"What do we do?!" One of the other students yelled from across the train carriage. Friedrich shrugged.
"There's nothing we can do. Just stay inside the train, hunker down and wait for rescue. Don't worry, the train is heavily armored. The interdimensional creatures will have difficulty penetrating the thick hull. Just relax and wait."
Something crashed into the train and almost flipped it over. the students cried as they hung onto their seats, glancing fearfully out of the window. I caught sight of a dark shape slithering away, something enormous and about the size of a house. Or length, because it reminded me of a serpent. Rather than possessing a huge size, it was long. Like an anaconda or Titanoboa.
…or a serpentine dragon. I didn't know why, but that thought just popped into my mind.
"It's probably one of the Saurian remnants who were trapped in this dimensional rift and mutated after spending generations in the quantum energies of this realm," Aegis explained. I raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't question her. Before I could ask anything, she continued. "Do not worry. Short term exposure to the energies in the dimensional rift is harmless. You will need to produce several generations of offspring solely within this environment before any significant mutations emerge."
"That's a relief," I remarked with a sigh. Then I frowned. "Wait, are you suggesting that I leave the train and go outside?"
There was no other reason why she would assure me about the exposure to the energies, unless she was suggesting that the train didn't provide protection against them.
"The Galaxy Express 1000 will certainly shield all passengers from the energies of the interdimensional rift, yes. But I am indeed requesting that you disembark to fight the mutated Saurian assaulting the train because I do not believe that the train will be able to withstand a sustained assault."
"Fine." I wasn't enthusiastic about leaving the safety of the train to fight a giant monster, but I wasn't fond of leaving my fate in the hands of others. If we were being attacked, then I would feel more comfortable taking matters into my own hands and defending myself instead of depending on others. "Let's do it."
"Hey!" Friedrich noticed that I was rising from my seat and making my way toward the nearest exit. "Where do you think you're going?"
"I'm going to eliminate that monster."
"No way! Leave it to the professionals! Just stay here where it's safe, or you'll be swallowed whole! Caliban University's psychic professors will be here soon, and they can crush that beast with a snap of their fingers! Just wait for them and don't do anything reckless!"
There was another ominous creak and an immense impact as the monster slammed into the train again, almost throwing us against the side of the carriage. More students screamed this time.
"How long will they take to arrive!?" One of the students yelled at Friedrich, who had turned an unhealthy shade of pale.
"Um…about two hours. An hour if we're lucky."
"An hour!?" Another student threw her hands into the air. "Hey, I hate to break it to you, senior, but we aren't going to last a minute, never mind an hour! That thing is going to break open the train and it's going to eat us all!"
"Calm down!" The conductor snapped, striding into the carriage. He waved for everyone to get into their seats. "Stay low and don't move. Even if the monster cracks open the Galaxy Express 1000, it'll probably detect its prey by movement, so keep any motion to the minimum and wait for it to pass by us."
"I don't think that's going to work," a student murmured, trembling.
"Sir." I placed my hand on the door. "I'll distract the beast and draw it away from the Galaxy Express 1000. Please keep the other students safe."
"Wait, what!?" The conductor glared at me. "Don't be a hero and return to your seat! Hey! What are you doing?!"
He tried to make a grab for me, but he was too late. I yanked the door open and jumped out. Before I slammed it shut, I left behind one last message to the conductor and Friedrich.
"Don't open the door, no matter what…unless it's me."
Then I slammed it shut with enough force to rock the train, as if to emphasize my point, and bounded through the wasteland. Hopping over the vegetation, I looked around for the enemy, tracing the entire length of the train for any sign of the gigantic assailant.
"Where did it go?"
While seeking my foe, I also assessed my options. I didn't have the ability to call an orbital strike because my ships were back in the material dimension and not in orbit over this interdimensional rift. That meant I only had Arondight and Aegis.
They were more than enough, especially since Sandora…ahem, I mean Vivian had given me the upgrade module for Arondight and taught me how to use it. No matter how massive the serpentine Saurian was, I would blow it to pieces with sheer firepower.
And then the serpent struck. I was somehow able to evade in time, diving to the side when I sensed movement behind. The foe moved with a speed that belied its gargantuan bulk, its fanged jaws hammering into the ground and carving a crater into the dirt. Clods of soil splattered me, but I managed to avoid the worst by rolling to the side.
Jumping back up, I activated Arondight and a blue light flared to life as it wreathed his black blade. I dug my heels and faced the Titan Boa – an arbitrary nickname given that it was a gigantic snake that was over thirty meters in length and sported jaws wide enough to swallow a bedroom whole. Swinging Arondight, I tried to unleash a blast, but the Titan Boa darted to the side and avoided the energy wave.
There was also the problem that it was moving too fast for me to charge up enough energy to obliterate it in a single blow. Already, I was forced to dodge its next lunge, its jaws closing over the empty space where I had occupied bodily a millisecond ago. Enraged, I retaliated with a slash, but my blade glanced off the obsidian armored scales of the titanic serpent. I did leave a scorched line across its hide, causing it to hiss in pain, but I wasn't able to angle myself to stab more deeply.
"Aegis!"
My shield reacted, splitting into her eight components and raining down beams and plasma on the Titan Boa, leaving glowing gouges across its scales. Superficial wounds, though. The Titan Boa continued to crash down upon my position, leaving furrows in the ground as it wriggled through the soil and uprooted twisted trees and warped plants.
I heaved and leaped to the side, parrying its fangs as it brushed past me. The momentum of its charge hurled me several meters away, but I cartwheeled in midair and landed on my feet. Skidding a few paces back, I stabbed Arondight into the ground and steadied myself.
Aegis continued to fire another barrage of laser beams at plasma at the twisting, writhing form of the Titan Boa, but it snaked through the environment, avoiding pinpoint shots at its vitals and continued pouncing on me. At the very least, I was gratified to see that I was drawing it away from the Galaxy Express 1000.
From this distance, I could see the sleek, ultramodern shape of the advanced train hovering in the distance, its armor dented in places where the Titan Boa had collided against. There were portions that appeared crumpled, almost like a crushed can, indicating that the titanic serpent had attempted to coil around the length of the train and constricted it like a living prey, thinking to suffocate it.
Evidently, it had failed, and thus it resorted to force. Honestly, I was thinking it would attempt to wrap around me in its constricting coils, but it was instead just trying to swallow me whole. I wondered if it had venom, but I doubted it.
Snakes were divided into two categories – constrictors such as boas, anacondas and pythons – and venomous predators such as vipers and elapids. There was a third category, colubrid, which tended to be harmless to humans despite a few being venomous and the majority not. These included tree snakes and grass snakes, but I wasn't talking about them because they…were harmless and not a giant snake trying to devour me at the moment.
The Titan Boa continued barreling after me, destroying the environment and crushing vegetation under its huge bulk and the sheer violence of its passage. I barely stayed ahead of it, keeping it at bay with a few stinging volleys from the hovering Aegis. Spinning around, I discouraged its bite with a swing of Arondight, the disruptive field cutting through its lip and leaving a cauterized scar that caused it to hiss in agony.
As tiny as the sword seemed to be, the power field generated by Arondight was still deadly enough to force the Titan Boa to shrink back in reflex. I didn't blame it for retreating. I was already charging energy in Arondight.
"Ready, Arondight?"
"Always ready!"
"Great. Then let's test Vivian's gift out!"
I swung him and unleashed a blast while the Titan Boa was still withdrawing. The black tide of energy engulfed the surroundings and caught a portion of the Titan Boa while it desperately dove to the side, obliterating a good chunk of its tail and laying waste to the area. Trees simply vanished, ceasing to exist. the Titan Boa was wailing in agony, thrashing and rolling about in the ground as its mishappen tail whipped about, ending in a charred stump.
"Damn, I didn't get it in one blow."
Despite being disgruntled, I didn't hesitate and mercilessly ordered Aegis to continue bombarding the writhing serpent. The Titan Boa managed to throw itself to the side as laser beams and plasma lanced into its position, leaving angry, red glows across its immense body. It lashed out in retaliation, but I vaulted over its half-cut tail and even managed to whirl in midair to hack away a chunk of scales and muscle. This time, my blade reached all the way to the bone.
That hurt the Titan Boa, and hurt it really bad.
Pounding the ground with what remained of its body – which was still an impressive length of over twenty-eight meters – the Titan Boa reared up and lunged once more. this time, I was tired of retreating and I decided to hold my ground instead. Aegis assisted with firing her laser beams and plasma directly at the charging Titan Boa, blowing away pieces of its body. Enraged beyond reason, the Titan Boa only had vengeance on its mind and it continued hurtling forward, determined to kill me even at the cost of its own life.
Mutual annihilation, in other words.
"Hmph." I snorted. "That suits me just fine."
By now, I had charged up enough energy in Arondight's blade. Taking a deep breath, I swung him and unleashed all of the stored energy in a single blast. The Titan Boa, which would normally evade the blast, had been angered beyond the point of rationality, and it slithered straight into the destructive tide of energy.
For a moment, it looked like its momentum was going to carry it forward, but it then disintegrated under the sheer power of the blast and was erased from existence. I watched as its immense bulk continued forward, gradually disappearing from the dimension as it was being broken down atom by atom by Arondight's new ability.
"Phew…"
I let out a breath when the last traces of the Titan Boa dissipated under the violent blow. It had been a close shave, with the last of its bulk almost colliding against my position, but I had succeeded in completely obliterating it before it reached me. Still, I didn't want to go through that again. Deactivating Arondight, I dismissed them back to their portable components and turned.
"Now, shall we return to the Galaxy Express 1000?"
"Not yet," Arondight said. I did a double take.
"Huh? Why?"
"Because there's an ancient technological relic nearby in this dimension. I propose that you retrieve it, Commander."