They used that moment when Jegyll’s attention had been diverted, and they hid in the remains of the ship.
‘All of you. Did you turn your power off?’
‘Of course. These hidden cyborg features sure are useful.’
‘Good! Now let’s go and find the Powered Suits.’
They said through Thought Transmission.
In regards to the search, Karman and his men had an idea of how to go about it.
As the machines could be controlled remotely, each of them were connected to their machines through a special ‘thought wave.’
There was no guarantee that it would still work, but they had hope.
And so they hid and worked quietly.
On the other hand, Jegyll and her men…
They were struggling against the pack of Super Beasts.
Had the ship still been intact, they would not have been attacked by the beasts.
And even if they were, the thing had a high power beam cannon installed. And so they wouldn’t have had much trouble in dealing with the enemy.
However, Jegyll and her men had no such weapons.
Of course, Bionoids had tremendous strength as anti-cyborg weapons, but they had no methods of attack that covered a wide area. That was their weakness.
The plasma cannon was used against single human enemies. It could not deal a lethal blow to a Super Beast.
The Super Beasts’ ability to regenerate was too strong.
While the Bionoids would now lose, it would take a very long time to kill all of the Super Beasts.
Jegyll understood this.
“We’re being hindered by mere purification devices!!”
Jegyll shouted as she kicked the head of one Super Beast. Then she fired off a round of plasma bullets that were a meter in diameter.
Jegyll and Reiz had enough firepower to kill them.
And so eventually, they used the other men as bait, and then Jegyll and Reiz would attack.
Even while they fought, Jegyll’s eyes were searching for Karman and the others.
While they had disappeared behind the remains of the ship, she had not given up the chase.
These wastelands were filled with rocks and cliffs. With enough time, they might actually be able to escape.
She couldn’t imagine they would live for very long without being able to receive maintenance or replenish their energy. There was no way they could communicate with others either. Still, she could not underestimate how tenacious Karman and his men were.
They were seasoned warriors and she could not allow them to run free. That was Jegyll’s decision.
She was annoyed.
As she was based on a human, she still had emotions.
However, not to the point where it would affect the mission.
That was a feature of Bionoids.
And so Jegyll dealt with the Super Beasts calmly and systematically. She would follow Karman when they were done.
Karman had realized this.
He had left the search to his men while he watched the battlefield.
As he and his men used ‘Vision Link,’ he had a wide range of sight.
It was an unbelievable feature, but Karman was able to use it without hesitation.
That was the difference between him and Zaza.
Karman did not worry or think too hard about everything.
And in Karman’s vision, was a very familiar monster.
“That one…”
He muttered under his breath so no one else could hear.
A great serpent with a red head.
The one that Veldora had defeated. It had become humanoid after that.
‘Continue the search. I have some minor business to attend to.’
‘Captain?’
‘Surely you don’t mean to…?’
‘It’s too dangerous!’
‘Shouldn’t you hide here quietly!?’
As his men could see what he was looking at, they had an idea of what he was going to do.
They frantically tried to stop him, but Karman shook his head.
‘You may be right. But I can’t abandon that one. After all, what if…’
What if that Super Beast had been his lover?
He couldn’t say it, but Karman’s resolve was strong.
‘…I’m leaving the rest to you!’
Karman told them before rushing out.
He went around so that the enemy could not locate him. Then he disappeared into the shadow of some rocks.
His men quickly pulled themselves together and returned to their work.
They would do what they could at the moment. That was the only way to get out of this danger.
Then, just as Jegyll had created a great sphere of plasma and was about to unleash it at the head of the great serpent…
“I won’t let you!”
…Karman jumped out and blocked it with his Ether Ring Barrier.
◇◇◇
Karman’s arrival was very sudden, but Jegyll was not phased.
Reiz was the same. His reaction suggested he had anticipated this.
“Tsk. I thought you might be a little surprised…”
Karman joked. Jegyll snorted.
“Hehe. As if I wouldn’t notice you when you are so close by. We were also looking at you all along.”
“But you know what did surprise me? That you would try and protect a Super Beast. A tool. A mere purification device. I thought you were going to launch a surprise attack. But well, you did ruin my attack just now.”
Jegyll had known that Karman was approaching.
And so Reiz had intended on shooting Karman while he was targeting Jegyll.
It would be difficult to follow and shoot someone who was moving faster than the speed of sound. And so he had to predict where Karman would move and shoot in advance. And he had predicted wrongly.
Karman hadn’t gone for Jegyll. Instead, he had protected the Super Beast. Even Reiz could not have foreseen that.
“Heh. Sorry about that. But I have my reasons too. I swore to protect my lover. And I don’t want to break my promise ever again.”
At this, the great serpent with the red head seemed to react.
It wasn’t much. In fact, no one even noticed it. But it was almost as if it understood Karman’s words.
But Jegyll, on the other hand, did not understand Karman at all.
“Are you stupid? What does that have to do with this Super Beast over here?”