BXBX NOVEL Chapter 146 28.X Interlude: What Ifs
[*"If you would please look towards the deck, our lovely Lady Guidance and Maruki Storm will be there to assist you in boarding our vessel."*]
Guidance almost wanted to groan as she heard Shade\'s voice echo out all over the [Rig]. Did he really think he was doing them a favor by funneling every single one of these guys right on top of their heads?!
"This is bad," Guidance whispered out, her [Keystroke] already out and glowing as she found herself stepping behind Maruki for defense. "They\'re all coming here, and we\'re not built for this kind of combat."
With the enemy [Rig] basically right beside theirs, the enemy was practically jumping across the gap and right onto their doorstep. With Maruki still partly injured and her own combat expertise being limited, she had no choice but to just pump up the heals and hope to god that their tank could survive the punishment of almost a dozen guys beating down on him.
"Worry not, Lady Guidance! I can handle these heathens just fine!" Maruki bravely shouted out despite the guys already standing in front of them. "I only need your healing so that I may better survive!"
"You think?" she sighed, her fingers already clacking. "Just make sure none of them try and hit me."
"Of course!"
The dev rubbed the tip of her nose as she prepared herself for another salvo of nonstop healing. It was different from when she was just pressing keybinds in the comfort of her own home. Now, she had a first-person view of the action. And without a bird\'s eye view of the entire battlefield, she might not be able to see everything that the enemy might throw at them.
"Dammit.... Now I know what Moriya feels..."
Their stint at the dungeon earlier, combined with the inevitable changing of her world\'s code had somewhat shaken Guidance to her very core. Gone was her previous bravado and shameless leadership. In some ways, she felt like she was back in college again, forcibly walking through life in hopes that things would eventually make sense again. Granted, it didn\'t, but life at least gave her a few bones every now and then.
"Ready, Lady Guidance?!"
She sighed, flexing her fingers in anticipation. "Ready."
"G-Get them!"
"Fire at will!"
Predictably, the portable steam cannons, or steam guns as she called them, eventually opened fire. She raised her keyboard up in defense, but she knew that Maruki would shield her from the worst of the hits.
"[SHARE!]"
As quickly as the attacks came, the same could be said for Maruki\'s [Move] as a blue glow enveloped her. All of a sudden, any bullets that hit her felt nothing more than mere ant bites as all of the damage went to the tank.
And of course, that meant that she had to start healing him.
"[Cure]! [Medica]!"
In rapid succession, Guidance began flinging out heals to their poor tank, Maruki letting out a [SHOUT!] as he drew in all of the aggro like an impenetrable fortress.
"Hah! You heathens hit like the gentle sea breeze!"
Guidance could only shake her head as she kept on healing him out of death\'s door. He might not show it, but he was already teetering on the edge of unconsciousness even before the enemy boarded their vessel. Immediately, she regretted how weakly she balanced Maruki\'s [Moves] and personality. She wished she could\'ve added a berserker-like mechanic to him instead of simply giving him unbelievable endurance. Maybe then, he\'d be able to dish out just as much damage as he could take.
Then again, where was the fun in that...
As the dev tossed out one heal after another, the regret of balancing her game to be difficult began to haunt her thoughts even more. What if she had actually coded in other difficulty settings? What if she actually managed to fix most of the bugs? Would it have made a difference now?
Would she have actually gotten a chill and fun life in a world she herself handcrafted to her tastes?
"[RUIN]!"
Throwing out a few attacks here and there, Guidance clicked her tongue as she repositioned herself, her attention still focused solely on keeping Maruki alive.
"Where the hell is Moriya?" she grunted under her breath. "There shouldn\'t be anything left to do on the bridge. What in the actual fvck is taking them so long?"
"Have faith, Lady Guidance!" Maruki shouted out through all of the punishment he was getting. "They will come!"
She sighed as she kept on casting. Perhaps she should just turn her brain off again and slip into her raider persona to avoid all the dark thoughts that were threatening to keep her down. She didn\'t have the luxury to think about the fact that her entire world was rebelling against her, that she was somehow cut off from even fixing this mess by having the entire code change on her. Maybe she wouldn\'t even think about the fact that her entire life\'s work was crashing down right before her eyes....
Okay, she was making herself sad now.
"Ugh! I don\'t care anymore!"
The world seemed to stop as all eyes turned to her. Some of their swords were still crossed against Maruki\'s as they stared at her, their eyes wide as they probably thought that she was going insane.
And in a sense, they\'d be right.
"Maruki! Keep them busy!" Guidance yelled out. "I\'m gonna charge something after giving you a bit of help!"
"Hah! As you wish, Lady Guidance!"
With a hint of crazy in her eyes, she lined up a few more heals before she enacted her plan.
"[Cure]! [Medica]! [Adloqium]!"
Casting a flurry of support [Moves], Guidance simply nodded before focusing on her keyboard once more. Typing furiously, she pulled up another window as she began coding in a new [Move] for her to use en masse.
"It shouldn\'t take too long..."
She might not be able to change the world anymore, but that didn\'t mean she had to stay defenseless. She refused to feel useless... She was a top-class raider, dammit! And she\'d rather die than acknowledge the brewing slurry of emotions running through her chest right now!
"Done!"
With a smirk, she brandished her [Keystroke] once more, her gait fearless as she approached the crowd of enemies beating down on Maruki. With a smirk, she then raised her [Manifest] up in the air, her power glowing in anticipation as she then slammed it onto the floor.
"[Art of War]!"
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