The underground pipelines were limited. With massive jets of steam erupting, the water content in those pipes plummeted drastically.
Due to the large-scale pipeline leaks, Academy City had practically shut off the water supply to District 7 to avoid affecting other school zones.
In short, there weren't many pipelines left for Natsume Sonoko to exploit.
But as vast amounts of steam billowed out, the ground had become a blanket of white, traces of water vapor everywhere.
This kind of environment suited Natsume Sonoko perfectly—in a way, it was practically her home turf. The heavy mist hanging in the air gave her a serious advantage.
Still, Natsume Sonoko didn't have many thoughts running through her head right now. All she wanted was to get as far away from that monster as possible.
Fighting that thing head-on was out of the question. Blowing up sewer lines was the only way to survive.
Since Natsume Sonoko didn't have any massively destructive attacks at her disposal—if she could just convert thermal energy directly, she'd send that monster to the moon in a heartbeat.
It looked tough enough to survive the trip, anyway.
But that giant beast was as clingy as sticky rice cake, always chasing after them, its two oversized, doll-like eyes fixed in their direction, watching their every move just like a normal creature would.
"Tsuzuri, how's the transmission going?" The voice of Anti-Skill Yomikawa-sensei came from the front of the vehicle, sounding impatient with Tsuzuri's progress.
"Almost there, almost—it's started uploading. I'll contact headquarters right away." Tsuzuri-sensei's voice was nervous and timid as she stared at the painfully slow transfer rate on her computer, growing more anxious by the second.
The armored vehicle rumbled over the shattered rubble on the ground until a partially collapsed wall, over a hundred meters long, suddenly loomed ahead, blocking their path.
"Hold on tight—we're going through!" Yomikawa didn't flinch. Gritting her teeth, she slammed the accelerator, and the armored vehicle picked up speed, aiming to smash straight through the barrier.
Natsume Sonoko eyed the wall uncertainly.
Her current abilities weren't much use against concrete, and she hadn't specifically studied its material properties—let alone developed a working formula to deal with it effectively.
But that didn't stop Natsume Sonoko. Beneath the ground, dense ice crystals rapidly formed, and the soil swelled upward, heaving the wall up with it.
Under her careful control, it shaped into a rough ramp just steep enough for the vehicle to climb.
With a roar of the engine, the wall toppled to one side. All four tires gripped the slanted surface, and under the vehicle's weight, the wall was crushed flat against the ground.
Dust billowed up in a cloud as the armored vehicle cleared the wall—just as the enormous creature closed in behind Natsume Sonoko.
She didn't even need to turn her head; from the corner of her eye, she could sense the massive shape looming overhead.
No time to look up. A dense thicket of tentacles had already sprouted behind Natsume Sonoko.
The monster tried to use its ability again, causing giant hands to form from the earth and rubble, but before they could fully take shape, some unseen force interfered.
The armored vehicle shattered several of the earthen arms and drove on, unscathed.
Mist hung thick in the air, making it much easier for a certain someone to act—especially since Japan was an island nation, surrounded by sea, where humidity was naturally higher than most places.
Suddenly, icicles condensed in mid-air and rained down, piercing the monster and its tentacles under the pull of gravity.
A violent tremor shook the ground around Natsume Sonoko, and the earth sank beneath her. If she hadn't been hovering in the air, she'd have had nothing to push off from.
"That AIM Burst—created by the Level Upper—has a core inside it that stabilizes the AIM field. Destroy it, and you'll disperse the collective unconscious of all the users! Then I can regain control!" Kiyama-sensei shouted.
Though her voice was loud, it reached Natsume Sonoko as little more than a muffled blur.
In the end, Natsume Sonoko didn't catch a word of it. She shot a slightly confused, innocent look toward Kiyama-sensei.
No time to dwell on it—a massive tentacle swung into view right in front of her.
The tentacle was more active than a normal organism's, but not by much. The real trouble was its regenerative ability.
Before it could even touch Natsume Sonoko, the tentacle began shedding skin on a large scale, its inner flesh withering away until it looked completely limp.
In her haste, Natsume Sonoko had only managed to create a high-temperature zone in front of herself—but it still had some effect.
This monster, born from an AIM diffusion field, was in some ways a true marvel. Natsume Sonoko almost felt it was a living creature in its own right.
The giant beast's tentacle quickly regained its vitality. Dead cells acted like armor, blocking most of the heat, so Natsume Sonoko had no choice but to expand her thermal control range, completely killing off the tentacle.
Just like with the human body, Natsume Sonoko couldn't directly manipulate the temperature of this AIM-born creature. But the effects of the high and low temperatures she created spread with startling speed.
Whether due to her Personal Reality or something else, the larger the area she altered or the greater the temperature shift, the faster her influence spread into any zones her ability couldn't normally reach.
Maintaining a high-temperature zone of just five or six cubic meters was enough to rapidly deactivate any tentacles that entered her sphere of influence—at the cost of some mental processing power.
But with more tentacles swarming in, Natsume Sonoko had to keep expanding the range or cranking up the heat.
That was exactly why she'd never dared use her ability recklessly on people—she had no idea what temperature or range would leave someone unconscious rather than outright dead.
The colossal monster easily shook off the icicles and kept chasing the armored truck. Just as it was about to catch it, something tangled around its body, slowing its movements abruptly.
High heat wasn't very effective, but the moisture in the air gave Natsume Sonoko a major advantage.
After reapplying her formulas and performing a simple mimicry process...
Countless white chains had coiled around the monster's body, absorbing the surrounding vapor. In moments, they'd locked down the creature's lower half, freezing it in place.
Thick mist swirled and condensed into ice over the monster's body, holding it fast. Each time it broke free, new ice formed—a relentless, repeating cycle.
The monster's flailing tentacles made the ice break away quickly, and the drain on her processing power soared.
The formulas weren't complicated, but under these conditions, Natsume Sonoko's mind grew foggy—clear signs of overexertion.
"It's done—the transmission's complete!" Tsuzuri-sensei shouted from inside the armored vehicle.
Right away, the vehicle turned back—Natsume Sonoko had fallen behind somewhere along the way.
Teachers Yomikawa and Tsuzuri stepped out, armed and visibly shocked at the sight of Natsume Sonoko—who could no longer maintain her wings and had collapsed on the ground—and the monster, now encased in ice and unable to move.
She'd held it for barely ten seconds before the chains shattered completely. Natsume Sonoko just sat there dazed.
She'd run out of processing power. To think it only lasted about ten seconds... Natsume Sonoko sighed inwardly.
If she were a Level 5, she could've turned that thing into an ice statue—even if she couldn't kill it that way.
With ideal conditions and her going all out, she might only match what Misaka-san could do without even trying.
After all, Misaka-san could easily convert electrical current into heat and roast half that monster to a crisp—and who knew how much energy she wasted in the process.
"The monster's moving again!"
"Wait—it's not coming toward us anymore."
But as the transmission finished, Natsume Sonoko thought she could faintly hear music playing. Seemed like it had broadcast successfully. At the same time, the monster finally stopped pursuing Natsume Sonoko and the others, turning away instead.
"Remarkable. To slow down a monster like that—even as a Level 4, you'd rank among the best."
Kiyama-sensei, her eyes still streaming blood, climbed out of the vehicle, covered in dust—clearly, the rough ride hadn't been easy on her either.
"You're the wanted criminal, Kiyama Harumi?" Yomikawa's tone was grave. She'd thought they'd rescued a civilian, not a fugitive.
"Ah—don't move! Put your hands up!" Tsuzuri-sensei fumbled for the automatic rifle at her waist, her voice trembling with nerves.
"Now's not the time for that. It's heading toward the downtown area. Even though the Level Upper network is down, the collective unconscious of the users remains." Kiyama weakly pointed toward the hulking creature, then raised both her hands.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.