Harem Assassins : King Sekton's Harem Planet, Book 2: A Space Opera Harem Adventure Baron Sord (good books to read for adults .txt) 📖

Not my preferred option.

It meant we might have to fight our way past more space demons than we would if we were to exit from the keep roof. Again, not an option because we were running out of time faster than I had planned. Using this new route to the black side instead of the green meant it had taken us slightly longer than the eight minutes it had taken us getting to the reactor room in the first place.

4:24…

4:23…

4:22…

But we had finally arrived at the ground level on the black side and were ready to exit the thick wall.

Do or die time.

Literally.

I placed both gauntleted palms on the wall and did a final scan with my rings, checking for any space demons on the black side of the d4 asteroid who might be waiting to surprise us. From what I could see in the 3D wireframe showing in my ring HUD, they weren’t expecting us. The few black demons that were visible in the 3D wireframe were spread fairly evenly along the top of the curtain wall behind the battlements, several more were positioned up above on top of the keep, and more were waiting inside it. Based on their body language, it appeared they didn’t know where we were. That was to our advantage. We wouldn’t have to worry about them ambushing us. If anything, we would surprise them when we popped out of the black wall.

If any other demons were floating in space above the black keep, they weren’t showing up in my 3D wireframe. They weren’t showing up as X’s on my HUD radar either.

In fact, none of the space demon army were showing up as X’s on my radar. By contrast, when I had been outside earlier, flying around the bigger Space Pyramid, I had seen thousands of X’s in my HUD radar.

I wasn’t seeing any now.

Not a one.

Sudden dread iced my veins.

Clearly, the “conductance” scan I was currently using to create the 3D wireframe diagram of the black demons touching the black keep and its curtain walls was not the same “line of sight” scan my ring radar used to track demon X’s whenever I was outside or in space. I seriously doubted the three remaining CyberKnights and their demon armies had called it a day and gone home to their respective sides of the Space Pyramid.

They had to be out there somewhere.

Somewhere close.

Possibly floating directly above the black keep.

How many I had no idea.

Could be zero.

Could be all of them.

Ring, are there any space demons floating above the black keep? Do you have any special scanning techniques for that? Can you combine a “conductance” scan through the keep walls with a “line of sight” scan into space? Can that be done from here inside the walls of this space asteroid?

The ring had nothing to add on that subject.

Or I wasn’t being specific enough.

But I didn’t have time to be more specific, not with an atomic bomb under my ass with its timer ticking down.

4:13…

4:12…

4:11…

My only option now was to hope there was no demon horde floating in space mere meters above the keep, ready to point a thousand bolt rifles at me and Captain Theia the second we showed our faces.

“Okay,” I said, swallowing my concerns. “We’ve got four minutes to fight past any demons outside and get our asses through that Chaos Gate.”

Theia nodded.

I added, “There’s only a few centimeters of stone between us and whatever is waiting outside. Once I open a hole, be ready to start shooting.”

“Yes, my king.”

“It could get ugly,” I warned. “Very ugly.”

“I can handle ugly,” she said confidently.

“Oh?”

“You saw the last king in his true form,” she said wryly.

“Mr. Fish?”

“Yes, him,” she said with a snarky smile.

I chuckled because I was both grateful for her bravado and crazy scared we were about to die. Hiding my fear, I said, “On three, I’ll open a hole and you start blasting. Three, two, one…”

—: Chapter 43 :—

3:58…

3:57…

3:56…

With the hole open, Captain Theia and I stepped out onto black stone pavers. Our armor plates had already changed color to match the black stonework, making us difficult to spot. Above us, the stone curtain wall and keep wall climbed up toward the blackness of space and the sparkling stars beyond.

No sign of floating space demons above the keep.

Not even the ones on the walls seemed to notice us.

Until we took a few cautious steps.

Then they were everywhere, popping up on my HUD radar by the hundreds, a chaotic swarm of black, white, red, and radiation green X’s. Two seconds later, they were raining silent bolt fire down on us from every direction, an entire army of beastly demons floating in space exactly as I had feared.

I immediately used my rings to create another Sphere of Absorption.

Captain Theia aimed her bolt rifle and opened fire. Of course, no bolts burst from her barrel. She frowned at her ABR-17, trying to determine the problem. “My rifle is jammed!” she said over comms.

“Hold your fire!” I barked back while holding up a halting hand. “I’ve got an absorption sphere running around us! It’s absorbing your bolts and theirs! Save your energy packs in case we need them later! We’ll have to fight our way out of here by hand! Stay close!”

“It’s draining my ammo pack!”

“Forget about it! We have to go!”

Ring energy surged through me like flamethrowers on full blast as I expanded myself to Mega Beast size and pulled Captain Theia close to my chest, ready to vector us both up into space.

Before I could, a throng of space demons came crashing down on top of us. I jumped back, twisted around, dropped Theia to her feet, and growled, “Stay behind me! Hide in the wall hole where it’s safe!” The lead bubble hole was still there. “Get in there! That’s an order! I’ll take care of—!”

“Look out!” Theia shouted.

KROOM!

A huge fist clocked my blindside and I went stumbling. Countless demons