The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Your Highness Ange! Target C's firing position has been destroyed!"

As yet another five-story building crumbled like a sandcastle, burying the enemy fire team firing within beneath tons of steel and concrete, Mint, sitting behind Ange, reported, "Three-quarters of the remaining enemies in this area have been wiped out!"

"Understood, but don't let your guard down!" Ange quickly scanned the data and other information on the flashing control panel in front of her, while carefully moving her hands and feet on the specially made chair, controlling the "Colossus" to traverse the ruins and ashes and continue pursuing the enemy.

Although this was her first time personally operating a "Colossus," Ange was not unfamiliar with this aspect—technological products from the old civilization era emphasized compatibility and ease of operation. Therefore, upon seeing the interior of the "Colossus's" cockpit, she immediately realized that this thing was not much different from the operation of the smaller but much more common "Goron."

In short, both use essentially the same force feedback motion capture seats. The driver's seat in the cockpit is arranged side by side, like some old fighter-bombers, with no fixed distinction between driver and passenger.

However, before the Colossus is activated, the driver must select one of the driver's seats and designate it as the primary driver's seat. Afterward, it will continuously capture the driver's minute body movements and amplify them proportionally to create corresponding movements for the Colossus. The co-pilot is responsible for assisting in controlling and adjusting the Colossus's various secondary systems.

When they first found the "Colossus," Ange, who never wanted to fall behind, instinctively wanted to take on the role of pilot. But after thinking it over, she handed the job over to Mint.

Although serving as her chief lady-in-waiting in battle was not a particularly honorable position for Princess Fayun, Ange was well aware of her own abilities and Mint's skills. "Knowing people and assigning them appropriate tasks" had always been the motto of the Fayun-Lindenhild family. Even in her childhood, her father, the previous Grand Duke of Fayun, had repeatedly taught her this.

"Our ancestors were heroes and warriors of antiquity, and we have their blood flowing in our veins," he said. "Therefore, we should be more resilient and courageous than anyone else—but if we cannot, we should at least remember that we should be competent rulers."

"A qualified ruler should at least let the right people do the right things."

"I'm...I'm sorry, Father..." After yet another enemy fire team was simply and brutally wiped out by the "Colossus," Ange sighed and muttered to herself. Although the situation had now turned quite favorable for them, she couldn't forget the disheveled state she had been in when she was first teleported here.

Upon entering the arena, Ange was not only separated from her companions but also had no idea where she was. Although an ancient program that appeared later, calling itself "Lulu Meng," explained the rules and situation inside the arena to her in general, she was still ambushed immediately after leaving the area known as the safe house.

The fifth and sixth levels of the "Arena" were originally places where cruel and bloodthirsty spectators from the old civilization would personally engage in bloody "interactions" with gladiators and victims. Therefore, although the number of enemies here is not that large, they are all armored warriors like Ange and her companions.

Worse still, these adversaries do not behave as monotonously, rigidly, or predictably as chimeras or autonomous weapons.

Although Lulumeng claims that the overall strength of the "tactical AI program" that controls them is not comparable to that of truly experienced soldiers, Ange, who is full of confidence, still finds such an opponent too troublesome.

During the initial ambush, Ange was hit four or five times by fire from the shadows, and then, in her haste to find cover, she stepped on an anti-personnel mine. If it weren't for the fact that "Golden Soup" armor's protective capabilities far exceeded those of ordinary combat armor, she might have already been killed.

Next, those girls dressed in bizarre outfits—pink camouflage uniforms, camouflage miniskirts, stockings, and high heels—who at first glance looked like they were performing in a slapstick comedy, demonstrated a tactical skill that gave Ange a real headache. Various traps, ambushes, and sneak attacks occurred continuously on Ange's path.

She failed to detect most of them beforehand and could only rely on the defensive power of "Golden Soup" to withstand them. She appeared extremely disheveled.

After suffering several losses in a row, Anjie had no choice but to change her tactics.

She fully utilized her advantage as a "money-powered player," launching massive, indiscriminate bombardments with all sorts of weapons she possessed wherever she went. Any corner that might harbor enemies was mercilessly blasted to smithereens.

For a time, this tactic seemed to work: Ange was like a raging elephant, advancing by smashing everything in her path. Any nook or cranny where firepower was being fired upon was covered by her overwhelming counter-fire. As for the hidden booby traps, mechanical traps, and other mechanisms, they were all destroyed before they could be triggered.

However, perhaps because her opponents were very good at hiding, Ange only saw one enemy killed along the way: the person had been pierced through the wall by a plasma bullet. When Ange first saw the person's face, she was startled, because the person looked exactly like Xiaoxing!

Fortunately, just seconds later, the deceased's face peeled off, turning into a shapeless, muddy mass. Ange immediately realized something: here, even those who seemed to be allies were enemies.

Using this tactic, Ange barely reached her destination—the administrative center located in the central area of ​​the fifth floor. However, just as she found information about the "Colossus" in a safe, the building was surrounded by hundreds of enemies.

To make matters worse, when she tried to retaliate, Ange discovered that all her ammunition was nearly depleted, and even her energy weapons, such as the plasma shoulder cannon, had less than one-tenth of their energy reserves left.

In contrast, the enemy was well-prepared, even equipped with weapons that Ange had never seen before, such as light mortars, anti-tank rockets, and flamethrowers. From the beginning, the enemy had been systematically luring Ange to waste her precious ammunition and energy through small-scale attacks until her ability to retaliate was greatly weakened before launching the final battle.

This experience reminded Ange of an incident from her childhood: she had witnessed a 20-meter-long juvenile blue whale being attacked and killed by several orcas from a yacht. The orcas had used similar tactics to gradually wear down the blue whale, injuring and exhausting it, leaving it confused, before finally launching their attack and delivering the fatal blow.

This is exactly the same as what happened to her.

When she was first surrounded, for a fleeting moment, Anjie thought she had reached the end of her life... Fortunately, it was only for a moment.

Because Mint arrived.

Unlike Ange, her most loyal female officer, Mint, has the greatest advantage in experience and adaptability. Although her talent as an armored warrior and even the overall ability of her combat armor "Azure Snow" are far inferior to Ange's, she has experienced dozens of life-threatening adventures, despite being nearly twice Ange's age.

Although they had been tricked by the illusions created by "Virtual Paradise" outside, they quickly regained the most precious thing in their predicament: calmness.

It was precisely this precious composure that prevented Mint from panicking like Ange when she was suddenly thrown into the perilous underground of the "Killing Factory," which was the sixth level of the arena. Instead, she quickly observed her surroundings, analyzed the situation, and swiftly used the terrain to take cover.

Using the intricate network of pipes beneath the factory, Mint transformed into a stealthy hunter, much like the legendary "Alien." She not only successfully evaded the traps but also repeatedly turned the tables on the patrolling enemies. Finally, when Ange faced dire straits, she arrived just in time to cover her master's escape underground.

There, Mint had not only confirmed the location of the "Colossus" but also cleared away the traps and enemies around it for Ange. Using the activation code that Ange had brought out, the two activated the behemoth and piloted it back to the ground.

It was at this moment that they saw the conditions for clearing this level through the "Colossus" interface: "Annihilate all enemies in this level."

"Your Highness, the enemy appears to be fleeing," Mint said after the roof of another garage housing an enemy fire team was ripped off by the Colossus's hands. "They may be trying to retreat to a more advantageous position to regroup."

"Dream on, keep pursuing." Ange and Bohe pressed the confirmation button again, extending the temporary shutdown time of the reactor malfunction automatic safety device.

Just as the "Colossus" was activated, guided by Lulu Meng's suddenly appearing image, the two also activated the electromagnetic shield generator installed on the "Colossus." In terms of actual effectiveness, this device was extremely useful, blocking almost all of the enemy's anti-armor weapons and effectively protecting the "Colossus," whose armor was relatively thin due to its large surface area.

However, the energy consumption of this electromagnetic shield generator is also a big problem. Fortunately, Lulu immediately showed up and taught the two how to maintain the power supply by manually covering the reactor's automatic fail-safe device.

Although it needs to be checked every now and then, this method has worked so far.

Of course, as the battle progressed, Ange noticed that the reactor temperature data on the data interface was constantly jumping to new highs. In contrast, the coolant reserves were running low. However, since very few people had ever piloted a "Colossus" before, and Ange herself only knew a little about the much more common "Goron," she wasn't too concerned about it.

After all, under certain circumstances, the "Goron's" power system would also overheat, but that would only result in a temporary shutdown and paralysis. In Ange's imagination, the "Colossus" should be in a similar situation.

Even so, she still felt somewhat uneasy.

What caused this unease was the overwhelmingly smooth progress of the battle: although Ange had struggled in the battle before acquiring the "Colossus," encountering traps and ambushes at every turn, the situation improved dramatically as soon as the "Colossus" was activated.

With the electromagnetic shield launcher activated, ordinary bullets and small arms pose zero threat to the Colossus. Even the most powerful anti-armor weapons in the enemy's possession can only slightly slow its advance.

Under normal circumstances, such a situation would be delightful, but Ange found it very strange.

After all, this "arena" was designed for those mentally warped spectators from a thousand years ago, and everything within it serves their entertainment needs. What those guys wanted to see, of course, were all sorts of evenly matched battles. This kind of one-sided "clearing out" doesn't offer much enjoyment. Could it be that this "colossus" is reserved for those spectators' "avatars" to use themselves?

Admittedly, this possibility does exist. But even so, the current battle is far too simplistic.

"Ah, my dear husband... if you were here, would you notice anything?" Ange murmured softly in a voice only she could hear.

For some reason, whenever she encountered a problem that was difficult to solve, she would immediately think of the cat-eared boy she had only known for a short time.

In Fayun, cat-type Newhumans are considered "unclean" due to certain ancient traditions. Therefore, when Ange was rescued by Fish from the pursuit of the "Wave," she initially felt some disdain and rejection towards him. However, their subsequent duel and further interaction changed Ange's opinion of Fish.

Although her hastily chosen husband came from a humble background, had not received any aristocratic education, and could not even recognize many commonly used characters, and even had a rather ridiculous name, Ange knew that Fish possessed a quality that was half innate talent and half acquired through experience, somewhere between cunning and wisdom.

Although he wasn't always successful, Fish was often able to sense potential crises immediately.

Unfortunately, according to the arena's announcer program, Fish was teleported to a higher floor. Although Ange was confident he could get through the ordeal, at this moment, she couldn't count on Fish's wisdom to help her.

"Fine! Even so, I have to perform well. I absolutely can't let my husband look down on me!" Ange shook her head, turning her attention back to the defeated enemies. "Even with the status of a princess, if I don't perform exceptionally well, my husband might turn his attention to other women, which wouldn't be a good thing... Huh?"

Just as Ange was talking to herself, a red damage report suddenly popped up on a screen: Optical Sensor No. 2 at the front of the machine has been hit. Then, the corresponding display screen first turned into static, and then went black.