I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship, so I Became a Space Mercenary

Translator: SFBaka

The creature's five sharp claws slashed out to tear my body apart. If nothing was done, the claws may very well tear me up, armor and all. However, I had no intention of testing out the defensive capabilities of my new power armor against an attack like that. After all, it was a fairly expensive purchase.

"-Huph!"

I quickly dodged to my left. I cut off one of the creature's right forelegs earlier, so there were fewer claws in this position. When I passed the creature by, I slashed the joints of another two legs and cut them off as well.

『EEEEEIG!?』

Hm? I was a little worried earlier, but it seems my new power armor is able to properly keep up with my movements when I hold my breath. Maybe this ability of mine also affects my equipment? There's no way to verify that right now though. Well, I guess it's fine as long as it's usable.

However, what exactly was this metallic spider anyway? Kugi said it was a living creature, but it sure looks like a combat robot to me. Maybe my perception of it is skewed because I saw its spherical form when it was still inactive.

"Rush in!"

"Everybody down on the floor! Down!"

The instant I turned to face the metallic spider that had already lost three of its four right legs, another event happened.

Soldiers wearing power armor rushed through the hole in the wall. They were armed with heavy weapons and sported plenty of firepower. It looks like the cavalry's here.

"I'll leave this thing to you guys."

If people other than me were willing to face danger and fight, there's no reason for me to take risks myself. With my swords still in my hands, I quickly moved to the entrance of the room where Kugi and the shop clerk were hiding. Yeah, this armor is good. Its mobility is several times greater than RIKISHI.

"Who are you?"

While the rest of the power armor-equipped soldiers conducted a concentrated bombardment on the metallic spider that had already lost three of its legs, the only person who didn't participate in the attack suddenly called out to me. Only he had a different power armor color scheme from the rest. Was he their commanding officer?

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Well, I suppose this is only natural. When they rushed into a building in pursuit of their target, they found that a mysterious person wearing unfamiliar power armor had already engaged the target first. Even I would be wary if I were in their position. I think anyone would, actually.

"Just a customer who came to pick up his order-made power armor in this shop. Should I reveal my name and affiliation?"

I shrugged my shoulders and replied while still holding my swords.

"……Are you a noble, sir?"

The power armor-equipped officer saw my swords and asked in a somewhat humbler tone. Well, only nobles fought with swords like these in the empire, so his reaction is understandable.

"Nah, I'm not a noble. ……Ah, well, an honorary noble, I guess. Anyway, I'm not a true aristocrat. I'm just a mercenary."

"Mercenary……? Are you the famous Captain Hiro who became the champion of the tournament?"

"Uh, yeah, that's me ……Err, is it okay for you to ignore what's going on behind you?"

A fierce battle was underway while the officer was busy questioning me. The metallic spider had lost three of its legs already, but it was still very fierce. The heavy weaponry sported by the power armor-equipped soldiers scored hits on the spider, but none of them were decisive hits. Or rather, that metallic spider really is withstanding plasma and laser launcher attacks from those power armors.

"Just what is that thing made of……?"

"You can say that again. Oh, its movements are getting slower."

"So, it's finally overheated."

The laser weapons used in this world had very high outputs. Their outputs were so high that they could evaporate the surface of their targets at the moment of impact, causing small explosions that were both hot and destructive. That normally would be the case when taking direct hits from high-output laser weapons. However, that didn't seem to apply to the metallic spider. Even after taking direct hits, the surface of its body didn't explode, and outwardly, the laser attacks seemed to have no effect.

Plasma weapons such as plasma launchers caused damage to targets by instantly heating them to tens of thousands of degrees. Substances without proper countermeasures to that heat would melt or evaporate in an instant, but that metallic spider withstood that heat without taking any obvious damage. Perhaps it had an abnormally strong resistance to laser and thermal weapons.

However, the metallic spider finally stopped in its tracks and gradually fell to pieces after taking lots of direct laser and plasma attacks. Hmm. It looked like each joint had broken cleanly apart from one another. Did its internal structure get burned off or something?

"It looks like you guys have managed to finish it off, but do I need to accompany you for questioning or something like that?"

"Ah- ……No, it's fine if I just take your statement here. I'll have to put your name on my report though. But that's it."

"I'd actually like to avoid that too though…… Or rather, who are you guys anyway? The colony security team? Or imperial marines?"

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I think it's the latter, judging from their equipment, but I asked anyway. After all, their power armors and heavy weapons were too high-performance for a colony security team.

"I'm sorry, but that information is confidential."

"Alright, I got it."

In other words, they really did belong to the imperial military. I wasn't sure if they were marines, but maybe they were a special ops group or something.

"But you sure are impressive, sir. It withstood that much laser and plasma bombardment, but you just cut its legs cleanly off."

The soldier clad in power armor was looking at the legs I cut off from the metallic spider. It's true that despite its overwhelming heat resistance, sword attacks were pretty effective against it.

"Maybe physical attacks are more effective on it compared to laser or plasma. Like physical rounds and such."

"Physical rounds huh ……EML weapons aren't exactly easy to use."

"I can imagine why."

There were EML weapons designed for power armors, but they weren't very popular. There were several reasons, but the biggest was the difficulty involved in effectively wielding them due to their exceedingly high destructive and penetrative powers.

If such things were used in battles conducted inside colonies or ships, there was a high danger of them punching gaping holes in the colony or ship structure, leading to loss of structural integrity and airtightness. This can be fatal to structures in outer space, so ballistic weaponry was eventually phased out as standard close engagement weapons.

Also, they were simply too big, bulky, and heavy. Their firing interval was also quite long. They were extremely difficult to use in close engagements.

"Then I guess you'd have no choice but to bring out gunpower-type antiques."

"There should be no more such antiques in the armory of a well-equipped army."

Despite his face being covered by his power armor helmet, I could imagine the officer displaying a bitter smile. Guns using gunpowder-type live ammunition were already considered several hundred-year-old antiques in this world.

Shielding technology was developed to protect spacecraft from space debris during faster-than-light navigation. Of course, it was impossible to break through energy shields with the power of the smaller gunpowder weapons. It seemed there were lots of things that happened during the transition period, but in the end, infantry-use gunpowder weapons became obsolete due to the prevalence of energy shield technology.

Well, starships were still actively using such weapons though. The rounds fired by ship-use ballistic cannons are incorporated with anti-shielding technology after all. Krishna's shot-cannons and the EML of Black Lotus benefit from such anti-shielding technology.

"Alright. I'll excuse myself then. Please make sure to properly compensate this shop."

The power armor-equipped soldier shrugged his shoulders in reply to my words. After all, they did end up involving civilians. He would likely have to write a mountain of reports after this.

I wonder if I can still have my new armor delivered to the hotel after such an incident though. I hope things don't turn out too bothersome.