アキラがエレナ達と一緒に再び以前の遺跡に向かう日になった。
アキラは以前と同じように荒野の合流地点でエレナ達を待っている。今回もエレナ達と合流したらアルファのサポートは無しになる予定だ。
アルファは前面にファスナーがある上下一体の戦闘服を着ている。光沢のある素材の布地が肌に密着しており、アルファの魅力的な体の線が強く表れている。首元から下に伸びているツナギ前面のファスナーは、下腹部の下、股間の先、背面まで続いている。アルファはそのファスナーを下腹部の上まで開けていた。その隙間から露出している肌は、アルファがその下に何も着ていないことを示していた。
アルファの姿を視認できる者がいれば、アルファの美貌も合わさって強い注目を集めるだろう。前回の水着姿のアルファに比べて肌の露出は格段に下がっているが、
アキラはそのアルファの姿を見て、比較的ましな格好だと判断して、特に何か言うのは止めることにした。アキラもいろいろ慣れ始めていた。
時間通りにエレナ達がやってくる。アルファが
『どうしても寂しくなったら、我慢しないで呼んでも良いのよ?』
アルファがそう言って少し誘うように笑う。アキラが少しへそを曲げたような表情を浮かべる。アルファは楽しげに笑いながらアキラの視界から姿を消した。
アキラはエレナ達が来る前に深呼吸をして表情を元に戻した。
エレナ達がアキラの車の隣に自分達の車を着ける。アキラがエレナ達に笑って話す。
「今日も
「私達の車の後を付いていくように設定できる?」
「そう。それならそう設定して、アキラも私達の車に乗ってもらって良いかしら? ちょっと話したいことがあるのよ」
「......? 分かりました」
アキラは少し不思議に思いながらも、自動操縦の設定を済ませてエレナ達の車の後部座席に乗り込んだ。アキラが乗り込んだことを確認したエレナは、すぐに目的の遺跡へ向けて車を走らせた。
助手席に座っているサラが、膝立ちになって体の向きを反転させて、両手と胸を背
「何かあったんですか?」
「前回アキラと一緒に行った遺跡なんだけど、多分他のハンターにバレたわ」
アキラが少し驚いた。いずれ発覚するとは思っていたが、もう知れ渡ったとは思わなかったのだ。
「......そうですか。でも別にサラさん達の所為ではないと思いますけど、何か心当たりでもあるんですか?」
運転席のエレナが答える。
「ないわ。少なくともバレないようにしっかり注意は払ったつもりよ。遺物の売却で新しい遺跡が見つかったことがバレたとしても、その場所まで分かるはずがないわ。前回も私の探索範囲の中で、跡をつけられていた感覚はなかったわ」
「じゃあ、ただの偶然ですよ。エレナさん達の所為ではないと思います。あるいは、俺が何かどこかでへまをしたんでしょう。俺が一人で遺跡に行った時は、移動ルートの偽装とかしないで普通に帰ったりもしましたしね。俺が何か気付かずにやらかしたんだと思います」
確かに他のハンターにあの遺跡を知られたのは残念だが、どうせ時間の問題なのだ。今回は少し早かった。それだけの話だろう。アキラはそう考えた。
「......私達を疑わないのね。私達が情報を売ったとは思わないの? その手の情報は高く売れるって、前に教えたでしょう?」
「思いません」
「その根拠は?」
「根拠......? 何となくです」
アキラは少し考えた後に、普通にそう答えた。そして適当に思いついた理由を冗談めかして付け加える。
「それにエレナさん達があの遺跡の情報を売る気なら、売る情報をいろいろ小出しにするとか、もっと良い方法を思いつくんじゃないですか? 何となくですけど」
エレナが冗談っぽく笑って話す。
「そうね。私ならもっと
みながら静かな口調でアキラに話す。
「アキラ。信じてくれてありがとう。正直、
い! 次の話に移るわよ。しっかり聞いてね」
「私達が向かっているあの遺跡なんだけど、もしかしたらかなり危険かもしれないわ。だからアキラも十分注意して。私達の誰かがどんな理由でも、何となく嫌な予感がするとか、その程度の理由でも、撤退した方が良いと判断したらすぐに撤退する。先にそう取り決めておきたいのだけど、アキラもそれで良いかしら?」
「構いません。安全に行きましょう。それで、エレナさん達はなぜあの遺跡が危険だと判断したんですか?」
前回も前々回も、全くモンスターが出てこなかった遺跡だ。アキラにはエレナ達がそこまで危険視する理由が分からなかった。
エレナがアキラの問いに答える。
「新しい遺跡の存在がある程度の数のハンターに知れ渡ると、その遺跡に関する情報の売買が活発になるのよ。遺跡の場所、遺跡の内部構造、生息しているモンスターの種類や数、発見された遺物の内容、いろんな情報が売買されるわ。それで私もいろいろ調べたのだけど、
その可能性もあるわ。でも別の可能性もある。つまり、遺跡内部からの生還者がいない、情報を持ち帰ってくるハンターがいない可能性よ。遺跡の外で仲間が帰ってくるのを待っていたハンターだけが、遺跡から生きて帰ってきた。だから遺跡の場所だけが売買されている。そういう可能性もあるのよ。そしてその遺跡をしっかり準備して攻略するために、遺跡の内部情報を知るために、誰かが意図的に遺跡の場所を広めている可能性もあるわ」
アキラが真剣な表情で
「......わかりました。十分注意していきましょう」
前々回も前回も無難に遺跡探索を終えられたから今回も大丈夫だろう。無意識にそう思うことで生まれていた余裕がアキラから完全に消し飛んでいた。
遺跡に到着するまでの間、アキラはアルファを呼び出すかどうか迷い続けていたが、迷った末に呼ばないことにした。シェリル達と一緒の時のように、足手
サラが同じ光景を見ながら話す。
「ハンターはあの遺跡の探索のためにここに集まってきたとして、この量のモンスターはどこから湧いてきたのかしら。遺跡内部からハンターを追って出てきた可能性もあるわね。エレナ、周辺の反応は?」
エレナが情報収集機器の反応を再確認して答える。
「大丈夫よ。周辺にモンスターらしき反応はないわ。このモンスターが遺跡内部から湧いてきたとして、彼らが一通り倒したのかもね」
アキラが遺跡の出入口に近付くにつれて戦闘の痕跡が強くなっていく周辺の光景を見て、少し表情を険しくさせて言う。
ろこの遺跡の場所がバレて良かったのかもしれませんね。遺跡の奥の威力偵察をやってもらったと思えば安い代償かもしれません」
エレナがアキラの意見に同意する。
「本当にそうかもしれないわ。未調査の遺跡の怖い所は、大量の遺物があるけど大量のモンスターもいる可能性もあって、そしてそれを判断するための情報が一切ない所なのよ。これは本当に、この遺跡の内部情報が少ないのは、そもそも生還者が少ないからと判断して良さそうね。前回の私達が単に幸運だったのか。それとも先に遺跡の奥まで行ったハンターが、よほど大きなミスをしでかしたのか。アキラ。正直な話、今から引き返すってのもありよ」
「......その判断はエレナさん達にお任せします。少なくとも、俺はまだこの場で撤退しようとは思っていません」
アキラの返事から慢心は感じられない。危険を正確に認識した上で、慎重に歩を進めるハンターの言葉だった。アキラの返事を聞いたエレナが少し
「結構アキラの活躍にも期待しているわ。でも無理はしちゃ駄目よ?」
アキラ達が遺跡の出入口、地下に続く階段の前まで到着する。階段の周囲の
アキラが自分の車からCWH対物突撃銃とDVTSミニガンを取り外して装備する。予備の弾薬もリュックサックに詰めた分も含めてしっかり持っていく。
アキラは遺跡内部で見つけた遺物を運搬する余力を余り考えていない。良い遺物が見つかった場合に遺物を持ち運ぶ分の空きがなければ多少弾薬を捨てていくつもりだ。残弾が足りないよりは捨てるほど有る方が良いだろう。
アキラの強化服は装備と弾薬の重量に問題なく対応した。エネルギーの消費はかなり激しくなるが、今日一日ぐらいは十分持つだろう。
サラもエレナも車からいろいろな装備品を取り出して身に着けている。二人ともより危険だと判断した遺跡に潜る準備をしっかり整えたようだ。
エレナがアキラに尋ねる。
「アキラ、準備は良い?」
「はい。大丈夫です」
アキラが階段を降りながらエレナに尋ねる。
「エレナさん。さっきのあれは何なんですか?」
「あれ? あれは小型の情報収集機器の補助装置よ。着弾地点周囲の情報をより正確に収集したり、離れた場所の索敵をしたりするの」
「へー。そういうものがあるんですか」
「あれはランチャーで打ち出すタイプのものだけど、他にもいろいろな種類のものがあるわ。遠隔操作や自動操縦で遺跡の床を移動したり、空中を飛んだりして遺跡内部を調べる無人機もあるわ」
い便利そうですね。どれぐらいの値段なんですか?」
「基本的にかなり値の張る代物よ。無人機のやつは、1機100万オーラムとかするものもあるわ。それを遺跡の調査に使ってちゃんと戻ってくるなら問題ないけど、モンスターに破壊されたり、無人機との通信が切れて操縦不能になったりすることもある。戻ってきた無人機がモンスターを連れてくることもある。場所によっては遠隔操作の無人機を逆探知して、操縦者を的確に襲ってくるモンスターまでいるみたいよ」
「あれは1個1万オーラムよ。使い捨てにするにはちょっと厳しい価格だから、余裕があったら回収しましょう。......前回使わなかったのは、まあ、その、ほら、壊れたら
すように説明した。全ては費用対効果の向上のためだ。危険探知に金を出すとしても、それで赤字になっては本末転倒だ。命賭けで旧世界の遺跡に潜る以上、黒字にならなくては意味がないのだ。
遺跡探索を安価に済ませるためには、それだけ命を張らなくてはならない。世知辛い世の中だ。アキラは何となくそう思った。
アキラ達が降りている階段には、重量のある巨大な何かが地上を目指して通過した跡がある。それでも階段は大きく欠けておらずアキラ達が階段を降りるのに不都合はない。旧世界の技術の高さが
階段を降りたアキラ達が以前も通った通路に出た。しかしその通路の様子は以前とは一変していた。
通路は非常に明るかった。光源のない真っ暗闇の通路を照明で照らしながら進んだ前回と異なり、通路は十分な光で照らされている。アキラ達の足下の影から、光は上から降り注いでいることがわかる。しかし天井に照明器具のようなものは見当たらない。
「この遺跡、まだ機能が生きていたのね。遺跡の奥までたどり着いたハンターが何らかの方法で遺跡の設備を起動させたのかしら」
通路は十分な光で照らされており、以前はよく見えなかった通路の奥までしっかり視認できる。通路には弾痕や爆発物の跡、血痕が至る所にあり、戦闘の激しさを物語っていた。
アキラが通路の奥を見ながら話す。
「ここにも戦闘の跡がありますね。階段にもあったデカい何かが通った跡もある。......倒されたモンスターの死体や残骸がないのは何でだ?」
戦闘は最近、遅くても数日前のものだろう。血痕の量からして、それなりの数の生物系モンスターが倒されたはずだ。地上には機械系モンスターの残骸もあったことから、機械系モンスターも恐らくはいたはずだ。その全てがここで倒されずに地上に出たとはアキラには思えなかった。
旧世界の遺跡の中には無人になってから長い年月が
そのような遺跡は要注意だ。モンスターの痕跡が掃除され、その存在が把握しにくいこともある。また、警備装置も品質を保ったまま稼動していることがあり、不法侵入者として攻撃されることもあるのだ。
「モンスターはいないようだし、注意して進みましょう」
エレナの号令で、アキラ達は注意深く通路の奥に進んでいった。
アキラ達が進むべき通路は二つある。アキラ達から見て右の通路には、巨大な何かが通過した跡が続いていた。改札らしき装置の残骸が、そこを通過した何かの力を表していた。
エレナがサラとアキラに聞く。
「どっちに行く?」
「左ね」
「左にしましょう」
サラとアキラが迷うことなく答えた。3人の意思はしっかり統一された。
アキラ達は左の通路を進む。その先には地下街が広がっていた。
地下街にはかなりの数の商店が建ち並んでいる。しかしその商店の大半は激しい戦闘の余波で半壊状態だ。
そして今までの光景と最も異なる点は、その戦闘の実行者達の姿が残っていることだ。生物系モンスターの
エレナが表情を険しくさせる。しかしそれは激しい戦闘で倒れた者達の姿を見たためではない。戦闘の余波で破壊されたであろう大量の遺物を惜しんだためでもない。
「アキラ、サラ、準備は良い? 来るわ」
エレナの声に応じて、アキラとサラがエレナの前に立って銃を構える。アキラは既にリュックサックを降ろしており、予備の弾薬を床に置いていた。サラもアキラと同様に持ち運んでいた弾薬を周辺に置いている。
アキラの装着しているゴーグルには、アキラの情報収集機器から取得した情報以外にも、エレナの情報収集機器から得られた情報も追加で表示されている。そこには無数のモンスター達の反応がしっかり表示されていた。
反応の動きから、モンスター達がアキラ達の存在を確実に認識していることが分かる。反応が遠方から続々と増えていく。この区画にいるモンスター達はしっかり生き残っていた。敵であるハンター達を撃破し終えたので、一時的に戦闘を中断していただけだった。
アキラとサラがほぼ同時に引き金を引く。響き渡る銃声とともに、再び戦闘が始まった。
地下街の奥や半壊した商店の中から、様々なモンスターが
エレナは自分も攻撃に参加しながら、小型の情報収集機器を地下街の奥などに向けて発射し、索敵能力を強化していく。遠距離攻撃能力を持つモンスターの位置や射線、アキラとサラに近付いてきているモンスターの位置などを送り、2人の安全と攻撃をサポートする。
サラがエレナの情報を基に的確にモンスターを効率的に粉砕していく。遮蔽物に隠れているモンスターをA4WM自動擲弾銃から発射した擲弾で、
サラはエレナの情報を信じてモンスターを見もせずに銃撃を繰り返し、頭部などの急所を的確に粉砕し、機械系モンスターの砲塔を破壊して誘爆を引き起こす。
戦闘はアキラ達が優位なまま進んでいく。しかしエレナとサラはどこか険しい表情を浮かべている。
サラが状況を一番正確に把握しているであろうエレナに尋ねる。
「クズスハラ街遺跡の奥に生息しているモンスターが混じっているわね」
サラの表情の険しさがより一層強くなった。
クズスハラ街遺跡の奥には、そこに前線基地を建築する必要があるほどの強力なモンスターが巣くっている。エレナ達は前線基地構築補助の依頼で、遺跡の奥から湧いて出てくるモンスターの撃退を請け負っていた。エレナ達では対応できないほどの大物に襲われたこともあった。その時は一緒に警備をしている他のハンター達や配備されている戦車の支援などもあり、問題なく対処することができた。
そのような大物が敵に混ざっている場合、アキラ達の状況は非常に厳しいものになる。
「私が把握している限りだと、混ざっているモンスターはクズスハラ街遺跡の奥では比較的弱いやつばかりよ。それでもこんな場所にいるのは不自然なモンスターが多いけど」
サラがアキラに向かって大きな声で尋ねる。
「アキラ、そっちは大丈夫!?」
アルファのサポートがないため、アキラの射撃の腕は平均より少し高い程度だ。交戦中のモンスター達を効率よく撃破できるほどではない。アキラはそれを銃弾の数で補っている。そのため銃弾の消費量が普段よりかなり多くなっている。
(......リュックサックにはまだ予備の弾薬が残っている。それを使用しなければならなくなったらアルファを呼ぼう。ここがアルファのサポートを受けられない場所でなければの話だけど。......それを確認する
アキラは僅かに悩む。しかしアキラはすぐに結論を出す。
(いや、駄目だ。それは気の緩みだ。この状況での気の緩みは致命的だ。それにこの程度の状況に自力で対応できないようだと、そのこと自体がいつか致命的になる。もっと強くなるためにも、今はこのまま戦う!)
アキラはより強くなろうとしている。より強くなるための努力も、より強くなるための危険も、アキラはいとわずにいる。その渇望の源は、元々はアキラの
地下街に静寂が戻る。アキラは警戒を解かずに周囲を見渡している。
5秒
アキラが床に置いていた予備の弾薬は残り僅かになっていた。アキラはアルファのサポート無しでこの戦闘を生き延びたのだ。少しだけ自信をつけたアキラは軽く笑った。
サラが笑いながらアキラに近づいて話す。
「結構余裕そうね。やるじゃない。クズスハラ街遺跡の奥にいたやつが混ざっていたから、普通はあの辺の警備の経験がないハンターだと、結構大変なはずなのよ?」
「弾薬費なんか気にせずに撃ちまくりましたから。そういう意味だと余り余裕はないんですけどね。このままだと大赤字です。サラさん達が言うちょっと
にいないと思うけどね。仮にいたとしても、かなり大型のモンスターだから通路に引っかかって動けないはず。ここで交戦することはないと思うわ」
「さて、今のところ赤字なのは私達も一緒。その赤字を解消するために、この辺の遺物を集めて回りますか」
エレナが改めて周囲を見渡す。地下街は半壊している。ハンターもモンスターも、ここにある遺物のことなど全く気にせずに交戦したからだ。この地下街そのものは旧世界の建造物ということもあり非常に頑丈だが、そこにある商店の品物まで頑丈であるとは限らない。
Akira planned to go to the unexplored ruin together with Elena and Sara again.
Just like before, he met up with Elena and Sara near the border between the wasteland and slum city. The situation was the same as Alpha planned to stop giving her support once Akira was out in the wasteland.
Alpha donned a full-body battle suit with a fastener on her upper and lower body. The glossy fabric stuck tight to her skin as it pronounced her already charming body lines even more. The fastener in front of her extended from under her neck, all the way down between her legs, and to the back. She let that fastener open down to her belly. Her fair skin was clearly exposed through that opening, showing that she was not wearing any underclothing.
If the people around Alpha could see her now, there was no doubt that she would gather a lot of attention. Although it showed less skin than her usual swimsuit, there was not much of a change in its seductiveness.
Akira saw that and stopped himself from making any comments thinking that it was at least better than her usual swimsuit. Clearly, he had more or less gotten used to it by now.
He saw Elena and Sara heading his way as the meeting time was getting closer, Alpha then smiled and told Akira that she would stop her support.
"You can call me anytime if you feel lonely, okay?"
In contrast to Alpha who smiled when she said that, Akira pouted. Alpha then just giggled and vanished from Akira's vision.
Before Elena and Sara arrived there, Akira took a deep breath and returned his expression back to normal.
Elena and Sara stopped their vehicle next to Akira's, Akira smiled at them.
"I'll be in your care for today."
"Can you set it to follow behind us?"
"Okay, once you set it like that, can you get on to our vehicle? There's something I want to talk about."
"...? Alright."
Akira did find that a little weird. Even so, he set his vehicle in auto-drive to follow behind Elena and Sara's vehicle before hopping into their vehicle. Once Elena made sure that Akira had set himself in, she then started the vehicle and drove to their destination.
Sara, who was sitting in the driver assistant's seat, stood up and turned back to Akira who was sitting behind her, she then apologetically said.
"What happened?"
"It seems that someone discovered the ruin that we went together the other day."
Akira was obviously a little surprised. He did expect that it would happen sooner or later, but he did not think that it would happen so fast.
"...I see. But it's not like it's Sara-san and Elena-san's fault, or like, do you have any idea why that happened?"
Elena, who was driving the vehicle, answered Akira's question.
"Nothing. Or at least, we've done our best to make sure that wouldn't happen. Well, even if the information about the existence of the new ruin leaked from the selling route that we've employed, there is no way they would know about the location of the ruin too. And according to my scan back then, no one was following us either."
"Well, it's just a pure coincidence then. So I don't think it's your fault. Not to mention that it might be because of something that I did. After all, I went back straight to the city the first time I returned back from that ruin. So it might have been me all along."
It was indeed unfortunate that other Hunters knew about that ruin, but that would happen sooner or later anyway and this time it happened sooner than expected. That was all Akira thought.
"...So you're not suspecting us at all, huh? Aren't you least bit suspicious that we sold the info about that ruin? I did tell you that the info of an unexplored ruin alone can fetch you a lot of money, remember?"
"Not at all."
"Why can you be so sure about that?"
"The reason, hmm....? Just my intuition, I guess."
There was a short pause before Akira continued. He was thinking of any excuse as to why he thought so and conveyed anything that came up in his mind to Sara and Elena while half-joking.
"Moreover, if it was Elena-san and Sara-san who were selling the info for money, I'm sure both of you would come up with a method that would bring you lot more money, like selling the info piece by piece, right? Well, that's just my intuition though."
Elena laughed and replied with a joke as well.
"That's true. If it was me, I would do it in a more profitable manner."
She then smiled and said to Akira with a calm voice.
"Akira, thank you for trusting us. I'm honestly happy that you do."
"Alright then!! That's it for this matter!! Now to the next subject, listen closely, okay?"
"Although we're heading to the same ruin that we visited previously, it might be pretty dangerous this time. So I need everyone to be extremely careful. If anyone gets some bad feelings or any other reasons that make you think it's better to withdraw, don't hold back and tell the others too, we'll immediately withdraw when that happens. I just want to put that out first. Akira, you're okay with that, right?"
"Yeah. Let's be extra careful this time. By the way, Elena-san, why do you think that the ruin would turn dangerous this time?"
There were no monsters around that ruin when they visited last time, so Akira was a bit confused why Elena thought it had turned dangerous.
Elena then answered his question.
"When info about a new ruin comes out in the market, it will include all the info regarding that ruin like its location, the interior map of that ruin, the monsters around and inside that ruin, the relics that you can find inside that ruin, and many other kinds of info. But this time, according to our investigation, no other info except the location is available in the market right now."
"Of course, that's also one of the possibilities. But there's also another possibility, it might be because no one returned back alive after diving into that ruin, so no extra information about that ruin comes back to the city. Or the companions of the Hunters, who dove into that ruin, waited outside and killed them on their way back. That would explain why there's no other info other than the location of the ruin. Or maybe, the people who sold info deliberately only sold the location to make others explore that ruin and wait for the info about the interior of that ruin to be available in the market, that way they can prepare themselves better for exploring that ruin."
Hearing this, Akira nodded with a serious expression.
"...I see. Let's be extra careful this time."
Akira completely erased the thought that the ruin should be safe just because he did not find any trouble the last time he visited that ruin.
On his way to the ruin, Akira was at a loss whether he should call for Alpha or not, but after hesitating for a long time, he eventually decided not to do it. After all, unlike last time with Sheryl, Akira had no extra luggage this time. Not to mention, he had Sara and Elena with him too. They had also decided to withdraw the moment any of them thought that things might get dicey. So Akira decided to do his best on his own for the time being.
Sara also scanned the area and said.
"If these Hunters came here for the ruins, then where did all these monsters come from? Did these monsters come from the inner part of the ruin? Elena, did you find anything?"
Elena checked the signal from her information-gathering device.
"It's alright. There's no monster around the area. If these monsters did come from inside the ruin, it seems that the Hunters have killed every single one of them."
As Akira approached the entrance to the ruin, his expression turned grim as he noticed that the fight was fiercer around that area.
"...If there were this many monsters in this place, it was actually a good thing that the location of this ruin leaked out. Basically, we had other Hunters scout the inner part of this ruin for free thanks to that."
Elena agreed with Akira's opinion.
"You might be right about that. The scariest thing about an unexplored ruin is that it has as many monsters as the unclaimed relics inside it and we have no information about both of them at all. Looking at this, it is better to assume that no one was able to return back alive from searching the ruin, and that's why there is not much info about the ruin available in the market. Either we just got lucky when we came here last time, or someone made a huge blunder inside the ruin. Akira, we can withdraw now if you want to."
"...I'll leave that decision to Elena-san. At least for me, I don't think we should withdraw yet."
There was a trace of hesitation in Akira's voice, it showed that he carefully made that decision after considering the possible danger. Elena smiled happily and said.
"I look forward to seeing your performance, but don't push yourself too hard, okay?"
Akira, Sara and Elena stood in front of the stairs leading down the underground ruin. The wreckage and rubbles around the entrance looked as if they were shoved out of the way by something huge, and that trace continued all the way inside the ruin. It seemed that there was some kind of powerful monster inside.
Akira took his CWH anti-material rifle and DVTS minigun off his vehicle. He did not forget to stuff his rucksack with ammo too.
Akira prioritized filling his rucksack with ammo rather than reserving space for relics. He was planning to throw away some of his magazines in case he found expensive-looking relics later. After all, it was better to find himself having to throw away ammo rather than finding himself running out of ammo.
Thanks to his augmented suit, Akira did not find any trouble carrying all those ammo. Although the energy consumption of his augmented suit increased, it should still have enough energy to last for the day.
Sara and Elena were also gathering their equipment from their own vehicle. It seemed that they were making sure that they had everything they needed since they noticed the ruin was more dangerous than they thought.
Elena then asked Akira.
"Akira, are you ready?"
"Yeah. I'm ready."
While going down the stairs, Akira suddenly asked Elena.
"Elena-san, what did you do back then?"
"Back then? That's a mini information-gathering device. I used it to get more accurate data of the area and to check for any monsters."
"Ohhh, so there's something like that, huh."
"That one is a canister type that can be launched from a grenade launcher, but there are many other types that you can use, you know. Some of them can be controlled manually or set to automatically explore the floor. There are even controllable drones that you can use to explore the area."
"That sounds really convenient. How much do they cost?"
"They're pretty expensive. The drones can even cost up to 1,000,000 Aurum per drone. It's all good if they returned after exploring the ruin, but sometimes they get destroyed by the monsters or the connection gets interrupted and the drone crashes. There are even cases when they returned back while bringing some monsters together with them. Not to mention, if you get unlucky, some monsters can trace-back the drone and detect your location."
"That's about 10,000 Aurum per canister. It's pretty expensive for a single-use equipment, so I plan to retrieve it later if it's possible... The reason why I didn't use it last time was because it would be a waste if something breaks it. So I just thought that there was no need to use one back then, but this time it seems that the ruin has turned more dangerous than before, that's why I used it just to be safe."
Elena seemed a bit fl.u.s.tered as she replied. She had done that all for the sake of maximizing the possible profit from the exploration. After all, if they ended up in red because of that, it would beat the main purpose as to why they explored the ruin. Since they decided to bet their lives on exploring the ruin, it was important to return back with more money.
In order for them to minimize their expenses, they had to put their lives in more risk. It was indeed a harsh world. That was what Akira thought.
As Akira went down the stairs, he noticed the traces of something big and heavy running up the stairs. But the stairs were not that damaged, so it did not cause much trouble for Akira and the others as they walked down. It showed just how amazing the old-world building was.
After they went down the stairs, they went through the same hallway that they went through last time. But the interior of that hallway was so much different compared to the previous time they visited the place.
Unlike last time when they had to use a flashlight to explore the hallway, the hallway was bright enough without any extra illumination this time. Looking at the shadow that cast straight below them, they knew that the light came from above, but there was no lamp-like object fixed in the ceiling at all.
"So this facility is still active, huh. I wonder if some Hunters went to the deeper part of the ruin and did something to turn the facility back on."
The interior was bright enough for them to see far deep into the ruin. There were traces of explosives, bullets and blood on the hallway, showing that fights happened there.
Akira stared into the deeper part of the ruin and said.
"There are traces of battles here too, there are also traces of something big and heavy passing through the stair... It's really weird that there's no dead monster or Hunters in this place."
Looking at the traces, the battle should have happened a few days ago. And judging from the blood splatters, there should be at least multiple dead organic monsters or at least human corpses in the area. Since there were traces of mechanical monster wreckage above the ground, it meant that there should be at least some leftover mechanical monsters too. Akira thought that it was impossible for all of them to reach the surface without getting killed on the way.
Although the old-world ruins were left unmanned for years, some of them were always kept clean and in tiptop shape. It was all thanks to the cleaning drones and the self-repair function that was still active even right now.
Those kinds of ruins were relatively more dangerous. Since any traces of monsters were regularly cleaned up, making it harder to gauge the danger inside that ruin. Not to mention, the security functions might also still be active and they would try to eradicate any trespassers.
"It seems that there's no monster around, let's carefully go deeper."
With that signal from Elena, they continued exploring deeper into the ruin while keeping their guards up.
The way forward was branching into two hallways. They noticed that there were traces of something big and heavy having passed through the right hallway, the destroyed ticket gate near it showed the strength of that unknown thing.
Elena turned to Akira and Sara and asked them.
"Which way to go?"
"Left."
"Let's go left."
Sara and Akira did not hesitate when they answered Elena's question. All of them agreed to go to the left.
When they continued to the left hallway, they found themselves inside an underground city.
There were shops and stands lined up inside, but most of them were already in a destroyed state.
And unlike inside the hallway, there were traces of battles complete with the corpses of the organic monsters, wreckages from the mechanical monsters, and the dead Hunters.
Elena's expression turned grim. But it was not because of the number of the dead Hunters scattered in front of her, nor was it because most of the relics were destroyed by the explosives that were used in this place.
"Akira, Sara, are you guys ready? They're coming."
The moment she said that, Sara and Akira moved to her front and readied their rifles. Akira put his rucksack down and lined up extra magazines on the ground around him. Sara also did the same as Akira.
From the goggles that he was equipping, Akira could see information from his information-gathering device as well as from Elena's information-gathering device. He could see countless signals coming in his direction.
Judging from the movements of those signals, it was rather obvious that they had noticed Akira's position. More and more signals kept appearing in the detection range. The monsters in that area were still alive and kicking. They were only taking a short rest after cleaning up the Hunters that went in before the trio.
Akira pulled the trigger almost at the same time as Sara. As gunshots echoed through the area, it signalled that another fight had started.
Sounds of monsters came out from deep inside the underground city as well as from the already destroyed shops in the area as they quickly gathered at Akira's location. There were all kinds of monsters, some of them were carnivorous monsters with large strong legs, some of them were half-cyborg dogs with conspicuous mechanical body parts. There were even missile pods with legs that burst out missiles randomly as if it did not care if they hit the other monsters.
Elena was also providing support fire while shooting some mini information-gathering devices into the deeper part of the ruin to perform more accurate detection. She then sent the location of monsters with long-range weaponry as well as the trajectory line of the projectiles that they shot to Akira and Sara. She was also sending the precise locations of the monsters that were approaching Akira and Sara to make sure of their safety while providing them support fire.
Sara used the information from Elena to accurately aim at those monsters. She used her A4WM Repeater Grenade Launcher to shoot the monsters that were hiding behind the rubbles from above them or by bouncing the grenade off the holes on those rubbles.
Sara trusted Elena's information and kept blasting grenades into those monsters. Most of her shots hit the vital points of those monsters like their heads or their cannons which then caused a localized explosion.
Although they had the upper hand in that battle, Elena's and Sara's expression somehow looked grim.
Sara then asked Elena who knew the best about the situation they were in.
"Yeah, some of them are the same type of monsters that we found in the Kuzusuhara ruin underground city."
Sara's expression turned grimmer than before.
The underground city located under the Kuzusuhara ruin was filled with powerful monsters, enough to make the City Management set up a forward base there. During their forward base aid request, Sara and Elena had to fight back those monsters that were coming out from the underground city. There were even times when they were overwhelmed by some of those monsters, but at that time, they were able to receive reinforcement from the other Hunters who were standing guard and the tanks nearby, thus they were able to fight back those monsters without any trouble.
In case if those powerful monsters were mixed in the swarm that they were facing right now, then they were indeed in a very bad situation.
"As far as my detection goes, these monsters are relatively weaker than the monsters that we faced in the underground city. But still, it's not normal to find these monsters in this place."
Sara then turned to Akira.
"Akira, are you okay over there?!"
Because of the absence of Alpha's support, Akira's shooting skill was lower than usual, and also his actual skill was not enough to efficiently take out the monsters in this situation. Akira was actually compensating that by shooting more than usual, as such, he was using more ammo.
[...I still have some reserve magazines left in my rucksack. When I have to use them too, I'll call for Alpha. That is if Alpha can still provide me with support in this place though... I guess I should try to ask her now to confirm that while I still have the chance, huh?]
Akira hesitated for a bit, but he quickly made up his decision.
[No, that kind of pessimistic way of thinking will be fatal in this situation! Moreover, if I can't handle this situation myself, that in itself is a fatal flaw that will definitely get me killed sooner or later! I have to get stronger! That's why I have to handle this myself!]
He was trying to get stronger, he was also putting extra effort to get stronger, and for that sake, he placed himself in more danger. The source of that desire was nothing more than his own will to get stronger. But in reality, there was another reason that he himself did not realize as to why he was trying so hard.
The underground city was wrapped in silence, Akira looked around his surroundings while still on high alert.
5 seconds passed, then additional 10 seconds, the silence still continued. After another 10 seconds, Elena smiled and said.
There were not many magazines left. Akira smiled lightly, he felt more confident since he was able to survive the battle without Alpha's support.
Sara smiled and walked to Akira.
"You looked pretty calm there, you did well. There were even some monsters from the inner part of the underground city mixed in that swarm, normal Hunters who never faced those monsters would at least have some hard time fighting them, you know?"
"Well, I was using my ammo without holding back after all. Although, at that point, it can be said that I was already hard-pressed. Had it continued any longer, I would have racked a huge ammo expense since I used quite a lot of ammo to kill those strong monsters that Sara-san and Elena-san warned me about... So those monsters are the ones from the inner part of the underground city, huh?"
"Yep, that's right. They are actually pretty weak compared to the other monsters that you can find in the inner part of the underground city. For the bigger monsters, you'll have to get help from a tank to kill them, you know. But I don't think we'll encounter any of them in this place. And even if we do, they're pretty huge, so we can just return back to the narrow hallway. There's no need to fight them here."
"Now then, since we're also in red right now, let's gather some relics from this place to make sure that we end up with more money than we used."
Elena then scanned the area around her one more time. That particular area of the underground city was already half-destroyed. After all, both the monsters and the Hunters who fought in that place did not care what happened to the ruin in that area. Although the structure itself was still standing strong thanks to the old-world technologies, the relics inside it did not share the same level of durability.
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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