NOVEL WEB Chapter 171: Barricade of Borrowed Time
Although it took a while, the both of us arrived at our planned destination. Corridor number 48-10A, the sub-connecting shaft to the maintenance shaft of the Primula.
As we predicted, the corridor's length was just right—about 100 meters. A perfect distance where any enemies attempting to close in would be shredded into Swiss cheese before getting even halfway through.
Behind us loomed a deep, echoing chasm—the massive cavity where the underside of the Primula used to be docked.
We made sure not to get too close to the edge. Not only could one misstep send us falling, but doing so could also expose us to potential snipers from the outside, waiting on the far end. Better be paranoid than dead.
"Alright, first thing's first. Let's put up a few barricades."
At the moment, this passage was just that—a long, narrow hall with no cover, no corners, and no forks. Left like this, it would be a death trap. The moment the enemy located us, we'd get flooded with laser fire from a hundred angles.
"Hold this for me." I said, gently lowering Eva to the ground and placing our last functional weapon into her hands.
Then, without wasting a second, I sprinted back toward the outer corridor. There, I grabbed a sheet of metal wall that had peeled off from the previous explosion—the aftermath of the antimatter grenade I had detonated earlier.
Thinking that one wouldn't be enough, I tore off two more panels. That made three in total.
Each of them was thick—roughly six inches—and painfully heavy. But thanks to my Powered Suit's enhanced strength, I could still drag them altogether across the scorched ground without too much trouble.
As I returned to our fallback point, my heart nearly skipped a beat.
Eva had her weapon raised, the barrel pointed squarely at me—but before I could speak, I realized she was only holding overwatch, ready to fire if any enemies emerged from behind me.
I let out a nervous laugh, brushed the thought aside, and rushed over to her.
"Let's set these up as barricades," I said, catching my breath, then gently prying the weapon back from her hands. "And to fix them in place, we'll use this laser rifle to weld the plates to the wall and floor."
I adjusted the rifle's output settings, tweaking the particle density and reducing the piercing power. That way, it'd produce more heat over a surface area—perfect for makeshift welding.
I lifted the first panel into place, angling it slightly with the bottom edge facing forward and the taller end leaning toward us. With that slant, enemy fire would likely glance right off instead of punching through directly.
I welded the bottom of the plate to the floor and its side to the wall, letting the blaster do its work in melting the metals together. After a quick test—one strong kick and a little hop—I was satisfied with its stability.
Then, I did the same for the other two panels. I arranged them in an alternating pattern, leaving just enough space between them for us to maneuver and peek out while keeping ourselves mostly behind cover.
But I wasn't finished.
On the inside edge of each plate—near the walls—I carved out small viewing holes. Narrow slits just wide enough to keep eyes on enemy movements without needing to expose our heads to return fire.
With that final touch, our miniature fortress was complete.
"Good... Now, let's see what supplies we've got left."
I rummaged through the storage compartments on my suit, pulling everything I had out and laying it all out on the floor in front of me.
And to my dismay, it wasn't much. Just two unused antimatter grenades, a half-melted chocolate bar I'd stuffed in there weeks ago and forgotten about, and a single spare power cartridge for the Laser Rifle.
Eva followed suit, checking her suit's storage. She had even less than me.
A compact folding knife—God knows what she thought she'd need that for in a shootout.
Anyway, with what we had left, it was obvious we wouldn't survive a prolonged firefight. Not against a full platoon or more of armed soldiers.
We couldn't fight them head-on. We had to be clever.
"...I've got a plan."
With those words, I knelt down and started sketching our next move on the dusty floor—wasting no time.
---
After the explosion of the antimatter grenade, five tense minutes passed.
"Over here! Check this passage!"
And at last, enemy soldiers arrived at the 48-10A passage.
I pressed my back flat against the wall, peering through the peephole I made earlier. At the junction, I spotted about five soldiers cautiously advancing.
"..."
Without saying a word, I pointed to a crude drawing on the ground—our coded system to silently alert Eva of enemy positioning. And while still chewing on a chocolate bar, she stood up with the rifle in hand, then fired in one smooth, practiced sweep.
"AGH!"
The five soldiers fell instantly, heads separated from their bodies with clean, precise strikes.
The modified laser rifle had been fine-tuned earlier—maximized for energy control and pinpoint penetration. What it shot now wasn't just a beam, but a microscopic filament of energy—thin, searing, and deadly—able to cut through anything like paper.
"Men down! Men down!"
"Enemy spotted!"
As expected, the shouts rang out almost immediately. The surviving soldiers behind the corner quickly sent out an alert, informing the entire base of our position.
I bit my lip, the weight of what that meant sinking in fast. This was it—the trigger, the start of our last stand. I glanced at my personal terminal for updates, only to see the same message flash over and over.
"These bastards... signal-locked the whole damn section," I growled under my breath.
Beside me, Eva sat quietly, slowly chewing the rest of the chocolate bar I gave her earlier. It wouldn't restore her lost blood, but the carbohydrates might at least give her just enough energy for short bursts of activity.
Most of the time, though, she was conserving what little strength she had left—leaning back against the wall, rifle resting across her lap.
Then came the unmistakable rhythm—thudding boots, growing louder by the second. Dozens of footsteps echoed from the halls, a unified march of reinforcements closing in.
I leaned toward the peephole again—and confirmed my fears.
"They've brought a heavy mech!"
Apparently, they'd decided flesh-and-blood troops weren't enough, so they rolled out the big guns. The mech trudged forward heavily, towering almost to the three-meter ceiling of the passage.
Its thick armor glinted under the flickering emergency lights, like a walking bunker of death.
But we were ready for this.
"Eva, do it."
At my signal, she took another quick bite from the chocolate bar—the last bit falling to the ground—and then stood, barely rising above cover. Her hand didn't tremble. She raised the rifle, took aim with instinctive accuracy, and fired.
This time, she traced a vertical line.
Not even a second later, she was already ducking down again—just in time.
*BOOM!*
The mech, sliced perfectly down the middle, erupted in a cataclysmic explosion. The volatile payloads strapped to its back ignited instantly, creating a searing wave of fire and kinetic force that blasted through the corridor.
The shockwave rushed over us like a storm. But thanks to our sloped barricades and sealed helmets, we stayed protected—even as oxygen levels dipped sharply for a moment.
As the flames died and the pressure normalized, I acted immediately.
I broke cover and bolted forward.
We needed weapons. As many as we could get.
Luckily, the explosion had hurled the gear from the five soldiers closer to our position. I managed to scoop up a couple of rifles and a few power packs before another volley of laser fire forced me to retreat.
*ZIIIN!* *PEW!*
Beams struck just behind me. I dove back behind cover, heart racing.
But I grinned as I laid out the loot.
Now we had three weapons to work with—one nearly-drained laser rifle, and two Beam Assault Rifles still glowing faintly red-hot from the heat.
"With these, we can last a bit longer!" I exclaimed, adrenaline masking my exhaustion.
Then began the true siege.
The enemy launched a full-on barrage, not even trying to conserve ammunition. Their suppressive fire blanketed our position in unrelenting light. Under cover of that storm, some of them advanced—bold, risky movements meant to overwhelm us.
But they made a fatal mistake.
The closer they got, the more predictable their fire patterns became.
I took advantage of the gaps in their fire—the area where their allies were. Lifting a Beam Assault Rifle above my barricade, I squeezed the trigger and swept it across the kill zone.
*ZIIIN!* *ZIIIN!* *ZIIIN!*
The enemy troops, now within too-close range to evade, fell in a chorus of shouts and screams. Their overconfidence was their undoing.
But victory came at a cost.
The barrage intensified. Barricades meant to last were getting scorched and deformed. Though angled to deflect lasers, the metal had started to chip and melt from the relentless heat.
Our protective wall—our only line of defense—was degrading faster with every second.
Barely three minutes into this relentless firefight, and already our situation was growing dire.
"Shit..." I cursed under my breath, eyes flicking to my terminal's clock. "Why isn't it here yet…?!"
We were still holding. Still fighting.
But the enemy wouldn't stay conservative forever.
They were just getting warmed up—and sooner or later, they'd pull out even nastier tricks.
"...!"
Right then, I caught the unmistakable thrum of propellers. A helicopter was closing in—from behind.
"Get down!"
Without a second to spare, I pulled Eva to the ground and aimed both Beam Assault Rifles forward. Just as I suspected, an assault helicopter descended from above, aligning its monstrous nose right with the opening at the far end of the corridor.
I didn't hesitate—I opened fire immediately. There was no need to aim precisely either, since the cockpit filled almost the entire scope of our vision.
Before the helicopter could even fire its massive nose-mounted Gatling gun, its cockpit lit up with smoking holes. The pilot slumped forward, lifeless. The craft began to wobble, then spiral downward slowly, as if in denial of its fate, before vanishing into the chasm below.
"That was too close..." I exhaled, my shoulders loosening ever so slightly—only for the moment to be broken by a fresh wave of piercing laser fire.
"Eva! Watch our backs! I'll take care of the front!"
Another helicopter showing up unannounced could mean the end. It wasn't the most efficient arrangement, but I needed Eva on overwatch duty now—covering the rear approach while I held off the frontal push.
*CRACK!*
Right on cue, two of our three makeshift barricades gave out. Their surfaces, hammered by relentless beams, gave in at last—riddled with scorched holes before collapsing inward.
"...!"
With the defenses gone, I dove over to Eva's side—both of us now huddled behind the last surviving barrier, barely 1.5 meters wide. The cramped space forced us closer, side-by-side, hiding beneath a slanted scrap of metal that might as well have been our last shield.
"Arthur..."
Eva whispered my name, her voice soft but tinged with something deeper. She had her back against the wall beside me, a faint, fragile smile on her lips.
And then, without warning—no hesitation—she leaned in, closed the distance, and pressed her lips against mine. The sudden warmth caught me off guard. The lingering sweetness of chocolate passed between us for just a moment before she slowly pulled away.
"Eva..." I breathed out, stunned by her sudden action.
But she only giggled, eyes filled with mischievous serenity, as though the gunfire was nothing but a distant storm.
"Well, this might be our last... so..." she murmured, gently closing her eyes. "I just couldn't hold back."
"..."
I clenched my jaw.
Earlier, when the last two panels were still up, they lasted about five minutes under constant fire. But now, this final barrier was under twice that pressure. Which meant—at best—it would hold for two and a half minutes, if even that.
In short... we're out of time.
"Come here," I whispered, pulling her into my arms, holding her as close as our armored suits allowed.
Though the hard plates separated us, I could feel it—the faint tremble of her body against mine. She was afraid. So was I. But there was no room left for despair. Not now. Not when we still had a single card left to play.
Without loosening the embrace, I slipped a small device—a trigger switch—from my side pocket. Clutching it between two fingers, I raised it beside her ear and tapped it once.
The next moment—
The final two antimatter grenades detonated.