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

Chapter 157 30.1 Backtracking?

Supporting was something that I was intimately familiar with. I loved playing support, almost never being responsible for shot-calling despite being the one to almost run the show by the sidelines. The ability to avoid responsibility was something I loved, the pressure of failing easing off in favor of simply playing second fiddle to the guy that was truly in charge.

Then again, that didn't mean that I was scot-free from all responsibility.

"That's that, I suppose."

Guidance's words brought me back to our current reality as the enemy [Rig] finally surrendered against our onslaught. Well, more like they just stopped throwing bodies at us after the umpteenth shower of blood that the dev managed to make with her buster new [Move]. Seriously, that [Art of War] of hers was like a free get-off-me card.

"So it would seem," I sighed, sheathing my pistols as I stared at the carnage we left behind. "At least the [Rig]'s still floating."

Surprisingly enough, the massive harpoon still sticking to it didn't seem to make the entire structure sink. I suppose the distance from before didn't make it clear, but looking at it now, the sides around the hit area didn't seem to be too close to the water line of the [Rig]. It was still piercing metal, of which none was touching the hot waters below.

"I'd be remiss if we sank here, you know," Guidance scoffed. "I don't think we can get rid of the harpoon here even if we tried."

"Which means we'll have to drag them around to the nearest port or something," I finished the thought with another sigh. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"For us? Yes," Guidance shrugged. "But what other choice did we have? We can't just let them sink here to die after they've surrendered."

I clicked my tongue as I turned to our now current captives. Men and women that clearly looked at us like monsters shivered from the mere sight of me. Or maybe it was Guidance that they were afraid of. Nevertheless, they were completely cowed.

"And what of the Somatics?" I asked aloud.

"We can tie them up," she sighed as she walked beside me. "They might still be able to use their [Manifest], but I doubt they'd even be capable of fighting right now."

My eyes turned to the two Somatics that we captured. The captain of the [Rig], one Red Shepard, and mister Fleuger himself were currently both unconscious and tightly tied up with what few chains we managed to find. It was a surprise to see that Shizu had beaten the captain all by herself, but the state that we managed to save her from just showed that she didn't have an easy time with him either.

"Right," I hummed aloud. "Speaking of, where's Shizu?"

Guidance raised an eyebrow as she replied, "She's back on our [Rig], which we haven't even named yet."

"Guess we have to get around to that, huh," I chuckled.

"We should if we're gonna make port soon," she scoffed. "I'd like to think that the world would outright reject us if we didn't have a name, seeing as it should've had one before we even set sail, but I don't know anymore."

"We'll get to it eventually," I assuaged her. "Especially now that we'll hopefully have a bit of peace on us for a little bit."

Well, that was the hope, at least. This had almost been a disaster and a half as the threat of sinking was a real issue before we got things under control. Shen was visibly working over the [Rig], making sure that we were at least seaworthy before moving forward. From there, she should probably also look at this new [Rig] we have, just to make sure that it won't sink on us before we managed to pawn them off somewhere.

"So, what's the plan now?"

I stalled, "Now?"

"We didn't exactly have a destination in mind before we set sail," Guidance pointed out with a smirk. "And I'd like to think that we'll make some sort of progress on that final quest of yours."

"A quest that I'm too low-leveled to even finish, mind you," I reminded her. "We'll see what happens. Maybe Shizu has something in mind."

Guidance chuckled. Knowing our resident princess, I could only assume that she had something else in mind now. That pensive look on her face once she came around from her injuries clearly meant that she had some information to share. And that wasn't to mention that I also had information that I haven't shared as well.

Oh well. At least it'll all be laid out and pieced together once we've fully reconvened.

"So..."

I smirked at Guidance's tone. "So?"

"Shouldn't we be back at our [Rig]?" she asked.

I nodded, "Yep."

Sharing a look, we both made our way to the edge of the captured [Rig], the closest gap we had from our vessel being a jump away as we did just that. Landing on our knees, I couldn't help but chuckle at the obvious superhero landing we just did.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Superhero landing," I pointed out, my knees still on the deck before I finally stood up. "Ever watched a superhero movie?"

"No?"

Oh... "Fair enough then."

"Let's just get to the bridge and get this thing over with, yeah?" Guidance faintly chuckled. "God knows we don't even know if this thing can still move after this."

"Oh right..."

The state of our own engine was probably something that was just waiting to be unleashed at us. It wasn't as dire as an enemy [Rig] threatening to sink us, but the threat of stalling out in the middle of the sea along with dozens of defeated captives was just waiting to be turned into a real-life movie somewhere...

Huh... And now that I thought about it, did movies even exist here?

"You have a stupid idea again, don't you," Guidance pointed out as we began walking.

? I almost chuckled as I fielded my question. "Guidance, do movies exist here?"

...

...

"Maybe in Marquee, I guess."

?????????