Honkai Impact 3: Noah's Ark

17:《N-004》

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《Monday, 8:13 PM》

They knew that they had been too late when they saw the tree line glow. Only after they had all stepped foot into the VTOL interior did they start to hear the ringing caused by local explosions. Without another word, the jet-powered vehicle lifted into the air and closed as the thrusters propelled them towards the village.

"Ready the turrets!" Ms. Nadeshiko ordered.

"Aye-aye Umi!" said Sora. The woman looked at the pilot with widened eyes but said nothing. Noah heard the front turrets shift and spin, and for a moment, only the sound of buzzing machinery and jet thrusters could be heard.

"Fire!"

They came from the dark. Thousands of shadows whipped past them in a storm, rattling the hull with their numbers, speed, and weight, and drowning the world in rattling metal and gunfire. Noah clutched the railing. He would catch occasional corpse slam into the windshield—these creatures weren't angel-types but some kind of crow with a dark glow. He couldn't tell much else as they quickly bounced off except for one thing: every single one of them stared at him with unblinking white eyes.

Ms. Nadeshiko moved her mouth. Noah couldn't hear. Then she put a finger over the commlink on her ear. The boy heard the next ones due having come from directly beside his ear:

"Get ready to land!"

Even as the floor churned within the swarm, the boy was able to unlatch a parachute from the wall and place it around his shoulders, though it wasn't too big of a feat. The other women had done it as well. He felt his legs tense as the frequency of the impacts increased accompanied by even more frequent turret fire. It was like the world was inhaling as much as it could for a big breath.

And suddenly, they were free.

"Go!"

The rear hatch opened, sending in wind to tear at his coat. He heard gunshots as Sora began opening fire at the few leading crow-things trailing behind the VTOL. The boy ran and jumped out while spreading his limbs.

Ah, the VTOL was much faster than I thought. A wordless remark as his body accelerated towards the earth. And we're too close. He yanked the string and felt his shoulders nearly tear off as the cloth flapped open above him, followed by his feet touching ceramic tiles. A second later and he would have crashed through the roof of the bakeshop and landed in a pile over the still smoking oven.

Exhaling, he shook off the parachute, hand patting his right thigh where his sword was sheathed. Then he looked over the streets.

It relieved him that they weren't as late as they thought. Sure, there were people still running in the streets, but it wasn't overrun by zombies. It was just that there were many shadowy humanoid things mixed in, and he realized both that they were attacking people and that they were the same thing as the crows.

"This is Umi, confirming a safe landing, please respond."

"Kate here. I think I landed on a zombie but I'm not sure."

Chuckles echoed over the channel.

"Frieda. I'm gonna be busy trying not to light up the streets even more than they already are."

Noah touched the transmission pad. "Valkyrie Noah, reporting uninjured. I am moving in."

Town center had more damage than the rest of the village, as evidenced by the crater that was once the town hall generator and the belching smoke from the police station. He couldn't tell the situation at the gate or at the opposite ends of the intersection, but at least they weren't on fire. He jumped down, hopping on top of a delivery truck before landing on the pavement.