Fated to Die to the Player, I’ll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!

Right at this moment, we're technically surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Whether we go forward, back, left, or right, we'd inevitably run into soldiers ready to shoot us down sooner or later. As such, rather than moving aimlessly with uncertainty, it's better to hold our ground and defend the position we already have.

For that, we need a place that's easy to defend but difficult to breach.

I turned my gaze toward the floor plan of this building—graciously provided by Nyssra before the operation even began.

Our current location was roughly three hundred meters west of the Primula's core base. A lower shaft nestled within the third underground level.

It was, obviously, far from ideal as a hideout. The corridor was connected to only two entrances, meaning if enemies showed up from both sides, we'd be caught between a rock and a hard place.

"To be safe, we should move here," I said, pointing to a marked section as I showed the plan to Eva.

The area I indicated was a narrow service shaft that once connected to the deeper underside of the Primula. It was a two-way corridor like this one... but the enemy couldn't possibly flank us from both directions. One end, after all, now dropped off into a massive vertical chasm, plunging hundreds of meters straight down.

"There, we'll only need to watch one direction," I explained further. "As long as we can find decent cover, we can hold out there until my backup-of-a-backup plan kicks in."

Eva, who had been quietly listening to my rambling, let out a faint laugh and nodded. "So you really did have a plan... Well, I should've known better than to doubt."

"Of course I do!" I grinned, trying my best to mask the fear gnawing away at my insides.

That thing I said about having a backup plan? Half a bluff.

All I'd done was shoot a short message to "someone." Whether they got it, understood it, or would follow it properly… was entirely up to them.

In short, all we could do now was survive—as long as we could—until that supposed "backup" arrived.

"Then let's move."

Staying here any longer would be suicide. We didn't even have scouts with us this time, since I hadn't brought along my trusty stealth nanobots. We were effectively moving blind.

After giving Eva a short breather, I stood and lifted her up once again.

If not for my Powered Suit, I'd probably be groaning about this whole thing. No offense to Eva, but my physique isn't exactly built to haul another person while sprinting—especially not someone also clad in a bulky Powered Suit like mine.

We advanced with caution, meticulously avoiding traps and laser tripwires scattered throughout the halls—a standard security measure in any high-security facility like this. We even tried to muffle our footsteps, doing everything we could to stay undetected.

"Target Acquired! Over there! Open fire!"

"...!"

But of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. We were outnumbered, outgunned, and utterly outmaneuvered. The enemy had home-ground advantage. I had nothing but this floor map; meanwhile, they probably knew every hallway by heart.

Projectiles rained down—searing lasers, solid bullets, and even metallic slugs launched from a railgun. Any one of them would've been fatal, and now they were being fired in unison, forming a deadly barrage behind us.

I dove toward the nearest corner, the hailstorm of death missing me by a hair's breadth.

Back when I was a kid, I used to love watching St*r Wa*s. I always thought it was cool how the main hero could strut through blaster fire, shooting enemies without getting hit once.

But now? I was genuinely confused how they missed.

I mean—these are lasers. Beams of light traveling at literal light-speed! Once they've got me in their sights and pull the trigger, the beam should hit instantly. No delay. I'm grateful they missed, don't get me wrong—but it's still weird!

"Give me the rifle...!"

Eva groaned, still cradled in my arms.

"Seriously?!" I gasped, immediately realizing what she intended to do. "Alright then—I'll be your transport. You handle the shooting!"

I handed her the rifle hanging on my leg holster, and without missing a beat, she leaned herself over my shoulder, aiming back toward the enemy pursuit.

I could hear her strained breathing and the soft grunts of pain escaping her lips—but louder than all that was the sound of the rifle unleashing laser fire. A piercing, high-pitched scream that drowned out all else.

*ZIIIIIN!*

Though the sound felt like it would shatter my eardrums, I didn't care. Worst-case scenario, I'd need to fix a couple of ruptured ear canals. Easy for a Medical Pod to handle. But if we took a round to the head, chest, or spine? We'd be finished. No recovery from that.

With Eva covering our rear, the enemy couldn't get a clean shot. In fact, I was almost sure their numbers were thinning. Slowly but surely.

As expected of Eva, I thought with a smirk. A damn one-woman army.

"Just three more corners...!"

I groaned while eyeing the map on my personal terminal. We were slowly but steadily closing in on our target location—the one spot where we could bunker down and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

"Shit...!"

But just as I rounded the next corner, I was forced to leap back, ducking behind the passage we just exited.

Up ahead, the enemy had set up a heavy barricade, forming a dense and fortified defensive line.

The problem was, this point was a cross junction. The path we needed to take was to the left—and that was now blocked. Behind us, a few persistent soldiers were still chasing us on the previous corner. And from the two remaining corridors, I could hear the unmistakable thumps of enemy boots rapidly approaching.

Looks like they've figured out my plan... We're trapped in their net!

"Not yet...!" Eva growled defiantly, before raising her gun and aiming it back the way we came.

She let it charge briefly before unleashing a blast at the metal passage wall. The wall wasn't reinforced like a proper laser-resistant barrier, so it melted away under the concentrated fire—and the beam tore through, vaporizing the last two enemies chasing from the rear.

"Nice!"

At the very least, that's one less direction we need to worry about!

As I was still trying to think of a way to punch through the barricade ahead, Eva's voice reached me like a spark in the dark.

"Backtrack a bit... To those corpses... I think they had something useful."

I didn't know what she was planning, but oddly enough, despite not being at her best, her brain seemed to be running faster than mine. Was I too stressed? Too distracted? Either way, I followed her suggestion without hesitation and stopped where the last two enemy bodies had fallen.

I leaned down, gently letting Eva rest against the ground, then began rummaging through their gear.

They carried two railguns, and to my surprise, a small stash of antimatter grenades. "These are supposed to be banned by every known military convention..." I muttered, frowning as I picked them up.

But in our current situation, I didn't have the luxury of being choosy. So what if they're outlawed? They weren't mine to begin with. If they're lying on the ground, they're fair game, right?

With no time to waste, I grabbed a railgun and all the grenades I could find.

"Stay here," I said to Eva before sprinting toward the front.

This was going to be a high-speed hit-and-run assault. Bringing her along would only slow me down—and most of all, put her at greater risk.

I loaded one of the metallic grenades into the railgun. It slid in smoothly, like it was made for it. I then took aim at the far end of the corridor—the one that was blocked by the enemy's barricade—and pulled the trigger.

*CRACKLE!* *ZIIIP!*

The weapon sparked wildly as the grenade was launched. A heartbeat later, a powerful explosion rocked the hallway—stronger than anything I'd anticipated.

Antimatter grenades existed in TSO as well, but in the game, they were usually just on par with micro black-hole rounds. At best, they could consume a space about 50 square meters wide. But this explosion...? It felt more like I'd dropped a full-scale, one-ton bomb.

*BAM!*

Even though only a portion of my body was peeking into the corridor, the force of the shockwave sent me flying, slamming me into the opposite wall. I now understood exactly how a frog must feel when pinned beneath a petri dish...!

The initial outward shockwave ended quickly, but the danger didn't. The force vectors reversed—and now, it was pulling inward like a ravenous pulsar. My instincts screamed as panic set in.

If I got dragged in and caught in the antimatter's secondary burst, I'd be vaporized!

I latched onto the edge of the wall, digging my fingers in and holding on with everything I had. But the suction force was unreal—it felt like it was ripping my muscles straight off the bone.

"Ugh...!"

My grip was slipping—finger by finger. I could feel the cold breath of annihilation getting closer.

One hand lost its hold, and my remaining hand only had three fingers still gripping the edge—my thumb, middle, and ring fingers. They had the most strength combined, but it still wasn't enough.

I slipped.

The corner of the wall drifted away as I began sliding toward oblivion in slow motion—until a hand appeared out of nowhere, clutching my arm tight just in time.

"Seriously...!" the voice hissed in pain and frustration. "Leaving you alone never ends well...!" Eva shouted.

Despite being an exhausted patient, she'd seen my predicament and rushed to help.

Her hand gripped my arm with all the strength she had left, clearly determined not to let go.

Seconds passed, and then—suddenly—the suction weakened. A terrifying sign that something even worse was coming.

"Quick, get behind that corner...!" I yelled urgently.

"UGH!"

Eva summoned her last ounce of strength, yanking me out of the corridor and slamming me into the wall behind her. The impact was rough—my back ached like hell—but I couldn't exactly complain. Gritting my teeth, I grabbed Eva's wrist and pulled her closer to me as well.

Staying too close to that passageway wasn't going to end well.

The very next moment—the corridor ahead erupted into a tunnel of flames, like a dragon unleashing its fury.

The inferno surged straight ahead from the direction we'd come, continuing into the next corridor beyond.

Fortunately, it didn't spread sideways. There might have been an open area up ahead that created a path for the blast. We were slightly singed by the edges of the heatwave, but it wasn't anything close to critical. Painful, sure—but bearable.

The flames gradually died down, and the tremors of the explosion faded away.

"...Is it over?" Eva asked, panting hard, sweat pouring down her pale face in heavy drops.

"I think so," I replied, peering into the blackened corridor ahead. "I mean, as long as none of them were born fireproof, we should be good to go."

Supporting each other by the shoulders, and moving with slow, measured steps, we pressed forward—heading to our final destination.