After receiving the side quests, which had no explanation whatsoever accompanying them, Yinuo became vigilant of their surroundings for the whole time. If Melody's life is in danger, then that means someone or something is coming for her soon.
'But I have no idea when that "soon" will come...'
Rather than feeling blessed for the quests to have no penalties upon failure, she felt burdened instead. She doesn't know how the Revenger System works, but for sure, it wouldn't be giving things away for free without a catch.
'This means that whatever is coming for Yinuo is pretty strong, raising the chances of failure.'
Melody activated the bots one after another, causing the large metal cubes to morph into an angular robot moving along the ground, floating a few inches over it. As the six robots, each about half as tall as Melody was, came to life, they lined up around the destroyed Doppel, waiting for orders.
Yinuo was clueless about fixing such a giant machine, so she left everything to Melody. It was fortunate that the blueprint for Quinlan's Doppel was stored on the local computer stationed in the hangar, so they could access it without problems.
Of course, as Melody commanded the bots to work, she also began to explain several things to Yinuo, as if she were teaching a newbie from scratch. Learning wasn't hard, but Yinuo wondered if she could even apply what she learned anytime soon.
*Clank!*
The sound of metal falling to the ground caused Yinuo's alert level to rise, moving right beside Melody and pulled her into a tight embrace before turning towards the source... One of the bots accidentally bumped against a metal bar leaning against the wall.
"Phew..."
Seeing that it was nothing dangerous, Yinuo sighed in relief, but she was still not lowering her guard.
"U-Uhm... Quinlan? Can you let go now?" Melody asked, acting all meek while hiding her face behind her hands.
"Oh, sorry. I was just startled by the noise," Yinuo replied with an awkward smile. "Where were we again?"
Although she tried to act normal, her senses were still busy scanning her immediate surroundings. Her eyes reached up to a hundred meters around, completely grasping everything within range.
With her mind busy keeping watch over the surroundings, Melody's words were now getting wasted, entering one ear and out the other. Just like that, Yinuo maintained maximum vigilance until the day was over.
"As expected, we couldn't even complete its framework in half a day." Melody sighed, looking at the incomplete repair of the Doppel.
Still, now that it was stripped of all its molten parts, it looked a bit more presentable compared to before. Yinuo, however, was still unable to lower her guard. With nothing happening the entire afternoon and the night approaching, protecting Melody will become even harder. After all, it's not like they were staying in the same place.
"It's too bad, but let's continue the repairs tomorrow morning!"
After she let the bots enter hibernation mode once more, turning them all back to their metal cube forms, she then came back to Yinuo's side, a sweet smile adorning her blooming face.
After that, Melody walked out of the hangar, with Yinuo following closely behind her. The two chatted casually while walking along the same path they took earlier that day. The scene looked peaceful, as if they were two lovers enjoying their walk side by side. But everything changed in the blink of an eye.
*SKRIIIIIIIIIIIII!*
A deafening sound echoed, causing Melody to reflexively cover her ears. An irritating noise, comparable to sharp nails scratching a blackboard, echoed from all around. Shortly after, a different set of blaring noises echoed: warning sirens.
"An attack! It's the Echoes!"
Someone shouted, which then started a stampede. Everyone was running around randomly, trying to find shelters where they could hide in safety. In the middle of such a wild crowd, Yinuo and Melody were unable to move an inch.
Seeing the panic on everyone's faces, Yinuo wanted to release her aura to let everyone freeze on the spot. However, just as she was about to do so, she felt an intense killing intent drilling right at her head.
"Damn it!" She cursed, picking up the immobile Melody and running back the way they came without delay. "Hold tight!"
As soon as she ran, explosions echoed from behind them, and what came together with those were pained screams and pleas for help. Yinuo didn't dare slow down or respond to the cries for help, as at the moment, even her life was at risk.
"Fucking hell! What side of this scene looks peaceful to you, system?"
From the shockwaves of the attacks alone, Yinuo could tell that the enemies were around the golden core stage of strength or higher. Furthermore, they number in the dozens, making it difficult to even find a "safe" place anywhere.
"T-The hangar! The shields around those places should be thick enough to protect us!" Melody, finally regaining her wits, gave a suggestion.
As soon as Yinuo heard that, she made a beeline straight for the hangar, evading anything and anyone that blocked their way.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Explosions detonated ahead of them, accompanied by the same irritating noise. Yinuo bit her lips, ignoring the damage that her ears suffered, and dived through the cloud of dust and smoke, finally reaching the hangar.
Remembering the procedure on how to open it, Yinuo placed her palm on top of the panel beside the shutter. After a short wait, the shutters started opening upward, but Yinuo didn't dare wait until they were completely open. As soon as a gap large enough for a person to slip through was made, she threw Melody in before diving inside after her.
As they entered, she then ran to the other device inside and pressed her palm against the panel once more. This time, the door began closing.
"Faster, faster! Come on!" Yinuo muttered, repeating it several times.
Just as the gate was about to completely close, something suddenly stuck through the small remaining gap.
*SCREEEEE!*
With an ear-piercing noise, whatever it was that owned the long, tentacle-like appendage cried in pain. The tentacle became a problem, stopping the shutters from completely closing.
"Fuck!"
Yinuo cursed, grabbing a random metal bar at the side and using it like a sword as she lunged at the tentacle. "Rend!" With a powerful shout, she brought the bar down in a swift motion. The tentacle got cut rather than smashed, allowing the shutter to completely close.
Although they were supposedly safe already, with the Echoes smashing against the shutters loudly, they still couldn't let their guards down. Furthermore, the tentacle that got cut off was squirming violently, like the newly cut tail of a gecko.
Yinuo didn't want to take chances and walked up to it, waving the bar in her hand a few more times in succession. "Rend! Rend! Rend!"
After a few more slashes, the tentacle was finally unable to squirm any longer as it was minced thoroughly. With that, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Although she looked calm on the outside, she was already fuming deep inside.
'Fucking side quest! I almost died!'
However, little did she know that their suffering was just beginning.