Following Shu's direction, Joyce spotted the faint white glow.
"Understood!" Joyce roared, plunging her sword into the ground to brace herself as Arahato rose from the black tide.
The monster that had been sent flying by the Hyperion's impact staggered to its feet, shaking its head before letting out a long howl. Its relatively low mass had saved its life; being flung away was far less damaging than being run over.
As the howl cut through the night, the chaotic formation of the black tide, disrupted by the Hyperion's sudden arrival, instantly reformed. They split into two waves, one to attack each group.
"Erwin, did you hear that?" Darwin asked Schrodinger through the Titan's internal channel after crushing a monster that had lunged at him.
"I heard it, Dr. Darwin…" Schrodinger's expression was grave. "That wolf-like creature is commanding all the monsters… and very efficiently."
"I'll try to take out their command center," Darwin said. No one understood better than him the effect of an efficient leader in a biological colony. Especially since these monsters felt no fear and executed commands without hesitation. They were the kind of troops every commander dreamed of. No need to consider sacrifices or target difficulty; all that mattered was achieving the objective. The saying, "the strongest army is a Fourth Calamity that follows orders perfectly," was no joke.
The fact that the train could send it flying meant the wolf wasn't that strong. It was worth trying to decapitate their "brain"!
Darwin's Titan ignited all its thrusters, launching into the sky like a cannonball. The sheer force of its ascent blew away all the black crows in its path. Then, with a roar of its thrusters, the Titan actually managed to hover briefly in mid-air!
Titan Mech Desperation Technique—Acute Angle Strike.
The vertically launched Titan plummeted towards the wolf at a sharp angle, the massive mech diving towards the ground like a suicidal supersonic jet. A thin force shield materialized in front of the Titan. The giant wolf jerked its head up; it could feel that this strike was much stronger than the train's impact!
And this time, its retreat was blocked by the ground. The solid earth would ensure it took the full force of the blow!
A desperate howl rang out, and a huge figure rushed from a distance, positioning itself in front of the wolf.
The Titan's heavy strike collided with the beast. The creature's upper body exploded, but the impact's force was deflected, landing near the wolf and obliterating a cluster of monsters. The wolf itself leaped away the moment the Titan hit the ground, almost completely unharmed.
Inside the cockpit, Darwin pinched himself hard, his face contorted in pain. He shook his head, trying to clear the dizziness and confusion.
There was a reason it was called a desperation technique… even in his nano-machine body, the backlash was agonizing.
Frustrated, he switched off his body's pain and touch receptors, meaning he would now have to estimate his physical condition and damage himself.
"It can order other creatures to take the hit for it. This brain really is a brain!" Recovered, Darwin quickly piloted the Titan back to its feet. The wolf had already bounded away, continuing to watch them from a distance.
"It understands trade-offs. The mirror test is no longer sufficient for this type of creature," Schrodinger said, abandoning the idea of following up with another Acute Angle Strike. "I think it should apply for citizenship in Future City. I'll approve it."
"I support that with both hands and feet!" Darwin immediately replied.
"You two, stop joking around!" Joyce cut into the Titan's internal channel. "Cover me. I've marked the coordinates for you."
A screen popped up in front of them, showing the white light's location, a top-down view, and the designated route for advance and cover.
"We'll get that thing first, then you all head to the dream's border with everyone. We'll escape from there," Joyce instructed before disconnecting from the channel.
Not just the two of them, but everyone on the train fighting the monsters received Joyce's message simultaneously.
"Border? Where's the border?" Kiana looked around, confused. All she could see were monsters, as if the entire world had been overrun.
"Agh, whatever!" Snatching a moment to breathe in the middle of the black tide was a luxury. Kiana decided to stop thinking again and focus on knocking away every monster in front of her.
That Anti-Entropy "Moe" Lord said to cover her, right? And Shu and Sirin were in her mech's hands, right?
See, there was the objective!
"Bronya!" Kiana yelled back. The next moment, Bronya's eyes flashed. Seven or eight cannon barrels suddenly emerged from her bulky battlesuit, all aimed at Arahato's path.
"Fire support is in position!" Bronya shouted into her comms. At the same time, Arahato, cradling Shu and Sirin, shot forward.
"Fire!"
A fierce barrage erupted from the cannon barrels, the momentary flash of light outshining even the train's headlights.
Though it lasted only an instant, it had woven a meteor shower of fiery trails in the sky.
The foremost shells were detonated by the crows in the air, the explosions clearing a large area. Countless flaming crow feathers rained down, creating a new, bizarre spectacle.
The shells landed precisely on the route Bronya had designated, blowing several giant beasts that blocked the path to bits and clearing a path through the air.
The cannon barrels detached from Bronya's battlesuit, and the once-bulky armor instantly became much more nimble. Once used, those heavy artillery components were nothing but dead weight, better to be jettisoned.
The distant wolf also noticed Arahato's intentions. It had already realized that some of its minions in one area were out of its control. Now that area had become the enemy's objective. Though it didn't know what was so important about it, preventing the enemy from achieving their goal was always the right move.
The black tide instantly surged towards Arahato's path. Arahato tightened its grip on its katana, and Shu clenched his fists once more.
Two giant beasts charged Arahato from the sides. Arahato's spinning slash lopped off one monster's head, but the other still managed to grab Arahato's leg, halting its advance.
By the time the second slash severed the monster's forelimb, no less than ten giant beasts had swarmed around Joyce.
And more were appearing in the distance, closing in on them.