デイルがシェリル達に自分達が見つけた旧世界の遺物の解説などをしている。シェリルも部下達も非常に興味深そうにデイル達の遺物を見ていた。
デイルが得意げに語っている。
「旧世界でも経済活動は当然あって、今と似たようにいろいろな企業が存在していたんだ。同じ人間だから同じようなことをしているのか、単に今の人間が当時の
気持ちよく話しているデイルにシェリルが口を挟んだ。
「いろいろ教えていただけるのは大変有り難いのですが、その、
デイルからいろいろ聞き出そうとしているのはシェリルの方だ。しかしデイルは調子に乗ってシェリルの方が心配するほどいろいろと話してしまっている。シェリルは一度落ち着かせるべきだと考えて、デイルの話を中断させた。
少し冷静になったデイルが自分の発言内容を思い返す。確かに少々話しすぎた感はあった。それでもデイルは自分を心配そうに見ているシェリルの表情を見て、自然と損得の帳尻を合わせようとする。
「あー、その、知ってるやつは知ってる話だし、大丈夫だ。それにまあ、乗車賃だとでも思ってくれ。俺達も荒野に取り残されたくはないしな」
「そういうことでしたら、有り難く拝聴いたします」
シェリルが軽く頭を下げてデイルに
アキラは一歩離れてシェリル達の様子を見ている。内心を表に出さないように注意しながらアルファに感想を述べる。
『貴重な情報を随分あっさり話すんだな。これがシェリルの手腕か。正直ちょっと怖い。何が怖いって、相手が
を刺す目的で、シェリルの評価を若干偏らせて話す。
『シェリルは自分の容姿を理解した上で、慢心せずに十全に活用しているからね。元々素質があって今は徒党のボスをしているから、一層その技術に磨きが掛かっているのでしょうね。アキラも注意しないと駄目よ? これはシェリルに限った話ではないわ。アキラがもっと強くなれば、いろいろな人間がアキラを利用しようと寄ってくるわ。相互に利益のある協力的な相手なら
アキラが自分を客観的に評価しようと試みる。
『分かってる。俺は大丈夫だ。......多分。......
以前アキラはシオリから誘いを受けて高級レストランで食事をしたことがある。その時のアキラの食に対する固定観念を打ち砕いたような料理を釣りの餌にした場合、アキラの意思は大いに揺らぎそうである。その時はアルファにアキラを頑張って止めてもらうしかないだろう。
『大いに稼いで、自費でちょくちょくあの店に顔を出せるようになる必要がありそうね』
アキラは少し強がるように答えた。
不意にアルファの表情が険しくなる。それを見たアキラも一気に警戒を強める。
『アキラ。窓に寄って銃の照準器で外を確認して』
『モンスターか?』
『それを確認するの。ちょっとノイズがあったわ。モンスターでもこっちに来る気配がなければ放っておきましょう』
今のアルファの索敵は基本的にアキラの情報収集機器で得た情報を基に行われている。雨により全方向への索敵範囲が狭まっているため、特定の方向をしっかり調べる
していた。肉食であることが一目瞭然の生物系モンスターだ。雨を吸った毛皮が非常に重そうだ。
モンスターは何かを探すように周辺をうろうろしている。アキラ達に気付いている様子はない。
『こっちには......、来ないか? さっきからあの辺りをうろうろしているけど、あの辺りに何かあるのか?』
アキラ達に近付くわけでもなく、かと言って離れていくわけでもなく、モンスターは同じ場所をうろうろし続けている。
『中途半端な場所にいるわね。嫌がらせかしら?』
注意は必要だが明確な脅威ではない。そう示すアルファの軽口に、アキラも落ち着いて適当に答えた。
デイルとコルベも他の窓から外の様子を確認している。
デイルは肉眼で外を見るが、モンスターの姿を発見することはできなかった。デイルがアキラに尋ねる。
「おい、何か見つけたのか?」
「ああ、モンスターだ。結構デカい奴が1匹、向こうの空き家の近くにいる」
デイルが双眼鏡を取り出して、アキラに教えられた場所を見る。
「......あれか。良く見つけたな。お前は部屋の中にいて、外なんか見ていなかっただろ?」
「高性能なんだ」
アキラが軽く笑って答えた。それを聞いたアルファが得意げに笑っている。
高性能なのはアルファだ。デイルはそれをアキラの装備の性能のことだと判断した。
も角、装備はばっちりってわけか。シェリルの護衛が他にいないのは、こいつ一人で十分だからか? もしかしてこいつは義体か? 高性能なのは、情報収集機器だけではなく義体の性能もか? 腕の方も相応なのか?)
デイルはアキラの見た目の年齢や雰囲気から余り強いハンターだとは思っていなかった。しかしアキラが自分よりも早くモンスターの存在に気付いたことで評価を改めた。
(こいつの実力はどの程度なんだ? それが分かればこいつに支払われる報酬も想像が付く。そうすれば依頼主であるシェリルの資産とかもある程度は想像できるんだが......。まあ、帰りに分かるかもな)
デイルの予想に反して、アキラの実力の一端を知る機会はすぐにやって来た。
コルベもアキラと同じように銃の照準器で外の様子を確認していた。アキラが発見したモンスターをコルベもすぐに見付けた。
えを含んだものに変わり、銃を構える手が僅かに震え出す。そしてその震えが止まったのと同時に表情が非常に険しいものに変わる。その表情には銃口の先にいる存在への明確な憎悪が込められていた。
コルベは内心の激情にかられて引き金を引いた。銃声が部屋に響く。発射された銃弾は見事にモンスターに命中する。しかしモンスターに重傷を与えることはできなかった。
モンスターがアキラ達の存在に気付いて
「死ね! 死ね! くたばりやがれ!」
コルベはモンスターを罵りながら銃撃し続ける。コルベの腕は良いらしく、全ての銃弾がしっかりモンスターに命中した。銃弾を浴び続けたモンスターの動きが鈍くなり、崩れ落ち、動かなくなるまで、必死の形相で銃撃を続けていた。そして地に伏したモンスターに更に数発の銃弾を浴びせた後で、荒い息のまま
「ぶっ殺すために決まってるだろうが!」
「こっちに気付いてなかっただろ!?」
「食い殺しに来るまで待ってろってか!? 殺せるうちに殺すんだよ!」
銃声の主はアキラだ。アキラの方へ振り返るデイルとコルベに、アキラが落ち着いた声で言う。
「後にしてくれ。他のを片付けてからにな」
アキラはそう言って銃撃を再開する。銃弾がアキラ達に向かってきている別のモンスターに命中し、頭部を粉砕して絶命させた。
甲羅の上に大砲と機関銃を乗せている亀がアキラ達の方へゆっくり近付いてきている。
アキラが大砲を背負うモンスターを見て驚きの声を上げる。
『何だあれ!?』
『あれはトーチカタートルよ。まだ成長途中なのが幸いね。弱点は砲口の中よ。見ていないで早く撃ちなさい』
アルファがアキラの強化服を操作して、アキラが構えているCWH対物突撃銃の照準をトーチカタートルが背負っている大砲に合わせる。アキラはすぐに引き金を引いた。
アルファの膨大な演算能力による精密
き散らして四散するトーチカタートルを見て、アキラがアルファを称賛する。
『お見事。しかしあんなやばそうなモンスターまでいるなんてな。ここってそんな物騒な遺跡だったか? 暴食ワニがいなくなって生態系が変わったからって、そんなに変わるものなのか? それに何であんなにモンスターがいるんだ? そこら中の荒野からモンスターがここに雨宿りに来ているのか?』
アキラが疑問に思うのは
も角として、今のアキラにその疑問の答えを考える余裕はない。アルファはアキラを戦闘に集中するように促す。
『それを考えるのは後にしましょう。生き残りさえすれば、その理由を考える時間はたっぷりできるわ』
アキラはすぐに次のモンスターに狙いを付けて引き金を引いた。徹甲弾に胴体を貫かれた8本足の馬が崩れ落ちる。そのモンスターはすぐに後続のモンスターに踏み潰されて絶命した。
戦況はアキラ達が優勢だ。アルファのサポートを受けているアキラ。ほぼ未調査の危険な遺跡を攻略するために装備を整えていたデイル達。ヒガラカ住宅街遺跡に生息しているモンスターに対しては過剰戦力のハンターが3人掛かりで反撃しているのだから当然ともいえる。
一部のモンスターは本来ヒガラカ住宅街遺跡に生息していない種類のものだったが問題なく対処できた。脅威度の高いモンスターは3人分の火力を集中させてすぐに倒していく。小物のモンスターにある程度近付かれた場合は、アキラがDVTSミニガンで
デイルはアキラを過剰評価していた。その対外的には一部正しいアキラの評価と、アキラ単体での実力との落差は、今後もアキラにいろいろな面倒事を運んでくるだろう。
シェリルはアキラ達の後ろで戦いを見守っていた。このような状況でも余裕を保っており、
エリオがそのシェリルの様子を見て、助けを求めるように恐る恐る尋ねる。
「こ、こ、これ、だ、大丈夫だよな?」
「大丈夫よ。落ち着きなさい」
シェリルはそう答えてエリオに
不自然なまでに落ち着いているシェリルの様子を見て、エリオも少し落ち着きを取り戻した。エリオが自分に言い聞かせるように話す。
「そ、そうだよな! アキラは強いもんな!」
「それにしても良くあんなに落ち着けるな。やっぱりボスになるだけの実力はあるのか」
「やっぱりアキラはアキラで、ボスはボスで
に窓の外から銃弾が部屋の中に飛び込んでくる。部屋の隅に避難している子供達がそのたびに悲鳴を上げている。しかしシェリルだけは動じていなかった。
内心でどこかシェリルを軽んじていた者達が、そのシェリルの姿を見てシェリルの評価を改めていた。それはシェリルがアキラの代理や
今もアキラは襲いかかるモンスターの群れからシェリルを助けている。それはシェリルを大いに安心させていた。その安心感が鎮静剤の過剰投与に近いものであっても、それが麻薬に近い副作用を伴うものであっても、シェリル自身がそれを自覚していても、シェリルは全く気にしていなかった。
その盲信と諦観が、今のシェリルを形作っている。シェリルからアキラが失われない限り、それは今後も変わることはないだろう。
戦況はアキラ達が優勢のまま進んでいく。アキラ達はまず遠距離攻撃持ちのモンスターを撃破していく。トーチカタートルのような大砲や機銃を生やしたモンスターを撃破し、最低でもその攻撃手段を奪っていく。両腕が銃になっている二足歩行のトカゲの頭を吹き飛ばすと、制御装置を失った銃が暴走して乱射し続け周囲のモンスターを巻き添えにしていく。
次に兵器や生物兵器の側面の強いモンスターを倒していく。機械的に、又は本能的に、敵との戦力差など全く気にせずに人間を襲おうとするモンスター達だ。群れの数という暴力を、弾幕という数の暴力で覆し、既に倒されたモンスターを前からは銃弾で、後ろからは後続のモンスターで挟み込んで、次々と原形を失わせていく。
それらの片付けを終えると、残ったモンスター達、戦力差を考慮できる程度には賢い自律兵器や、恐れて逃げ出す野生生物に近い動植物が、次第にその場から離れていった。
いつの間にか雨が
アキラ達に死傷者無し。結果は上々と言えるだろう。大量に消費した弾薬と、その弾薬費を除けばの話だが。
一仕事終えたアキラをアルファが
『お疲れ様。あの規模の群れを相手に終始落ち着いて対処できたし、上出来ね』
『普通にそう言えるのも成長の
「コルベ! これはお前の所為だぞ! お前が勝手に撃ったりしなければこの戦闘は避けられたんだ!」
「ああ!? ハンターがモンスターをぶっ殺して何が悪いって言うんだ!」
戦闘の興奮が覚めていないコルベが強い口調で言い返した。そのまま一触即発の状態になりそうだったが、すぐに様子が変わった。
コルベが急に勢いを落として深く
れる。そして表情を暗く落ち込ませて謝りだす。
「......すまん。......迷惑をかけた」
突然別人のように気落ちして謝罪するコルベの様子に、デイルが困惑して気勢を大きく
コルベは勝手に撃った理由を話した。アキラが少し不思議そうに尋ねる。
「怖かったって、あのモンスターがか? 確かにちょっと大きいやつだったけど、あれだけ距離が離れていて、あの銃の腕前があれば、そこまで怖がるものでもない気がするけど」
アルファのサポートがあるアキラとは違い、コルベは自力でしっかり全弾命中させていた。その後の戦闘でもコルベは足を引っ張ることなく果敢に戦っていた。アキラにはそれだけの実力の持ち主が、あの程度のモンスターをそこまで怖がるとは思えなかった。
コルベがチラッとアキラを見て、その理由を話し始める。
「......前にモンスターに食われかけた経験があってな。運良く命は助かったが、両腕を食われた。今でも
「左腕はそうだ。右腕は再生治療で治した。本当は両腕とも再生治療にしたかったんだが、金がなくてな。左腕も治したいんだが、義手のメンテ代とかもあって、なかなか難しいんだ。......それで、あいつが俺の腕を食ったモンスターにちょっと似ていたんだ」
アキラにはモンスターの口の中に腕を入れて、内部から銃を乱射して倒した経験がある。もし倒すのが遅れていれば、アキラの腕も食いちぎられていただろう。明日は我が身。アキラは想像して少し怖くなり、その想像を経験したコルベに同情した。
アキラはアルファに褒められて機嫌も良くコルベにも同情的だ。さっさと話を進めてこのことを流すことにする。
「まあ、あれだけ倒したんだ。もう周辺にモンスターはいないだろう。帰り道に俺達を襲ってきたかもしれないモンスターを、俺達に有利な状態で倒せたんだ。悪い話ばかりじゃない。それより雨が上がったんだ。すぐに出発したい」
「ギューバと、そっちのやつが一人戻ってきてないぞ?」
「すぐに連絡を取って呼び戻してくれ。悪いがシェリルの安全を優先したい。あの死体の山に釣られて他のモンスターがまた寄ってくる可能性もあるからな。連絡が付かなくても戻ってくるまで待つ気も探しに行く気もない。彼らを待ってここに残るって言うなら好きにしてくれ。シェリル達を都市に送り届けてから、もう一度迎えに来るぐらいはするよ」
デイルは情報端末を取り出してギューバと連絡を取ろうとする。都市のネットワークと
もしギューバと連絡が取れなかった場合は、デイルも置いていくしかないと考えている。死んでいるかもしれない相手を探して、この場に取り残されるのはデイルも御免だ。モンスターに食い殺されたのなら、死体が残っている保証もない。どこにもいない相手を探して、ヒガラカ住宅街遺跡を探索する余裕などデイルにもないのだ。
デイルの心配はすぐに消えた。ギューバ達が部屋に戻ってきたからだ。
「落ち着けよ。そっちも襲われていたみたいだな」
「俺達も襲われたんだ。何とかしたけどな。その後で雨が
ギューバは悪びれた様子もなく聞き返した。デイルが不機嫌そうに答える。
「......ふん。戻ってこなければな」
「おいおい、それは
その後アキラ達はすぐに移動の準備を済ませて館から離れた。そのままヒガラカ住宅街遺跡を出て、クガマヤマ都市を目指して荒野を走り続けた。
ヒガラカ住宅街遺跡のある場所に、アキラ達が交戦したモンスターの群れのその1匹目がうろうろしていた場所に、小さな筒状の物が幾つも転がっている。それはデイルがなくしたはずの敵寄せ機だ。
アキラ達が倒したモンスターは、この装置で
While in the room, Dale was showing the relics that he gathered that day. Both Sheryl and her underlings were looking at those relics with full interest.
Dale proudly told them the tale of those relics.
"Of course, the people during the old-world did all kinds of jobs and it seems there were similar companies compared to the current age. It's still unclear whether they had those companies since they were also human like us, or it is because the people of this era are imitating the old-world people. Well, putting that aside, take a look at this relic. This is a Yasunabashi Corp logo. There were bad and good companies among the old-world companies. Yasunabashi was one of those good old-world companies, so people are willing to buy their products at a good price. If these people are not being careful, they would buy anything at a good price as long as it has this logo. Because of that, some bad Hunters make counterfeits by affixing forged logo of Yasunabashi Corp onto some random garbage that they find. And it's not rare for relics exchange centres to get fooled by that. But of course, the relics exchange centres that properly examine the relics can quickly identify these fakes. I heard that it's easy to identify fake relics since this logo is printed with some kind of advanced old-world technology. After they discovered that, some Hunters who got lucky and found an old-world printing machine started using that machine to print this logo. And that's how these relics fakers and the people from the exchange centre are trying to outwit each other..."
Sheryl suddenly interrupted Dale who was enjoying himself.
"I'm really thankful for giving us all of this information, but are you sure it's okay to share this info?"
Although Sheryl did intentionally encourage Dale to leak out information, she was rather worried since he just could not stop blurting information. Sheryl thought that she should calm him down first and so she interrupted him there.
After Dale calmed down a bit and looked back at what he said, he also noticed that he might have said too much. But after he saw Sheryl's worried expression, he quickly came up with excuses to balance out all the information that he gave.
"Well, uhhh, it's not exactly a secret after all. So I think it's fine. Moreover, you can just take it as my payment for giving us a ride. I don't want to be left in the wasteland without any means to go back to the city after all."
"If that's the case, thank you very much for sharing them with us."
Sheryl lightly bowed and smiled at Dale, who blushed and started talking again.
Akira was observing them not too far away from them. He then asked Alpha while carefully trying to make sure that his expression did not change.
"That guy just blurted out secret information like it was nothing. So this is Sheryl's ability, huh. To be honest, it's a bit scary. If you ask me what exactly is scary about it, its the way she makes that guy happily leak information."
Alpha then told Akira her evaluation about Sheryl, she adjusted the way she said her evaluation in order to give Akira a warning at the same time.
"It's because Sheryl knows her strength well and she's using that to its fullest extent. She has the talent and now she's the boss of a gang, I'm sure she made a lot of effort to sharpen that talent. Akira, you should be careful about her too, you know? And of course, this is not limited to Sheryl only. As you get stronger, more people will try to approach you to get some benefits out of you. It's fine if they'll also give some kind of benefits for you too, but I'm sure a lot of them are only going to leech off of you."
Akira then tried to objectively evaluate himself.
"I understand. I'll be fine, maybe... As long as they don't try to bait me with good food like those meals from that restaurant."
There was an occasion in the past when Shiori invited Akira for a meal in a high-class restaurant. After having experienced the level of meal that completely destroyed Akira's view of food, he was not sure if he could keep his brain straight if he was baited with that kind of food. When something like that happens, he would have no other choice but hope that Alpha would stop him.
"It seems that there's a need for you to earn enough money to go to that restaurant from time to time, huh?"
Akira sounded a bit optimistic when he said that.
Suddenly Alpha's expression stiffened, Akira who noticed that quickly got his guard up.
"Akira, carefully peek out the window with your aiming device."
"Is it a monster?"
"That's what exactly you're going to confirm. There's some noise triggered within my detection range, if it's not from a monster, then let's just forget about it."
The current Alpha was almost fully reliant on Akira's information-gathering device to gather information. Because of the rain, Alpha's detection range was greatly reduced, so in order to check more thoroughly, Akira had to do it himself using his aiming device.
Akira spotted a monster away from the mansion. It was obvious from the first glance that it was a carnivorous monster. Its fur that was drenched in rain looked heavy for some reason.
That monster was sniffing around as if it was looking for something, but it did not seem that it had noticed Akira.
"It doesn't seem like it's heading this way... Right? It seems that it's looking for something around that area though, I wonder if there's anything there?"
Although that monster had not noticed Akira yet, it also would not move away from the mansion. It kept on loitering around in the same area.
"It's keeping a distance that's bothering me, is it a form of bullying or something?"
Although they had to be careful with that monster, it was not like that monster was coming at him either. After Alpha said that implicitly, Akira calmed down a bit and replied with a light joke.
Dale and Colbert were also watching the outside through the other windows.
Dale was watching the situation outside without the help of any equipment and so he did not find any monsters. He then asked Akira.
"Did you find anything?"
"Yeah, a monster. A big one, it's just loitering around that empty building over there."
Dale pulled out his binocular and looked at the direction that Akira told him.
"...That monster, huh? You're pretty good to be able to spot that monster. You weren't really checking the outside while you're staying in this room, right?"
"It's a high-tech after all."
Akira lightly smiled when he said that. Alpha, who heard that, smiled smugly.
Akira was basically saying that Alpha was high-tech. While Dale thought that Akira was talking about his equipment.
[...Leaving his skill aside, he's basically saying that he has good equipment, huh. Is it because this boy is strong enough to protect Sheryl alone that she did not bring anyone else with her? Don't tell me that his body is a cyborg body. When he said that, does he mean not only his information-gathering equipment but also his cyborg body? Or he means more about his own skill?]
From Dale's point of view, Akira's age and aura did not give any impression that he was a strong Hunter. But his evaluation changed now that he knew Akira was able to find a monster sooner than him.
[How strong is this boy? If I know how strong he is, I can at least guess how much reward he gets from escorting these kids. Then from there, I can guess how much money his employer, Sheryl, has... Well, I guess I'll get a chance to find out on our way back.]
Unlike what Dale expected, the chance to see Akira's ability would come way sooner than he thought.
Colbert was also using the aiming device on his rifle to check the situation outside just like Akira. It did not take long for him to find the monster that Akira just spotted.
The moment he spotted that monster, Colbert's face distorted with fear, his hand that was grabbing his rifle was slightly trembling. Very soon his trembling stopped, but his expression turned grim. His face was obviously showing a deep hatred toward the monster that his rifle muzzle was pointing at.
Something snapped inside Colbert that made him pull the trigger of his rifle. Gunshots reverberated throughout the room. The bullets flew out from his rifle and accurately hit that monster. But it did not inflict any serious damage to that monster.
That monster noticed Akira and the other Hunters as it roared. It immediately started running toward Akira.
"Die!! Die!! Die!!!!"
Colbert kept shooting at that monster while cursing it. Due to Colbert's shooting skill, all of his shots hit that monster. After showering in those bullets, that monster started to move slowly, it eventually dropped down and stopped moving. But Colbert did not stop shooting at it with a desperate face. It took sometime before he started slowing down and eventually let go of the trigger.
"Of course because I want to kill it!!"
"It didn't notice us until you shot, you know?!"
"Are you going to wait until it attacks you?! You kill them before they have the chance to kill you!!"
It was from Akira. Both Dale and Colbert immediately turned to Akira, who then calmly said.
"Can you do that later? To be more precise, after you guys take care of the rest."
After he said that, Akira started shooting. The bullet that he shot hit another monster that was running at his direction and blasted that monster's head off to small pieces.
The turtle monsters had a big cannon perched on their shell and they directed those cannons at Akira.
When Akira saw that monster, he could not help but get shocked.
"The heck is that?!"
"That's the Tochka Turtle. We're lucky that they haven't reached a.d.u.l.thood yet. Their weakness is their cannon mouth. Don't just look at it, start shooting."
Alpha operated Akira's augmented suit, Akira aimed the CWH anti-material rifle on his hand toward that cannon and pulled the trigger.
Due to Alpha's advanced calculating ability, Akira was able to shoot the inside of the canons of those turtles accurately. Those bullets then hit the ammo reserve inside those cannons and set the gunpowder within them to explode, taking out the tochka turtle and the other monsters around it.
As Akira saw the tochka turtle explode into small pieces of flesh, he praised Alpha.
"That was nice, but still, to think that there's a dangerous monster like that in this place, was this place always this dangerous before? Did this place really change that much just because that greedy crocodile got killed? Moreover, why are so many monsters gathering like this? Are they looking for a place to take shelter from the rain too?"
Akira's questions were understandable. Alpha did not see that coming. Or to be more precise, Alpha thought that the possibility of such a thing to happen was negligible. After all, if she had known that this would happen, she would have not recommended Akira to take shelter in that mansion.
But leaving Alpha aside, Akira was not in a position to think about that. Alpha then told Akira to keep his focus on shooting the monsters.
"Let's put that aside for later. You'll have a lot of time to think about that question after you survive this swarm."
Akira quickly took his aim at the next monster and pulled the trigger. The piercing bullet pierced through the trunk of an 8 legged horse as it fell down to the ground, the other monsters behind it then just trampled over its body and killed it.
Akira and the other Hunters had the upper hand there. Akira had the support from Alpha. While Dale and Colbert had brought with themselves pretty powerful equipment since they were planning to go to an unexplored ruin that day. Thus it was to be expected for them to have the upper hand against the monsters in Higaraka Residence ruin which had a relatively low danger level.
They were able to clean up the monsters without any problem including those monsters that normally should not be roaming around Higaraka Residence ruin. Every time they spotted a strong looking monster, they would focus their firepower and quickly take it out, and if the relatively weak monsters got close to them, Akira would quickly scatter them using his DVTS minigun.
But Dale did not know about that at all, thus he could only see Akira as a really skilled Hunter. That difference between Dale's evaluation and Akira's real ability would cause Akira some troubles down the road.
Sheryl was silently watching Akira from behind him. Even in such a situation, she still looked completely calm with her usual smile. Gunshots echoed through the room, the sounds of cannons from outside the window could be heard even inside that room, Colbert was still screaming on top of his lungs, the monsters could be easily spotted from inside that room, but even so, Sheryl's reaction was completely different compared to the other children that were panicking in that chaotic situation.
Erio, who saw Sheryl's calm expression, approached her and asked her as if he was looking for reassurance.
"A-are we going to be okay?"
"Don't worry, just calm down."
Sheryl smiled as she said that to Erio. There was not even a shred of fear in Sheryl's smile.
Erio calmed down a bit seeing how relaxed Sheryl was, although it was unnaturally so. He then mumbled to himself.
"T-that's right!! Akira is strong after all!!"
"But still, it's amazing how the boss is so calm even in this situation. I guess you have to be that good to be a boss, huh?"
"Boss is amazing on her own, but Akira is extraordinary."
A bullet flew into the room from the window from time to time. Every time that happened, all the children would scream and scatter to look for a place to hide, but even in that situation, Sheryl did not move at all.
The children who were looking down on Sheryl realized their mistake when they saw the current her. They started to recognize her as not only a proxy of Akira but as the boss of the gang.
Even right now, Akira was protecting her from the swarm of monsters heading to that mansion. This fact alone made her calm. Even if that level of calmness was like a tranquillizer, even if it had a similar effect to drugs, even if Sheryl knew that herself, she did not mind it at all.
That blind faith and full reliance were what built up Sheryl right now. As long as she did not lose Akira, she might stay like that forever.
The battle continued with Akira and the other Hunters having the upper hand. They first prioritized taking out monsters with long-range weapons. So they started with killing the Tochka Turtles and other monsters carrying big cannons or at least rendering them unable to use their cannons. When they shot the head of the two-legged lizard that had its arms turned into guns, the lizard that had lost its control unit would lose control and shoot the other monsters around it.
Their next priority was the monsters with weapons and other monsters that looked dangerous. These monsters mechanically, or more like instinctively, ignored the difference between their fighting power as they rushed toward Akira and the other Hunters. The overwhelming number of monsters in that swarm was crushed under the rain of bullets. The already dead monsters in the front were being pushed and trampled from behind by the other monsters, thus turning them into unrecognizable minced meat.
After they finished most of those monsters, the rest of the mechanical monsters that recognized the difference in their fighting ability started to retreat while the biological monsters that started to feel fear also left the place.
The rain had stopped by then and there were no longer monsters detected around the mansion. Akira's battle eventually came to an end.
The Hunters did not suffer any fatal injuries. It was the best outcome, that was of course if they did not account for the expense of the bullets that they exhausted in that battle.
After Akira finished that fight, Alpha smiled and showed her appreciation to him.
"You did well. You were able to keep calm when facing such a level of a swarm, that was well executed."
"Since you can say that out normally now, it shows that you've grown. And I'm glad to hear that."
"Colbert!! This is your fault!! If you hadn't taken that shot, we would have been able to avoid the fight just now, you know!!"
"Haah!? What's so bad for a Hunter to kill monsters!?"
Colbert, who had not calmed down from that fight, shouted back at Dale. Although it felt like a fight would start there, the mood suddenly changed.
Colbert took a deep breath and bowed.
Even after Dale calmed down and Colbert honestly apologized for what he did, Dale still could not lower his fist.
"Sorry... I caused you trouble there."
Seeing how Colbert suddenly calmed down and honestly apologized as if he was a completely different person, Dale was so surprised that his anger immediately faded away.
Colbert told the others the reason why he suddenly shot at that monster. Akira found something weird as he asked Colbert.
"Scared? Of that monster? Well, it did look like a big monster, but at that range and with your shooting skill, I don't think there was anything for you to be scared about."
Unlike Akira who was relying on Alpha's support, Colbert was able to shoot at that monster accurately with his own skill. Even after that, he was able to perform in that fight without slowing the others down. So Akira thought that as long as he had that skill, there should be nothing to worry about.
Colbert glanced at Akira and started telling him the reason.
"...I almost got killed by a monster in the past, you see. Although I was able to survive it, I lost both of my arms. I sometimes still get nightmares from that time."
"My left arm is prosthetic, but for my right arm, I took a regeneration treatment to regrow it. To be honest, I want to regrow both my arms, but I don't have enough money. And with the maintenance that I should pay for the prosthetic, I just can't gather enough money... So... that monster looked just like the monsters that ate my arms, you see."
Akira had an experience when he stuck his arm into a monster's mouth and shot his rifle from inside the monster. If he was late even by a few seconds, his arms would have been eaten by that monster. Bad things could happen to anyone, Akira felt a bit scared when he imagined it. He sympathized with Colbert who went through that first hand.
Akira was in a good mood after getting praised by Alpha, he was also feeling sorry for Colbert. So he thought that he had to come up with something to change the subject.
"Well, with that many monsters that we defeated, there should no longer be any of them left around. Not to mention that we got to kill monsters that might attack us on our way back in an advantageous situation. It's not really that bad. The rain has stopped too, so let's get ourselves ready to head back."
"Guyver and that boy from your envoy haven't returned yet though."
"Call them and tell them to get back as soon as possible. I'm sorry but I prioritize Sheryl's safety, there's a good chance that all of those corpses outside might attract other monsters after all. So I have no plans to wait for them in case we can't contact them nor to go out and look for them. If you want to stay here to wait for them, you can go ahead and do that. After I escort Sheryl and the other children to the city, I can return here again."
Dale pulled out his information terminal and called Guyver. Although he still could not connect to the city's network, with the rain in that area stopped, he should be able to at least reach Guyver's information terminal if they were still inside the mansion.
In case if he could not reach Guyver, Dale was thinking of just leaving him behind. Even Dale himself had no plans to stay behind in the dangerous wasteland to look for someone that might already be dead. Not to mention if a monster ate him, then he would not leave a corpse behind. Dale did not have the leeway to just look around the Higaraka Residence ruin for a corpse that might not even be there.
But his worry quickly vanished, it was because Guyver had returned to that room.
"Calm down, it seems that you guys got attacked too, huh?"
"Yep, we got attacked too. We somehow survived though. Then I noticed that the rain had stopped when we were done, so we quickly returned back to this room. I bet you guys are planning to go back to the city as soon as possible now that the rain has stopped, right? By any chance, were you planning to leave me behind?"
Guyver jokingly asked that question, to which Dale annoyedly replied.
"...Humph, yeah, if you were not back."
"Whoa whoah, that's just too mean, you know."
After that, they finished all their preparations and left the Higaraka Residence ruin to return back to the Kugamayama city.
Around the area where the first monster that Akira spotted loitered, there were multiple small cylindrical objects scattered. Those were the decoy devices that Dale lost.
The monsters that Akira and the others took out were gathered there because of those decoy devices.
Rebuild World (WN)
リビルドワールド
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/rebuild-world/
Action Adventure Drama Harem Mecha Mystery Sci-fi Seinen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alternate World Anti-social Protagonist Apocalypse Artificial Intelligence Beautiful Female Lead Cautious Protagonist Child Protagonist Dense Protagonist Determined Protagonist Distrustful Protagonist Futuristic Setting Gangs Gunfighters Harsh Training Lack of Common Sense Male Protagonist Manipulative Characters Monsters Near-Death Experience Older Love Interests Poor Protagonist Poor to Rich Ruthless Protagonist Shota Sudden Strength Gain Survival Twisted Personality Unlucky Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9736dt/
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