The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Excuse my bluntness, kid. But your chances of winning aren't very high," Liu Gangzhi said smugly after hearing Fish's reply, pulling the control stick a few times. Arachne's massive mechanical limbs immediately rose up, resembling a tarantula trying to intimidate its natural enemies. "I have this now, while your combat armor is unusable."

“Oh, of course I know,” Fish said. “The host here told me that once you enter the seventh level, all military equipment automatically becomes ineffective… except for simple things like knives, and non-military equipment. But that means we still have a way.”

"Oh?"

"If I'm not mistaken, those boxes in the corner are filled with various tools that aren't considered 'real weapons,' right?" Fish began to slowly back away. "You probably got your 'Arachne' from there, didn't you?"

"You're quite clever, kid!" Liu Gang laughed heartily. "Unfortunately, there's only one heavy machine like this on this floor. First come, first served! You can try to take out the rest to deal with me, but I guarantee all your efforts will be in vain!"

"Oh, that's hard to say," Fish quickly winked at Xiaoxing, Anjie, and Bohe, "You might as well give it a try."

"Sure, I'll give you thirty seconds. You can go find whatever you like," Liu Gang said in a sadistic tone. "I want to see what methods you plan to use against me."

Fish didn't say much, but immediately split up with the other three and ran away to a corner of the seventh floor, where they began rummaging through drawers and cabinets. Liu Gang, on the other hand, seriously counted from one to thirty before taming the massive "Arachne" and starting his operation.

"Hello everyone, are you ready?"

"Look at this!" Xiao Xing was the first to be caught. She had just taken a huge wrench out of a box and slammed it directly at Liu Gang. The heavy wrench struck the canopy of the construction machinery with a clang, creating a small spiderweb-like crack... but that was all.

Fortunately, just as Liu Gang was about to stab Xiao Xing with a slender mechanical leg, Mint arrived in time—she was holding a can of fluorescent spray paint used to mark walls. Although it had no offensive power, the large amount of spray paint still covered the front of the cockpit, temporarily blinding Liu Gang.

"Damn it!" Liu Gang cursed, then activated the cleaning system. The high-pressure water mist containing cleaning agent acted like a sickle cutting down crops, quickly removing most of the paint. However, the paint that had seeped into the cracks caused by the wrench earlier could not be washed away, making the central area of ​​his vision somewhat blurry.

"You can't escape!" Despite suffering a slight setback, Liu Gang still controlled the giant mechanical "spider" and began to pursue Fish, who had suddenly approached him.

Although the Arachne-39 is not military equipment, and doesn't even have the potential for weaponization like those walking machines collectively known as "Gorons," it was still designed to be quite robust to cope with unexpected and extreme conditions during construction. In particular, the canopy is protected enough to withstand even small-caliber bullets.

More importantly, on this level, neither the ion gun and laser gun that come with the combat armor, nor any guns brought from elsewhere, are usable.

Of course, Fish's side wasn't without means of retaliation: to buy Xiaoxing the necessary time to escape, he rushed in front of Liu Gang and began firing a nail gun. Compressed gas propelled the nails toward the "Arachne-39," leaving only a few tiny white marks.

"Little Fish, you can't escape now." Liu Gang continued to chase the fleeing Fish, gradually approaching the elevator shaft that led from the "Killing Factory" area to this place. However, he didn't care about that.

After all, before he descended, the AI ​​within the arena had assured him that the elevator was completely one-way and could not carry challengers back to higher floors. Therefore, Liu Gang didn't need to worry about anyone escaping from him.

Just as the Arachne-39 was about to catch up, Ange arrived—this time, she used a portable foam extinguisher. However, like the fluorescent paint before, this tactic only briefly hindered Liu Gang for a few seconds. Soon, he activated the cleaning equipment and wiped away the foam once again.

"It's no use! I have a real weapon now, and you... eh?" Liu Gang was only halfway through his sentence when the elevator door suddenly opened.

The girl who appeared inside the door was a petite, pink-haired girl dressed in a ridiculous pink camouflage outfit and a miniskirt, wearing a beret. In her hand, she held a heavy anti-materiel rifle. For a real loli, firing this weapon would be dangerous enough to dislocate limbs or even break bones, but she aimed at Liu Gang without any regard for the risks.

A second later, a large-caliber armor-piercing round pierced the bulletproof glass of the Arachne-39's cockpit, ripping out part of the gang leader's ribs, spine, lungs, and heart, killing him instantly. Fragments of shattered internal organs mixed with blood and bone marrow, splattering everywhere inside the cockpit.

"I'm...I'm sorry, buddy. I...I also have a weapon," Fish said in a low voice, panting heavily.

"What's going on?!" Ange asked in surprise. "Who's that? Aren't weapons prohibited down here?"

"Yes, once you enter the seventh floor, military weapons and equipment will be locked... However, this arena was intentionally designed with many loopholes that people can exploit," Huang Yan answered for Fish. "For example, this is a very typical loophole: weapons and equipment are indeed unusable 'inside the seventh floor.' However, the space inside the elevator is not counted as part of the interior of any floor."

"Is that so?" Ange and Bohe both showed surprised expressions.

"Of course. As for this one... she's a 'clone' of mine that I used to subdue on the fifth floor," Huang Yan replied.

"Huh? You can control her?"

"In fact, a part of me is within her," the girl in pink camouflage said. "Of course, these 'clones' are essentially living beings with brain-computer interfaces and partially replaced brains by computer components, and cannot be manipulated by our 'overdrive control' ability, which we acquire by devouring and can only operate mechanical devices. But that doesn't matter. After all, my program is very similar to the tactical AI used to control them. As long as I crack the security system, I can 'download' my backup into it."

"Hmm... then wouldn't that mean..." A scene suddenly appeared in Fish's mind: dozens, even hundreds, of pink-haired lolis dressed in all sorts of clothes, calling him "Master" in unison...

"Slap! Slap slap slap!"

Fish's daydream lasted only a short while before he was awakened by the girl's soft slap.

"Stop having such a stupid dream! First of all, my basic protocol limits the number of clones I can create. Under normal circumstances, I can only clone myself a very limited number of times. Secondly, if the essence of a harem is different kinds of beautiful girls, what's the point of finding dozens or hundreds of identical ones?" Huang Yan roared with the clone he controlled.

"Harem?" The other three girls present showed completely different expressions after hearing the word: Xiaoxing was panicked and unhappy, while Bohe was purely disgusted.

And Ange… for a fleeting moment, Fish felt that, judging from the expression on the face of this princess of the Duchy of Fayun, she seemed quite interested in this word.

That expression made Fish shudder slightly.

"G-Gentlemen, please don't misunderstand! Huang Yan is just joking with you." Fish quickly laughed it off. "Let's leave now, lest something unexpected happens."

"Agreed." The clone controlled by Huang Yan nodded and was the first to walk towards the passage leading to the surface. This time, there were no more "surprises." Soon, the group returned to the surface.

"Phew...we're back alive." As the lush mangrove and coconut groves of the island came into view again, Fish excitedly knelt down and kissed the trunk of the first coconut tree he saw. "We're back! We're back! We're back!"

"Congratulations, Master." Before Fish could stand up again, a familiar voice spoke—it was one of the two maids under Ange, or more accurately, one of Mint's maids who served as Ange's female officer. To Fish's surprise, the two maids had actually set up a table under the coconut tree and were leisurely drinking red tea.

"You...you actually have the leisure to drink tea in a place like this?" Fish muttered, somewhat dumbfounded.

“Of course, Master,” the maid with drooping rabbit ears nodded, “After all, challenging the ancient arena is a trial for nobles, and panicking won’t help for people like us. All we can do is believe in you and pray for your triumphant return.”

"Yes," the maid with wolf ears and a thick, brownish-grey wolf tail added, "Besides, we weren't completely idle while we were up here."

"So what exactly did you do?"

"Everyone, you may now pay your respects to the next head of the Lyndenhild-Fayun family." The rabbit-eared maid snapped her fingers, and then more than a dozen men and women filed out of the woods and knelt on one knee before Fish and Ange. Among them were some faces that Fish recognized somewhat.

These people are the last survivors of the "Tidal Lightning" warband—or more accurately, the lowest-ranking members of the warband besides Fish's cannon fodder.

These guys hired from the docks weren't even regular members of the War Gang; they were all sorts of debtors, fugitive criminals, drunkards tricked onto the ship, and other down-on-their-luck individuals. They usually worked as low-ranking crew members on the War Gang's flagship, the "Black Lightning," doing odd jobs and rarely participated in formal combat.

This is why these talented individuals did not enter the arena like Liu Gang's other subordinates, only to perish on the first level due to the sudden increase in difficulty.

"You... what is this...?"

"After you set off for the arena, Little Luo discovered where those guys' ship was docked. After the combatants left, she risked contacting the remaining crew and managed to persuade them," the wolf-eared maid said.

"Persuade? How exactly did you do it?" Fish looked at the bunny-eared maid.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just asked them about their wishes and made a few promises in the name of the Lyndonhild-Fayun family," the bunny-eared maid said casually.

"Yes! After hearing Miss Luo and Miss Peanut's advice, I, your humble servant, have fully realized how terrible the crimes we committed were! Therefore, I have decided to turn back from the brink, repent, and start anew! I will do my utmost for Princess Fayun and her rightful heir!" The leader of this group of destitute fellows—a man with messy, bird's nest-like hair and a tumor next to one eye—said hastily.

"Oh, really? The Lyndenhild-Fayon family warmly welcomes you. You will all be grateful in the future." Fish adopted the demeanor of a "family head" and said to the man with a forced smile—of course, he knew very well what the other party was really up to.

As far as Fish knew, this man named Izumi Junyu was the foreman in charge of managing this group of odd-job guys, and also an old gambler who was heavily in debt due to gambling and had to hide on the "Black Storm".

Although he kept saying he had "turned over a new leaf," Fish knew very well that this guy, and his companions, were just gambling once again.

Of course, while the stakes in this gamble are her own life and fortune, the potential rewards are also incredibly generous: once Ange regains her position as heir to the Duchy of Fayun, anyone who lends a helping hand in her time of need will undoubtedly enjoy a life of unparalleled wealth and luxury. And any past debts will naturally be wiped clean.

In this respect, these ingrained and untrustworthy gamblers have become the most reliable people for Fish and his group at this moment—after all, nothing in the world is more determined than a gambler's burning desire to win back his losses.

More importantly, with this group of people, they can use the Black Storm, which has far greater firepower and is more suitable for long-range navigation than the small Lucky Star, and they can also use the legitimate identity registered by the Tide Lightning war gang as cover—all of this is invaluable given the current situation.

However, to be fair, while these people certainly had the desire and motivation to join their side, it was still no easy feat for Ange's two maids to successfully win them over. Fish couldn't help but sigh once again, these maids... no, these ladies-in-waiting of the Duchy of Fayun seemed to be nothing short of monsters!

"Well done, both of you. I'll apply for appropriate commendations for you afterwards." Mint praised her two subordinates in a businesslike tone, as if this was just a routine task they were supposed to do.

"In that case, we'd better get ready to leave as soon as possible," Ange said. "Once we leave here, we need to head to the Kingdom of Penglai as quickly as possible—once we get there, we'll have a solution."

"I don't think so," the clone controlled by Huang Yan suddenly muttered.

"Why?" Anjie asked, frowning.

"It's just the intuition of a high-level artificial intelligence that has existed for a long time," said Huang Yan's clone. "Please don't mind it, Your Highness. I sincerely hope that you can reclaim the Grand Duke's throne of the Duchy of Fayun as soon as possible—after all, this is in the best interest of all of us, and also of the plans of the United War Headquarters."