Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!-Chapter 109: To the Last Lap

The Primula was an overpowered, all-range sniping weapon.

However, it wasn't without weakness.

The beam was transmitted from the weapon to its target through a combination of Quantum Tunneling and Superposition, exploiting how particles could exist in multiple states and locations until the wave function collapsed.

Because of this, every shot from the Primula still had to originate from a specific direction in space.

Blocking the first strike had been sheer luck.

Without it, we would've stayed blind to the silent reaper's blade lingering over our heads. But now that we'd been hit twice, we had a good read on the angles. Blocking the next attack wasn't as hard as it seem anymore.

While Cassandra resumed control and focused fully on piloting, Eva listened closely to my brief explanation, then started triangulating the attacker's location based on the vectors of the two previous strikes.

This method let us limit the angles the enemy could fire from—allowing us to either preemptively block or maneuver away from subsequent shots.

That was the plan... at least, until reality kicked in.

"This is bad!" Eva's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"The enemy's location is more than six galaxies away! With the current expansion rate of laser spread and positional targeting... there's no place we can hide!"

"Fuck..."

Right. Even laser beams, no matter how narrow, spread over astronomical distances—just like how regular light fans out. So the Primula's superposition "calculation" was essentially all around us now.

Under normal conditions, a laser fired from that kind of range would lose most, if not all, of its penetrative power. But the Primula circumvented that completely. It didn't travel the distance—it bridged it instantly, maintaining its full, lethal force.

In short, we were in deep shit.

"Damn, another one incoming!"

The spatial-flux sensors screamed as I jumped into action. Luckily, the max-level shields had a drastically faster cooldown than standard. By the time the next attack came, they were already back to about 50% charge.

I realigned the concentrated shields, covering the area indicated by the sensors. With so little time to react, even a slight error could cost us everything.

"...!"

I slammed the enter key just as the system responded. The energy shields folded into a cascading, angular formation, guarding the ship's central zone—the one housing the antimatter engine.

But something felt off.

No... the targeting was slightly off-center. If their goal was the engine, this wasn't a clean shot. Were they aiming somewhere else?

"This...!"

The laser struck, shaking the entire ship, but it was in that moment I realized something alarming.

"Someone among the racers is sending our live coordinates to the Primula—feeding them the data so they can keep locking onto us!"

To track us, they couldn't rely on the race's broadcast stream.

The few seconds of delay between live action and the feed would throw off the aim—by then, we'd have already moved hundreds or even thousands of meters. The only way they could keep aiming this accurately was if they had a solid grasp of our real-time movements—or maybe have a complete understanding of our pilot's habits.

"Eva!" I barked, urgency cutting through every word. "Someone among the racers is using a stealth-based targeting system to keep tabs on us. Find the bastards—now!"

Thankfully, Eva didn't hesitate. She gave a sharp nod. "Leave it to me!"

Though she had to divert her focus from navigation, Cassandra was skilled enough to fly solo. Our main priority now was to eliminate whoever was feeding our coordinates to the enemy!

Right then, the announcers began chattering, apparently catching onto the strange developments.

{What's this? The Knights of Camelot are acting suspicious! Their shields keep activating—and then mysteriously break the very next second!}

{Huh? Really? I was averting my eyes from them, but now that you mention it... That does look strange. Are those... lasers? Are they under attack? Well, after all the stuff they pulled, maybe they ticked off the wrong people.}

"Kuh...!"

Of course. It was too much to expect the announcers to recognize a top-secret weapon like the Primula. Still, now that they'd noticed the irregularities, maybe the race committee would intervene and look deeper into the situation...

...Or not.

Even after we successfully blocked three more Primula strikes, there was no reaction from the committee. No alerts, no enforcement action—nothing. Were they complicit? Were they deliberately ignoring this?

Damn it!

Just then, Cassandra flew across the finish line, completing our 49th lap. A bright checkered holographic flag shimmered into view, signifying we'd entered the final lap.

"Found it!" Eva shouted just in time. A window popped open right between us—positioned behind Cassandra to avoid distracting her. "It's that golden ship—Eden Company!"

Hearing the name made my jaw clench. "Fuck, I knew it!"

I'd been eyeing the leaderboard in my periphery. I noticed how Eden Company, from the moment the Primula began attacking, had been inching closer to fourth place—the Undergods. And the nearer they got, the quicker the gap between them closed.

It wasn't overt, but it was clear they were using some kind of dirty trick. Something that subtly slowed down nearby competitors—likely through illicit tech.

"But never mind that—right now, we have to take them out!"

At present, they were halfway through the course, nearing the exit of the asteroid field. With our current velocity, we'd catch them around the zigzag section.

Which meant I needed to push myself for another four brutal minutes!

"Eden, is it?" But then, Cassandra's firm words echoed.

A deep breath, followed by her expression turning serious—despite how pale her face was. "Then, I'll close the gap in two minutes!"

"Casey?!"

"Cassandra..."

Although I want to tell her not to risk it, even I'm not confident I can keep blocking every incoming strike from the Primula at this pace.

After all, it's like I'm trying to parry every single attack from a boss monster with a 0.25 millisecond parry window! Even in a Souls-like game, that's insane—standing before a one-hit-kill boss and deflecting all its attacks for ten minutes straight, without ever countering!

There's no clear windup. Just a short warning beep—then death.

Worse, the beam could strike anywhere on the ship. So I have to position the concentrated, 0.1 m² shield precisely at the point of impact—on a fast-moving, constantly rotating ship! There are thousands of possible impact points, and a single error spells disaster.

Then, Cassandra's movements changed—and to my astonishment, they looked eerily familiar.

'Those... those are my moves!'

I had trained her using my flight patterns before, but only to sharpen her visual recognition and combat judgment. I never expected her to actually memorize and replicate my movements for real!

Yet here she was—doing exactly that.

She used my techniques, blended with her instincts and decisions, executing maneuver after maneuver with uncanny precision. A corner U-Turn brake, followed seamlessly by an entry into the corkscrew loop-de-loop! It was perfect—clean, fast, not a second wasted!

Of course, the strain was still enormous—far too much for her to handle alone. But thankfully, Eva was there to support her at every step.

"Laser trap in two seconds! Veer to eleven o'clock!"

With Eva calling out the laser trap's entry point while accounting for spin rate and trajectory, they navigated it effortlessly—clearing it like seasoned veterans.

And just like that, we left the loops behind and plunged into the asteroid field.

But a new problem awaited—other ships.

These weren't front-runners. They were the stragglers, the bottom of the ranks. But with nothing left to lose, they turned desperate. Instead of just blocking us, they were hell-bent on taking us down. Whether driven by rage, spite, or sheer stubborn pride, they came for us with everything they had.

"Don't let them close!" I shouted.

Of course, it wasn't for our safety—but theirs.

Even now, the Primula kept firing at regular intervals—every 10 to 15 seconds. If, by some chance, one of those ships got between us and the beam's path... I could only pray such a tragedy didn't happen.

Whether or not she understood what I left unsaid, Cassandra replied with confidence. "I won't!"

The ship instantly surged forward—its path no longer linear, but complex and erratic, twisting through the void in a dizzying array of curves. It was nearly impossible for the other ships to predict our movements or line up an effective block or ramming maneuver.

The first ship closed in, its wings flaring as it cut directly across our trajectory. But Cassandra refused to yield.

In the next breath, she braked hard—then flipped the ship from one side of the track to the other, like a vanishing mirage! It was so sudden, so precise, it almost felt like she teleported!

"...!"

The enemy ship, caught off guard, missed its mark and swerved too late to avoid the asteroid ahead. It smashed into the rocky mass, crumpling like tin can—before erupting in a dramatic explosion.

It wasn't a pleasant sight, but... frankly, their odds of surviving that crash were still better than being vaporized by the Primula.

Three more ships lay ahead, blocking the path like a wall—moving in coordination to force us into a trap.

But Cassandra didn't flinch. Without hesitation, she surged toward the center of the trio—the narrowest and most dangerous route—and accelerated.

My breath caught in my throat. Charging through the middle meant she was headed straight for a collision with an asteroid!

But once again, she defied expectations.

At just 100 meters from the obstacle, she lifted the nose of the ship—executing a full "backflip." The tail nearly scraped the asteroid's jagged surface.

Then, with the ship inverted, she slipped into a narrow gap above the asteroid, completed the roll, and shot forward—upright and accelerating even faster.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

{W-W... W-WHAT A PLAY!!! Is this their way of saying the Knights of Camelot haven't been going full throttle until now?!}

{Holy hell... With the way they're performing right now, no one would believe they're actually under fire. That little pilot girl's a freakin' monster!}

As I blocked another incoming laser strike, and the commentators finally wrapped up their awestruck commentary, I narrowed my gaze.

Because just ahead, now clearly within our line of sight, was a very familiar golden ship.

Eden Corporation!