NIKKE, Swordmaster Ark Succubus Daily

This mode is extremely dangerous. Once activated, she may never be able to return to her current self, and she might even accidentally hurt others.

That's why she chose to wait until the commander had probably gone far away before activating it.

however……

"little Red Riding Hood?"

Lhabi's body did not react.

Startup failed?

But at that moment, the octopus Raicher's other tentacle slammed towards Lapi.

"Lavi—!"

Anis, who had also run out of bullets, could only watch helplessly.

Just like before, it seemed she could only watch helplessly as her companions died one by one...

It hurts so much! It hurts so much! It hurts so much!

The echoes of his companion's cries for help still resonated in his ears...

help me! help me! help me!

Those pleading eyes that had once looked at her in despair now filled her entire body with resentment and malice...

You'll die too! You'll die too! You'll die too!

"No..." Anis's vision went black, and tears streamed down his blank eyes. "I...I don't want to die..."

Someone, someone, please save us...

"I see."

A voice that shouldn't have been there rang in Anis's ears.

The blinding crimson light sliced ​​through the grayness before her eyes.

That was the color of the flames that were wrapped around the longsword and bursting forth, dazzling and extremely gorgeous!

For a moment, Anies even forgot to cry.

"Stay away from those two!!"

The flames drew a graceful arc in the air, slicing through the tentacles that were about to smash into Labi, and landed beside her.

With a thud, a mechanical tentacle also crashed down a few steps away from Anis.

It turns out that the octopus Rachel wanted to kill both of them at the same time.

But it was stopped by that flame.

"Anis, don't just stand there! That's an order, run!"

When Anies finally saw that face, her heart felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer. An indescribable emotion filled her chest, giving her immense strength.

"Yes, Commander!"

Before he could even wipe away his tears, Anies obeyed the order and ran for his life.

She wanted to ensure that those resentful gazes could never see her again, and that those voices that had long since faded could never affect her again.

She wants to live!

She wanted to live!

After rescuing Labi and Anis, Li Zuoyi gripped a burning longsword and ran at an astonishing speed across the mechanical tentacles.

Following the tentacles, he ran to the octopus Rachel, which was covered in thick armor, and leaped up: "You think I didn't know you were hiding in there!"

He swung his longsword at it, intending to cut it in half.

The moment it touched the outer armor, the flames wrapped around the longsword suddenly erupted and extended, pushing the flames inch by inch into the interior of the octopus Raich, driven by Li Zuoyi.

However, the effects of his early intervention to help Anis and the others resolve the tentacle problem began to show; his accumulated energy was insufficient, and his power began to decline.

The flames that clung to the sword gradually faded away, like fireworks after they had finished blooming.

Li Zuoyi could clearly see the red core hidden inside the extremely thick outer armor.

The fact that it is protected in this way indicates that this core is extremely fragile, and it really is just one last push away.

No matter how hard he tried, after cutting through most of the outer armor, the sword could not advance even an inch further.

Worse still, he himself was forced to loosen his grip on the knife handle due to the octopus Raich's frantic writhing and the slapping of its tentacles.

As he plummeted from the sky, he shouted, "That core, critically damaged! Finish it off!"

Meanwhile, on the ground, Lapi's eyes were already fixed on the core, and she held the pistol that the commander had handed her earlier.

Although the area where the commander cut open didn't expose much of the core, Octopus Rachel began emergency repairs.

But this distance is sufficient.

"Thank you so much for coming back to save me, Commander."

Lapi pulled the trigger repeatedly, and more than a dozen bullets flew in a near-perfect straight line, passing over the commander, through the gaps between the tentacles, and into the slit that was only the size of a fist. They shot straight into the red-glowing core and triggered a small explosion.

"commander!"

When Anis saw the commander falling from the sky, she ran down to catch him with her own body, and together with the arriving Lapi, they shielded him with their bodies.

The octopus Raich, which was still swaying violently, suddenly became motionless. Its various armors began to peel off little by little, and then it collapsed completely like an avalanche.

Once the dust settled, everything went silent.

Anis and Labi pushed aside the rubble and armor covering them, and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that their commander was unharmed.

"Commander, are you alright?!" Lapi asked again.

Recalling the tenderness that had just pressed against his face, Li Zuoyi couldn't help but give a thumbs up, "I'm fine."

“This gaze…” Anies blushed slightly, covering his already tattered cloth covering his chest.

“This is wonderful.” Labi smiled from the bottom of his heart.

"How was it? Was my 'Flowing Blade Like Fire' move cool?" Li Zuoyi lay on the ground, rubbing his chin, a smug smile on his face.

Anis, clutching her exposed chest, looked down at the smug commander. "I thought it was cool at first, but it doesn't look cool when the commander says it. Also, where did you find this name, Commander?"

"Got it, I'll keep quiet and pretend to be an expert from now on..." Li Zuoyi silently noted it down and replied, "An old animated film."

"I knew it……"

Li Zuoyi stood up, dusted himself off, and said, "I need to go check on my things."

Although he had just moved the bag further away, he still needed to check it to make sure it hadn't been smashed by anything...

"Is it in the black bag that the Commander always carries with him?" Anies was genuinely curious. "What's inside?"

Lapi, too, what exactly is it that makes such a commander so concerned?

A treasure of unparalleled value? Or confidential documents that will shock the Ark?

“It’s Niki’s head,” Li Zuoyi said calmly.

"What?!" Anies's mouth dropped open; she never expected this answer.

Labi's eyes widened in disbelief.

Li Zuoyi was worried that the two women would misunderstand him as a pervert, so he explained, "I am the leader of the team I led this time. We encountered danger, and they bought me time. I made a promise with them that if they were killed, I would take them back to the Ark."

Five minutes, please buy me five minutes...

I made a promise to you that if you were to perish in battle, I would bring your heads back to the Ark...

Then he remembered that even while he was fleeing, he kept the bag in front of him, probably because he was afraid that Lecher's attack would hit those heads.

Anis stared at the commander, his eyes gradually welling up with tears.

It turns out he was telling the truth.

It's always been just her...

"The commander who just said those things was really cool," Anies said with a smile, wiping away her tears.

“I think so too,” Labi nodded in agreement.

"Really?" Li Zuoyi stepped down from the ruins and turned around. "I think it's quite ordinary. After all, we made an agreement, didn't we? Since it's an agreement, then..."

Before he could finish speaking, his legs gave way and he collapsed to his knees, followed by overwhelming weakness and exhaustion.

"Commander?!" "Commander?!"

In the last moment before his consciousness faded, Li Zuoyi thought that the life force extracted by forcibly shortening the charging time was quite substantial...

Chapter Six Anderson, Anick

When Li Zuo opened his eyes, he saw a clean white ceiling, and the slightly irritating disinfectant entered his nasal cavity.

It seems we've returned to the Ark.

Li Zuoyi tried to sit up, but the soreness in his joints and the fatigue in his body made him give up.

"Want to sit up? Let me help you."

A deep male voice sounded beside him, and a hand reached up to his head and pressed a button.

As his back was slowly lifted up, Li Zuoyi saw the face of the person sitting next to him.

A handsome man who looked to be in his thirties, with a full beard, wearing a military uniform, and...

Li Zuo glanced at the rank insignia on the man's uniform and stared at him for a while, but the handsome man didn't speak first.

"How are the Nikis in my team doing?" Li Zuoyi was still concerned about this.

"Hmm, I didn't expect that's what I wanted to ask first." The handsome man lowered his head thoughtfully, then looked up at him. "Don't worry, they're all fine, whether it's the ones in the bag or the two you met later."

Li Zuo felt relieved, knowing he hadn't broken his promise.

He then turned his gaze to the handsome man: "I didn't expect the higher-ups at Ark to personally take care of me."

The handsome man smiled and said, "Let me introduce myself first. I am Anderson, the deputy commander of the Central Command."

“Hmm—” Li Zuoyi looked at him cautiously.

Then the two fell silent again.

After some time, Anderson was the first to surrender, saying, "At least say something."

Anderson's intuition told him that this new commander was no ordinary person.

"Then hand me the magazine next to you." Li Zuoyi pointed to the magazine on the bedside table.

Hmm, this is really something else... After hesitating for a moment, Anderson still handed him the magazine.

‘Stab it——’

But Anderson didn't expect that as soon as he took it, he tore off a page and started playing with origami.

This is unusual...

Anderson was starting to waver.

"It's that giant octopus in the S-class area, right?" Li Zuoyi said, folding a piece of paper with his head down.

The tasks he was assigned were fairly routine; it was unlikely that a deputy commander would seek him out for a specific task.

Therefore, Anderson's only target is that Super-class Lecher.

Or perhaps, the target is him.

“Hmm.” Anderson felt the conversation was finally on track. “I’d like to ask you to tell me about how you and the two Nikis defeated it.”

"Didn't you read the battle report?" Li Zuo glanced at it, having also finished his origami—a paper knife the length of a palm.

I swung it twice, and it felt just right.

“Every Niki you’ve worked with says that only you can truly understand the situation,” Anderson said, looking intently at him. “That’s why I’m here.”

"This..." Li Zuoyi asked tentatively, "Have you retrieved that Lecher yet?"

"Ah."