"He wants... Us to dive into the burrows? He’s gone mad..." Nerissa groaned.
I was more interested in the house that she was staying in as I took in the minimalistic furniture and space.
From what I understood, this was also a prefab which basically just got dropped inside the base and served as a residence. It had two floors with the lower floor being the living room and study and a bedroom and bath on the second floor.
Looking at the rest of the fort, there were also several other buildings shaped like this so I presumed this building was built for officers and other important personnel while the soldiers get the barracks.
My girls were also gathered here with their Exo-Knights powered down outside in a kneeling position as I had just explained to them the order that we had received.
Or rather more specifically... What Nerissa had just received.
He was really expecting Nerissa to just gather the dogs and then march them into the tunnels with her like she’s the pied piper or something...
I’m not even sure if he intends to give her some backup in the form of soldiers, though I guess they would be pretty useless when pared to the dogs I suppose... In fact, they might be more of a liability than a help.
Amber shrugged, "To be honest, it’s the next expected course of action. Why else would he get over five hundred dogs here? Did you think he was only leaving them for defensive purposes?"
Nerissa turned to her and made out a choked sound of distress, "What do I do then? I can’t go in there... If I don’t get killed by those bugs, I’ll get killed by the dogs instead..."
She then shifted her gaze to me and I didn’t even need to ask to know what she was thinking.
I let out a sigh, "What do you think? Should I go in and take her place?"
Mara gave me a pointed look, "If you do... People are going to ask questions... A lot of questions... Questions like how are you able to walk amongst the dogs without being torn to pieces for example... And the tunnels are too small to fit the Exo-Knights too so you would have to walk in yourself..."
Lea tilted her head, "People are already asking questions about how you are able to lead them in your Exo-Knight, Mistress. Even in an Exo-Knight, dogs could also tear it to pieces if you were that close to them and yet they seemed to be following your lead the entire time."
I shrugged, "They won’t ask questions if they don’t know that there are questions to ask."
My girls blinked at me.
"What do you mean, Boss?" Ries asked, her cat ears twitching cutely.
"All of you will mobilise with me to gather at the entrance of one of those burrows. I will carry Nerissa there and act as if I am simply transporting her there and nothing more. Then we will arrange ourselves to stand guard outside the burrow with our Exo-Knights."
Yumiko understood immediately, "I got it, Mistress. The reality is that she will remain in your Exo-Knight while you are the one that dives into the burrow with the dogs to clear out the nest. Am I right?"
I nodded and patted her head, "That’s right. Such a smart girl!"
Yumiko actually let out a cute whine as her tail wagged happily behind her from the headpat.
So cute.
"But... I can’t pilot an Exo-Knight..." Nerissa muttered.
I shook my head, "You don’t need to pilot it. I’ll just make it stand there and you can just stay inside the cockpit. Just make sure no one else sees you. I’ll be the one to descend into the burrows with the dogs on my own. You girls also stay outside with her just in case."
Nerissa’s eyes widened as she came over to grab my hands, "Oh thank you, thank you, Miss Tera!! Thank you!!"
I raised an eyebrow, "Don’t thank me yet. I’m only agreeing to take the dogs down into the burrows to try and clear out the nest, but I don’t even know if something like that is even possible. I will let you know that I am not allowing even a single dog to die and if I deem that the plan is too dangerous to proceed, I won’t."
She paused, looking up at me in surprise before her face changed into one of acceptance, "I... I understand... That’s more than what I can ask for to begin with."
At least she’s aware... I’m literally doing charity work for her right now only because I like the dogs. If the ones being used for this mission weren’t dogs, I couldn’t care less and would have just boarded my ship and flew off the moment I pleted the delivery here.
I nodded at her before turning to my girls, "Alright, let’s mount up then. We’re heading there directly."
The girls obeyed and we were back outside once again, all of us going to our own Exo-Knights and ascending to the cockpit with Nerissa following me.
I had to hug her close as I used the rope to bring me up to the cockpit before letting her step inside with me.
She took a look at the control system of the Exo-Knight and immediately froze in place.
She then very slowly turned back to me, her eyes wide in the shape of teacup saucers.
"You’re... You’re... You’re a Noble?"
Ah... I actually didn’t account for this.
Fuck it.
I raised my hand and moved her inside the cockpit telekinetically, the woman letting out a gasp of surprise as she found herself being moved against her will.
I then shut the doors of the cockpit and let the machine power by taking a seat on the control seat without letting myself merge with the machine yet.
A chair then popped out from the ground and I let Nerissa sit down in it, forcing her to do so using my telekinesis.
"First of all... I’m not a Noble. I’m a naturally awakened Psionic. That’s all you need to know. Second of all, you tell no one. Got it?"
I could hear her gulping behind me, "Ye... Yes."
Good. She’s a smart one so she knows what she should and should not do, at the very least.
I then focused my senses and my view changed to the Exo-Knight’s as I slowly stood up.
Screens appeared to the side of my peripheral vision as my girls connected their ms to me with Amber looking smugly at me.
"She figured out you’re a Psionic, didn’t she?"
I rolled my eyes at her using my real body, "Yes she did. You could have warned me..."
"She would have figured it out with this plan of yours anyway. And if she isn’t dumb, she would know to keep her mouth shut. Won’t you, Nerissa?"
A terrified squeak came from somewhere behind me before Nerissa spoke up, "Ye... Yes!! I won’t tell anyone about this!! You can trust me!!"
Ok, ok, don’t scare her so much, Amber... We still need her to be functional instead of mentally broken, ok?
I went over to the containers that housed the dogs that were being guarded quite heavily by drones, the scanners scanning me to make sure I had authority to get close to the containers before the drones lowered their weapons and allowed me to get close.
I then opened up the containers and the dogs spilled out, all of them barking happily the moment they saw me as they rushed out to surround me.
I gestured for them to follow me and flew into the air with my girls, leading them out of the fort as the soldiers all gave us a wide berth the moment they saw me releasing the dogs.
They followed me out into the fields and I intentionally picked a burrow that was quite far away from the fort before I descended to the ground.
My girls remained hovering in the air instead of joining me and I did not blame them.I then moved my Exo-Knight to make sure the machine was facing away from the fort so that they could not see me before powering down my machine and opening up the cockpit.
I gave Nerissa a look, "Stay here. Got it? Call me if anything happens."
She nodded her head quickly.
I grabbed my shotgun and halberd before grabbing the rope to descend to the ground, my feet touching the earth right in the middle of the crowd of dogs that were wagging their tails at me and barking happily.
I gave the dogs nearest to me headpats before turning to the large burrow which stood gaping in front of me, the darkness of the interior staring right back at me like the entrance of an abyss.
Funny thing was... I actually have experience staring into the abyss... When I tried to use those Psionic Crystals to enhance my Psionic powers.
I pulled out my halberd and held it tightly in my hand before leading the dogs into the burrow.
Time for some bug extermination.
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