Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary - Chapter 356

Chapter 356: Chapter 356 Avery’s Single-Minded Offensive
“Hurry up and get rid of that ship already. Those pirates just destroyed one of our destroyers, don’t let them get away with it.” Commander Triswei ordered, a quiet frustration in her voice.

Nothing had been going right for her since Avery’s mercenary team had arrived in this system.

She had made a sweet deal with the pirates that would have easily set her up to live the rest of her life in luxury, but now everything was falling apart.

“We don’t have time for this. If Commander Gunvald catches up to us, she’ll make sure to kill us all to keep her involvement with these pirates a secret.”

While her words were far from the truth, even the skeptical members of her crew that had been doubting their superior were having second thoughts after watching Avery bring down one of their vessels.

So far, the supposed pirates’ actions had not been in line with what should have been expected.

When they had had ample chance over the last few days to eliminate a ship that they had beaten, they always just left it disabled instead.

The group also possessed a high level of skill that only the most dangerous of pirates could hope to be anywhere near. It was strange that there had been no mention of such individuals being in the system running an organization until recently.

Nevertheless, the sudden and violent death of hundreds of their comrades that had been onboard what was now the wreckage of the destroyer shifted everyone’s perception.

Now the people under Commander Triswei that were not in on her schemes felt a more personal stake in the battle.

They were not just following orders any longer, they needed to avenge their lost comrades now and worry about preserving their own lives.

However, a momentary boost in determination and spirit would not be enough for them to suddenly become more skilled and accurate with their attacks and maneuvering of Commander Triswei’s heavy cruiser.

In his current state, Avery weaved through every blast shot at him and brought down strikes locked onto the Dauntless’ heat signature with his own weapons.

It was nearly impossible for those witnessing his display of prowess to believe that his movements were real. What almost felt more plausible was that the ship’s viewscreen and sensors had been hacked to display false information instead.

A single small ship had avoided nearly the entirety of a heavy cruiser’s full barrage and was now just a couple of kilometers away.

The size difference between the two vessels was practically incomparable. An Alliance Police heavy cruiser was thousands of times larger than the Dauntless.

Yet Avery did not seem to care about the monumental differences between his craft and the enemy before him.

All that was going through his head at this moment was crushing the people that had killed members of his team.

‘Why hasn’t Jasmine turned off that incessant beeping from incoming transmission? Fine I’ll do it myself.’

With one hand, Avery swiftly blocked any incoming communications so that they would not distract him.

His entire focus needed to be on the adversary in front of him, so he did not have time for whatever messages were coming in.

Jasmine was also practically screaming at him, but the words were muffled, and they were not really reaching him.

Thanks to the extrasensory perception he currently was experiencing, he could somehow tell that his copilot was healthy, so even though he normally would be unable to ignore her, right now she only appeared as a sort of static in the corner of his mind that he could easily forget about.

‘I’ve finally gotten close enough. Now it’s time to bring down this behemoth.’

Keeping mobile, Avery flew around the heavy cruiser like a fast-moving insect that knew no fear of the giant it was attacking.

Other than the Dauntless’ torpedo launcher, he had all of its weapon systems firing at their maximum rate.

The heavy cruiser had strong shields, far greater than anything Avery had ever come up against before.

Even his full-scale attack was not going to get through easily, but that was not going to deter him. He would simply keep fighting until he had won.

‘Incoming laser attacks from that direction. Seeker missiles coming from the starboard side. They’re trying to use their thrusters to move away and get some distance from me.’ Avery thought, carefully analyzing everything going on around him.

Without slowing down at all, he clung closely to the side of Commander Triswei’s ship and dealt with every attempt to attack or shake him off seamlessly.

Using the skills that he had honed through training with Urs and practical experience since he became a mercenary, Avery maneuvered his ship nearly perfectly for both offense and defense. In this moment, one might have even been able to claim that he was the best pilot in the entire Dramid Alliance.

However, something eventually shook up the rhythm that he had slid in to.

His senses that allowed him to perceive energy suddenly picked up an incoming attack from an area that should not have had any enemies in it. And these were not merely stray blasts, since they held more power in them than even the main laser batteries of the heavy cruiser that he was fighting.

Still, the blasts coming in were not enough to corner Avery, and he zipped around to avoid them.

Of course, he was within just a few meters of Commander Triswei’s heavy cruiser, so the high-powered lasers stuck against its already weakened shields.

‘Now where did those attacks come from?’

Avery’s ability to perceive energy did not extend so far that he could see everything going on, but fortunately he also had the Dauntless’ sensors to rely on.

Quickly it became apparent to him why he had not registered any enemies in the direction the lasers had come from.

Cerise’s battleship had been the one to open fire, and he had unconsciously already marked her fleet as nonhostile.

Except, part of the incoming attacks from her vessel were all conspicuously aimed at where the Dauntless was.

‘Why is Cerise trying to attack me? It doesn’t make any sense.’

As Avery’s mind raced for an explanation for why his perceived ally was trying to hit him, something else inexplicable occurred.

Jasmine had gotten up out of her seat and suddenly kicked Avery with enough force to knock him out of the pilot’s chair.

She then hastily sat down and pulled on the controls, bringing the Dauntless away from the heavy cruiser and flying towards where Cerise’s fleet was positioned.

“Jasmine… what the hell was that for?!” Avery shouted as he shook off the daze from the unexpected assault.

“What was it for?! It’s because you wouldn’t listen to a thing I said and were acting like I didn’t exist! It was like you were in some sort of a trance! Do you know how worried I was!”

Avery wore a blank expression as Jasmine yelled back at him, tears welling up in her eyes.

It was only as she pointed it out to him that he thought back on his actions and realized that everything since he watched three members of his team get killed was blurry.

He could remember flashes of what had happened, but it felt more like he was viewing a recording than recalling his own memories.

The more he thought about it, the worse his head started to hurt.

Eventually the pain became too great to bear, and Avery gripped his head as he groaned in agony.

Soon he felt something trickling down his face, and he reached up to wipe it away.

When he pulled back his hand, he saw that it was now covered in a thick red substance.

‘It’s blood?!’

Another few moments went by until Avery realized that this was his own blood that he was seeing.

Not only was he bleeding profusely from his noses, but from his eyes as well.

“Avery! Avery hold on for just a little longer! I need to get us somewhere safe first and I’ll bring you to the medical pod! Jasmine shouted, a greater panic in her voice now than even when they were being shot at.

‘Sh*t. Why do I feel so weak? Why does my head hurt so much?!’

He could not properly collect his thoughts through the pain, and it was difficult for Avery to keep himself upright as he leaned against the side of the cockpit.

While he was unable to realize it now, this was the price he was paying for pushing his body well beyond its limits.

The extreme extrasensory perception he had brought out of himself was not something a normal human would ever possess, and the strain of forcing himself to maintain it for an extended length of time had damaged his brain.

It had not been apparent at first, but once his focus had been cut, the backlash from perceiving and processing more information than he could handle had finally hit him.

‘I have to get back up. The battle is still going on. I need to protect everyone else. I can’t let the others dow-‘

As his vision became blurry, Avery attempted to pull himself back up.

His mind had gone back to the singular goal he currently had. Forgetting everything else.

However, this was the last thing he thought before his consciousness left him.

After everything he had been through, no amount of force of will could keep him up any longer.

Avery had pushed himself too far this time, and now he was suffering the consequences of doing so.