Completely incomprehensible. The voice in the spiritual link wasn’t any language Ling Ling was familiar with.
She dodged the giant claws while trying to communicate with the spiritual link in her mind.
“Speak human language.”
The other end of the link was silent for a moment, then that strange whisper gradually became a language she knew.
“Contractor… bad signal.”
“Still don’t understand…”
“I—said—bad—signal—are—you—deaf!”
Well, now she understood. In the gap between dodging the Tyrant’s “Farmer’s Three Punches” triple slams, Ling Ling closed her eyes, concentrated, and finally synchronized her mental wavelength with that mysterious voice.
“Oh my god, finally connected.”
“Hey hey, contractor, can you hear me?”
After hearing that voice, Ling Ling almost slipped. It wasn’t the cold mechanical sound she’d imagined. It was a girl’s voice as annoying as Hua Jianxi’s, and from her speaking style, she definitely wasn’t a serious person.
While dodging the Tyrant’s stomps, she responded to the mysterious consciousness that seemed to come from the ring.
“What are you?”
“Hey, who are you calling a thing? I’m not some thing.”
“No… now I am a thing.”
Not only was she not serious, she also seemed kind of stupid. Hearing that abstract rant, Ling Ling’s mouth twitched.
“Ahem, contractor, get rid of those rude thoughts!”
“I’m what you people call…”
“I’m what you people call…”
“What was it…”
“Right, the Divine Relic!”
“Yeah, I’m the Divine Relic’s auxiliary personality, specifically here to help you operate this thing.”
“You can also call me Ling Shi. How about that? Pretty cool, right?”
“Not really.”
“Oh, contractor, don’t be like that.”
“I heard your thoughts just now. Don’t you want a long, thick big guy?”
“But think carefully. Once you contract with me, you can never take off this crappy ring.”
“…Seems like you can’t take it off now either.”
Ling Ling was speechless at this chatterbox calling itself Ling Shi. But this was a crisis. Even if the other party had screws loose, she had to accept the contract. After dealing with this iron lump, she’d figure out how to train that “Ling Shi” guy.
“…Fine. Contract.”
“Okay, my dear contractor-sama, your ordered Ling Shi package has been processed.”
“Now just raise your left hand and imagine the weapon form you need most right now.”
Ling Ling followed Ling Shi’s instructions, raised her left hand high, and pictured the weapon form she needed most.
Just as she was thinking about it, a huge metal claw swept over her head, and the wind pressure blew her white hair.
That annoying female voice rang in her mind again.
“Hey hey, my dear contractor-sama, have you decided yet?”
“I’m about to overheat and smoke here!”
“Greatsword? Spear? Or Tachi? Just give me a straight answer before you start getting choice paralysis!”
“Shut up.”
“I thought you were usually pretty chuunibyou. Why can’t you handle it now?”
Ling Ling quickly thought about what weapon she really wanted. A greatsword wouldn’t work—too troublesome to swing with her small frame. At 5 feet tall, even a large tachi would be exhausting. A spear? Sure, spears were romantic, but her arms were too short…
Suddenly, a strange idea popped into her head.
“Contractor-sama, hurry up!”
“Your anomalous energy is pouring into me at 0.5% per second. If you don’t decide soon, you’ll be drained dry!”
Ling Ling dodged another Tyrant slam, jumping onto a pile of collapsed pipeline debris. She steadied herself and raised her right hand.
“…Then stop talking and focus it into a single point.”
The flickering crimson light extended from the ring to her palm. The light quickly shaped itself, while in her mind she imagined the weapon she needed most: something that combined melee and ranged capabilities.
The light faded. A massive crimson metal scythe appeared in her hands. It was a 1.8-meter-long scythe with an all-black handle that pulsed with breathing crimson patterns. On the crescent-moon-like blade, metal gears continuously meshed.
“Oh ho, finally decided?”
“Nice, this is awesome!”
“Then call it…”
“The Final Scythe – Zero Style.”
“Final Scythe – Zero Style.”
Ling Ling’s voice spoke the weapon’s name instead of Ling Shi.
She found it a bit funny. Just a moment ago she’d been complaining about the other person’s broken brain, but now she’d unconsciously accepted her chuunibyou taste. That useless pink hair was right—she was a secret pervert at heart.
She gripped the scythe with both hands, holding this red weapon taller than herself in front of her. Sure, she’d said she didn’t want anything too big, but she was just tsundere at heart; she simply thought the other options weren’t cool enough.
But the Tyrant didn’t give her time to adapt. The six-story-tall metal beast raised its right arm, and a giant metal claw swept toward her at a speed completely at odds with its size. The wind pressure alone rattled the discarded pipes beneath her, sending rocks and iron shrapnel flying like buckshot.
Ling Ling didn’t dodge. She stepped forward, gripped the scythe with both hands, dragged it behind her, pivoted on her left foot, and swung.
The crimson blade carved a crescent arc in the air and collided with the claw.
CRASH!
Sparks flew. The Tyrant’s claw was severed in one blow. Black machine oil sprayed like blood from the cut. The severed half-claw tumbled dozens of meters through the air before slamming into the ground.
Ling Ling held the scythe in front of her again. Black oil dripped slowly from the blade.
Inside her mind, Ling Shi let out a satisfied howl.
“My dear contractor-sama, you really suit my tastes!”
“Woo!”
“But I have to warn you—that slash ate up almost 5% of your anomalous energy.”
“This iron turtle isn’t going to be easy to dismantle.”
“You have to do it before the next pulse—”