuries down there will be far more dangerous than up here. It’ll be harder to get the injured somewhere safe.”

They discussed the plan a bit more as the Inquisitor left. With him leaving, we definitely didn’t belong in the command tent. We followed him out of the place as he aimlessly seemed to walk around the defensive position. 

Hope laughed next to me, her shoulders straightening as her eyes sparkled. “Never thought I’d see Lord Lykos here.”

”Lord Lykos?” I asked.

”Yeah, one of the High Lords. It’s said he can summon and materialize a massive pack of dozens of wolf sprites all at once, overwhelming with sheer numbers.” Hope rubbed at the bags under her eyes. “He must’ve come as reinforcements from Oraoyt. I wonder why he's here instead of hunting down the traitor High Lord?"

Multiple sprite summoning, huh? Usually, Magi just summoned one at a time. Being able to bring multiple sprites out though… It was damn impressive. And horrifying. Looked like the High Lords were on a whole different level. Yet another reason in my endless list of reasons I shouldn’t get on the Crusade’s bad side, though I highly doubt a High Lord would come after me specifically.

The camp started to fill up as time passed. Hundreds of Crusaders came together to group up. The attack forces going down, no doubt. Most of them were covered in ash and blood. They’d been fighting intensely on the front line. I felt a little bad standing amongst them, having done nothing since arriving.

Eventually, as our position started to fill past capacity, a call came from the command tent as orders were given out. We followed Inquisitor Light to the shafts we were going to use to drop down, though we were at the back of the group. At least nine hundred other Crusaders were going down first, clearing the way for us.

It was a relief. I was worried there for a moment I’d be part of the initial force fighting off the Circle’s massive numbers, but there was a good chance the fighting would all be over by the time we got down there. 

“Why am I here, sir?” I asked the Inquisitor as we waited. No matter how I looked at it, this was vastly outside my field of expertise. Large battles like this, where one person wouldn’t matter against thousands, were most definitely not where I belonged. My tools and gear, which I’d felt so proud of, wouldn’t even matter in a battle of this scale.

If anything, just being near the active battle zone reinforced the idea I should never participate in a frontal fight. Ambushes and traps were it for me. There was far too much risk, and unless I made, like, a mecha or something that would completely protect me, there was no point in participating. It’s just too bad that my preferred style was at complete odds with the Crusade.

The Inquisitor looked over at me for a moment before turning his gaze to the city in the distance and answering my question. “You’re the only one to shee both ritual shites. The Commander wanted to confirm this is like the othersh.”

It probably was. I’d been scared to activate Aetherial Perception since we arrived. Mother was definitely watching based on how many of the tree monsters were present. I’d rather not let her know I was here with that whole ‘Holy Daughter’ bullshit. It felt similar, though. Insight’s warnings had been constant since arriving.

I went silent, watching the first of the Crusaders heading to the shafts. Lord Lykos led a group of about ten Knights, each with armor engraved with wolves. The Blue Wolves, if I had to guess. They were seriously intimidating, each radiating an aura of bloodshed that'd put Knight Persha to shame.  

The Adepts gathered up, casting a spell down the shaft. Then, without any hesitation, Lord Lykos plunged down the shaft. The Blue Wolves jumped right after. With each drop, the Adepts that cast whatever spell they were using looked more and more tired. 

As the number of troops dropping down increased, the Adepts swapped out with others, ensuring a continuous stream of magic. With about fifty Adepts here using the Drop Zone spell, each one only had to keep it active for twenty Crusaders. That alone showed how draining the spell was considering just twenty practically incapacitated the Adepts. No wonder Sentinel opted for a technical device like the Drop Chutes rather than carting an Adept around.

Eventually, the hundreds of Crusaders diminished until it was our turn to go. I approached the shaft, lagging behind the Inquisitor and the other Squires slightly. The Inquisitor didn’t even hesitate before jumping off the ledge, and Hope was right behind him. 

Dev twitched as he stared down, refusing to take another step. “A-actually, I think I’ll stay up here-“

“Don’t be a wimp.” Joshua, laughing, pushed Dev off the ledge before the heavily armored squire could react. Then, the still chuckling Squire nodded to me and backed off, vanishing down the shaft.

I was moments behind, staring down the dark shaft. I know I shouldn't be worried, but I couldn't help it. I still didn't trust magic fully. I checked my Drop Chutes just in case, then stepped off, plummeting into the darkness.