This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

Chapter 149 29.3 Utility?

RED

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Aboard the VWR Coal, Red Shepard was in utter shock as he received report after report of casualties racking up against the enemy. While he understood that Somatics were on an entire level above even a military contingent, he didn't expect this number of deaths from just four of them alone!

"Sir! We've lost units one to five!"

"Sir! Cannons five and six have just been destroyed!"

The Somatic aboard the [Rig] pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed, the sound of each report grating on his ears as he exuded his power over his men.

"[STOP PANICKING]"

Feeling himself calm down amidst the overflowing deluge of bad news, Red took in a deep breath as he looked over the available information to him one last time.

"How are the repairs?" he calmly asked.

"Sir, repair unit five is still trying to dislodge the tether device from our hull," one of his men reported, the lack of panic in her tone a welcome change despite it being wholly warranted. "The engine is still operational, but trying to drag the enemy [Rig] with us is liable to have us take in more water."

Red nodded at the report. Truly, everything had gone south the moment the Kattleynans somehow managed to fire their massive Marquean weapon. He wasn't even surprised when the enemy [Rig] was immediately plunged into darkness, their own weapon practically ruining their engine and rendering them adrift. From that, he honestly expected that the Kattleynans would inevitably sink long before the Coal did. After all, repairing a [Rig]'s engine was far more complicated than repairing the damaged hulls.

Only, it didn't happen.

Much to his disbelief, the enemy [Rig] somehow sputtered back to life, their engines still alive and kicking as they then pulled them along for a ride. From there, they began taking in more water than they could handle. And while he had men on standby for just an occasion, the hot red waters of the Deep were far too caustic to handle with mere buckets, and their pumps stalled as soon as their supply of solid fuel got ruined by the Deep's rushing waters.

"What now, Sir?"

Thinking to himself, Red watched as the carnage off to the side of the enemy [Rig] finally began to spill over to their side of the battlegrounds. It would seem that the [Somatics] have finally boarded, and they were running out of options to stop them.

Letting out a sigh, Red stood up from his seat.

"Sir?"

"It takes a Somatic to defeat a Somatic," he coolly stated. "Wake Fleuger up. We both have a few Somatics to deal with."

It always took a Somatic to deal with an enemy Somatic. And with the Empire having the largest number of them across the Deep, it was only natural that they would be outnumbered.

Still, Vestygians always had the upper hand when it came to weaponry.

With a quick swipe, Red grabbed his mechanical halberd from behind him, its mechanisms unfolding with a hiss as steam and black fuel ran through its pipes. There was no telling if he could even handle the experimental weapon, but its proof of concept should hold itself on its own when faced with [Manifests] just as esoteric as its designs.

Walking out of the bridge, Red held his [Manifest], feeling its calm and cool power give him the mental strength he needed to properly see things through.

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I didn't think that things would be smooth sailing from here, but it was really starting to look like we were hilariously overpowered compared to these mooks. They gave out [EXP], at least, but they might as well not do so if they would only dish out ten points per kill.

[+10 EXP]

[+10 EXP]

[+10 EXP]

Seriously, this was just pitiful.

"[Art of War]!"

Hearing Guidance shouting out her new [Move], a blue glow erupted from underneath our healer as an AoE of death flashed all around her, showering her with blood that she quickly wiped off her face.

"I should really fix that," the dev sighed. "This stinks."

"Heh, at least you're alive," I chuckled, my pistols still casually smoking as I shot at a few of the other guys trying to rush us. "At least Shizu and Maruki are having fun."

Sure enough, the two diehard Kattleynans reveled in killing enemies to the Empire. It was kind of disturbing to watch, really, as the usually cheerful and naive Shizu jumped headfirst into battle with a bloodthirsty grin on her face. Maruki was... Not gonna lie, I expected him to be this fervent in killing his enemies.

Still, did they seriously have to sound like racists while doing this?

"Die, heathen scum!"

"This is for desecrating the sacred Deep!"

Eventually, Guidance and I found ourselves sitting back as Maruki and Shizu did all of the work. Hell, I couldn't even hear Shade talking anymore. The guy was probably already lounging around on the bridge, waiting for us to return and snark at us like usual.

"This is... Isn't this too easy?" Guidance whispered out in disappointment. "And here I thought I made the game too difficult for this portion of the game."

"Well, you might be able to blame that on the lack of level sync," I pointed out. "You and Shizu are dozens upon dozens of levels ahead of these guys. I mean, we're killing level 10s right now." Which was kind of a surprise, seeing as the last dungeon had us hitting at around level 25s. Why would the Deep have enemies that couldn't even get past the starting area?

"To my defense, their numbers were meant to supplement their weakness," Guidance shrugged. "Every stray [Rig] like this should have one or two enemy Somatics, however, and they're the ones that we're supposed to look out for."

"Fair enough," I nodded. "So where-"

"You?! You again?!"

I stopped, my head turning towards the familiar voice that called out to me. There's... There's no way, right?

"Once again, you sully the name of the Republic!"

Oh joy... This guy, again.

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