The downpour of laser bolts lasted for one or two minutes. There was nothing for us to do at that time but to wait it out and hope for the best. We couldn’t move, much less counter. We could have moved down the wall farther down the tunnel, but there wouldn’t have been much purpose to that. A better plan was to wait for the enemy to get careless. In any case, the steaming mad Mugi was still outside the mine.
Waiting for them to come to us was the way to go. For a moment I thought they were calling us out, but that didn’t seem to be the case. There seemed to be a lot of movement outside. It got really noisy.
After a while we made our way back to the entrance, and avoiding the still-red and very hot melted rocks we took a peek outside.
The first thing I saw was something engulfed in a deep crimson flame. It was our six-wheeled car. The armored warriors must have set it on fire. The flames roared into the sky.
I then noticed Mugi just in front of me. The armored soldiers had surrounded Mugi. The red flames reflected against his bristled black fur, and he bore the look of a fierce and angry god. The four soldiers laid out on the ground near Mugi must have gotten too close. They weren’t moving, or for that matter, breathing. Still, there were over twenty uninjured armored warriors remaining. Whether they were dead or behind the burning car, I wasn’t sure, but the mayor’s security staff was nowhere to be seen.
Three warriors from the circle of armored soldiers stepped forward. None of the warriors held laser guns. They carried their swords in their hands. That’s how close they were. It appeared that they realized their laser guns were no match for Mugi’s speed.
When they got about two meters from Mugi, they stopped their advance.
That’s really close.
Suddenly he jumped up.
Mugi was on his hind legs.
Mugi shoved the three armored shadows into one big pile.
Or so you would think at first.
Mugi’s lightning-quick sharp claws sliced through the three armored warriors, their bodies fell in pieces into a pile on the ground.
There was no contest, no challenge here. It was like an adult taking on a small child. Well, actually, that might even have been a more fair fight. It was more like a person stomping on ants.
Yuri and I had our heatguns in hand. Without aiming, or even really thinking, we blasted away indiscriminately. Overwhelmed already by Mugi’s power, the remaining armored soldiers had stood there staring blankly. It was our one chance to turn the tables on this battle.
We blasted the armored soldiers. We weren’t aiming, just shooting.
The warriors were caught off-guard. After getting sliced up by Mugi, suddenly they were being lit up with heat rays. Before they realized that the fire was coming from the inside of the tunnel, we used the confusion to make our escape.
Right at the perfect moment, Mugi got back onto all fours.
We leaped from the mine tunnel.
“Unh!” Yuri yelped. It was right when she lit up maybe five soldiers all at once. She never let off the trigger. But then the beams stopped flying. She was out of power. The reserve tube was empty. This was the gun she’d borrowed from the mayor, and was a different brand than the one I was using. Her ray gun still sat in her holster, but no one knew more than Yuri that it would be little use against the armor of these warriors.
Our offensive strength was just cut in half. Poor Mugi. He’d come to us right when we became our weakest.
I couldn’t take on all the remaining armored warriors with just my heatgun.
Before I knew it, Yuri had tossed out the Bloody Card. It was a playing-card-sized weapon made of Tegnoid steel. Each of the four edges are incredibly sharp, and it is powered by an ion drive to cut down enemies. It can be controlled by a handheld transmitter so the target of the Bloody Card can’t get away.
However, against the armored warriors, the Bloody Card wasn’t terribly effective. It was about as useful as a ray gun. If it was able to get between the joints in the armor, it could take out a warrior, but in any other spot it couldn’t do anything against them. It was cutting the armor, but the armor was so thick that the Bloody Card couldn’t reach flesh.
Since our offensive abilities were weakened, the warriors came at us even stronger.
Getting reorganized, they launched a brutal attack toward the tunnel. Dammit, Mugi! Why couldn’t you just have taken care of all these guys in the open area instead of bringing them to us?!
But complaining wasn’t going to turn the balance of this battle back to us. With the laser guns blasting at us, Mugi was threatened, too. The fighting Mugi was not about to jump out the tunnel entrance. He was nailed to the floor.
In situations like this there is only one thing to do.
Escape.
Yuri steered the Bloody Card back in.
“Inside! To the back! Hurry!” I shouted. My heatgun was keeping the armored soldiers from coming further, so I couldn’t look behind me, but I could sense that Yuri and Mugi had taken off running. I shot the heatgun with my left hand while I took out a capsule with my right. It was the same type I’d used at the CDC Headquarters building.
I flicked the capsule outside the tunnel entrance.
Before it hit the ground the capsule exploded into a fireball.
At the same time I turned away. I was off and running. Before the laser started chasing me I wanted to get as far away from the entrance as possible. The tunnel got pitch black as I got away from the opening. I couldn’t hardly see my hand in front of my face. To make matters worse, the floor of the tunnel was rough and uneven. There were holes in the ground, throwing me off, but somehow I kept my balance, and kept running down the tunnel.
My shoulder hit the tunnel wall. The tunnel was curving. If I kept running I was going to crash. I put out both arms and fumbled forward.
It was a hard turn. The tunnel started descending. The darkness got even thicker. It was now absolute darkness. It was so dark you could almost feel it. Apparently the light shining in from the entrance couldn’t make it around the corner. I could have really used night vision goggles, but as luck would have it, I had nothing like that on me. As it was, I was continuing on pure instinct.
Just as I made that determination I stumbled onto a ledge coming out of the ceiling. It extended in front of me diagonally. It went from my forehead all the way to the wall. I had my hands out, which cushioned any damage, but it still stung. It was impossible to run any further. I had to walk from here on out. I extended my hands out to my sides, and ran my fingers along the wall as I carefully proceeded, one step at a time.
Sloosh.
I stepped on something soft.
Surprised, I quickly pulled my foot back.
“Umigya!”
Mugi cried out.
Oh, it must have been Mugi’s tail. That’s what it felt like under my foot. But shouldn’t Mugi be a lot farther ahead of me? What was he doing here…
“Is that you, Mugi?” I asked.
“Kei?”
From the darkness came not Mugi’s voice, but a response from Yuri.
“It’s so dark, I can’t see a thing,” I said. “Those guys are going to be right behind us if we don’t do something.”
No doubt the armored warriors were equipped with lights or heat detectors or something along those lines. They may even have had night vision goggles. This meant they could move a lot faster than we could at this pace. It was only a matter of time before they caught up to us.
“Why don’t you hop onto Mugi’s back?” suggested Yuri. “It’s easier for him if he doesn’t have to worry about us. That’s the vibe I got. That’s why we were waiting for you here.”
So that’s what was going on. I was more than a little moved. Well done, Yuri. Well done, Mugi. These were model partners. My heart grew warm. World-class idols.
“Hurry, jump on behind me…”
I felt Yuri’s outstretched hand on my shoulder. I grabbed onto her hand. Yuri pulled me closer and I felt Mugi’s body. Here was his tail. Here was his back. Hm, this must be Yuri’s rear end. I straddled Mugi’s spine. I wrapped my arms around Yuri’s waist and interlocked my fingers.
“We’re off. Keep your head as low as you can,” said Yuri. Who knew what was hanging from the ceiling? The braces sticking out from the wall were also dangerous. If you were to slam into one of those you would die, for sure. I bent down as low as I could, and pressed my cheek into Yuri’s back.
Mugi took off running. There was no sound from his paws and we were barely jostled around. And he was going really fast. I couldn’t see, but I could tell by the air brushing past my body. Yuri’s long black hair whipped around, tickling my left shoulder. On top of that, the roar of the wind was incredible. It howled in my ears.
This made me feel secure. At least that’s what I thought at that moment. I had no idea how long the tunnel was or where it would lead, but at least we were putting distance between us and the attacking warriors. Then we would need to take a look at that crater, too. There must be some sort of clue there.
But.
It was too soon to act so relieved.
The armored soldiers had anticipated our moves.