わらず、死ぬどころかそのまま車両を追い始めたアキラの様子に、ラティスは驚きを隠し切れなかった。
(あれでハンターランク55? 何の冗談だ。60相当でも足りん。下手をすると65に届く)
実際の実力がハンターランクと余りにも
更に今はアルファのサポートもある。そして非常に扱いが難しく普通の者では扱えないほどに複雑で高性能な装備ほど、それをアルファのサポートで自在に扱うことでサポートの効果が高くなる。
アキラのバイクはツェゲルト都市周辺で活動するハンター向けの強力な製品だ。加えてその辺りで活動するハンター達でも扱いに困る品だ。その両方の要因で、バイク込みのアキラの実力は飛躍的に上がっていた。
それらを知らないラティスが、知っている情報だけで
(あいつ、バイク乗りか!)
東部には特定の武装や技術に対して著しく適性の高い者がいる。銃器が基本の戦闘で
のお陰で無傷ではあるが、回避していれば無駄なエネルギーの消耗を抑えられたことも事実だ。ラティスが表情を引き締めて自身に言い聞かせるように厳しい声を出す。
「......推察は後回しだ! あいつを派手に殺した後にお嬢様から聞けば良い!」
機能を応用した両輪による空中走行という、本来なら車体に飛行装置でも取り付けた方がましな器用貧乏な機能を、アルファによる精密かつ強引な操作により実用の域に引き上げた結果、バイクは荒野の地上と宙を縦横無尽に駆けている。
単純な飛行装置では不可能な鋭角の切り返しでミサイルを
しかしある意味でいつも通りの戦闘でもあり、その慣れのお陰で精神の過度な高ぶりは抑えられていた。それでいつもの調子で余裕とも泣き言とも取れる軽口も出る。
『アルファ!? もうちょっと何とかならないのか!? サポートの有り難さを見せ付けてくれるんだろう!?』
体感時間の操作を抑えている
それでも無数の銃弾は相手の弾道をずらす役目は果たした。アキラのバイクを狙っていた巨大な弾丸が、目標から僅かに離れた空間を通り過ぎて地面に着弾し、着弾の衝撃だけで地面を吹き飛ばす。バイクもその衝撃で足場の地面を吹き飛ばされて宙に浮く。
本来なら車体が宙に浮いた時点でただの的となる。飛行装置でも飛び散った土砂を浴びた衝撃で大きく体勢を崩す。しかし空中走行機能を完全に使い熟しているアルファは、その土砂すら固定し足場にしてバイクを加速させた。
『それではもう一つ分かりやすく見せ付けてあげるわ。行くわよ』
アキラの叫び声は、
に反応が消失した周辺を銃撃する。着弾地点の土砂が巨大な水柱のように何本も吹き上がり、着弾の度に周囲の地形を破壊していく。それでもアキラの反応は戻らなかった。
(迷彩機能を使って隠れたのなら、これで幾ら何でも出てくるはず。どういうことだ?)
クロエ達の車両で周囲の警戒を続けているパメラにラティスから連絡が入る。
「確認するわ。倒したのでもなく、逃げられたのでもなく、見失ったって意味で良いのね?」
『アキラ! 外に出るわ!』
細かな作戦伝達は既に念話で済ませている。そして再び
『堅いな!? 車どころか上に乗ってたやつも完全には斬れなかったぞ!?』
液体金属の刀身の通り道にいたものは、斬撃を食らう直前に両腕を上げて防御態勢を取っていた。刃は対象の頭と腕と持っていた武器までは両断したが、胴の両断には至らず、鎖骨の少し下まで斬るのが限界だった。
アルファが敵の異常とも思える防御力の理由を険しい顔で伝える。
と一体化して防御を高めているのよ。付け加えれば、あれは完全な戦闘用の遠隔操作端末よ。だから初めから生身より大分堅いのでしょうね』
アキラが驚きながら先程斬った物を見る。切断面から血は出ておらず、よく見ると内部の金属部品が露出している。両腕の上腕から先を失った上に、斬られた
車外に出ているメイド服の物達は全て同様の遠隔操作端末でパメラが車内から操作している。これらの戦闘用端末をミハゾノ街遺跡で使用しなかったのは、これらが元々は施設防衛用の機体だったことに加えて、クロエ達がこの手の遠隔操作端末でメイドの数を水増しするのは恥だと思っているからだ。
今はクロエが外部での使用許可を取ったことと、その手のことを恥だとする
『......予備はまだまだたっぷりありそうだな。アルファ、どうする?』
『車両の破壊は手間取りそうだから、先に飛んでいる方を倒しましょう。重装強化服とはいっても、装甲車両よりエネルギーの総量は少ないはずだから、接近して何度か斬れば十分破壊できるはずよ』
『向こうは飛んでるんだ。そんな簡単に距離を詰めさせてくれるか?』
な顔を浮かべると、アルファがある方向を指差した。その方向には全速力でこちらに向かってくるラティスの姿があった。重装強化服に見合った大型ブレードを展開しながら急激に距離を詰めてくる。
短距離汎用通信で届いたラティスの激怒の声を聞いたアキラが、その激情振りに納得したように
アキラが右手に液体金属のブレードを持ちながら、左手にLEO複合銃を握ってラティスを銃撃する。無数の銃弾が次々に目標に直撃したが、ラティスは多少の被弾など構わずに突っ込んでくる。
『......向こうも相当堅そうだ。アルファ。サポート頼む』
アキラは自信満々に笑うアルファを見て心強さを覚えながら銃撃を続けた。そして、被弾しながらも至近距離まで近付いてきたラティスに向けてブレードを振るう。ラティスもそれに合わせて巨大なブレードを振るう。
アキラとラティスのブレードが勢い良く衝突し、火花のような衝撃変換光を
ラティスは同格のハンター達より近接戦闘の技量に優れている。それはリオンズテイルの執事として、高速フィルター効果を有効にした室内戦闘など、銃器の使用を制限される状況を想定した訓練も受けているからだ。それでも今、単純な斬り合いの技術ではアキラに押し負けていた。
ラティスが学んだ剣術は地上戦を前提としている。ある程度応用は出来るとはいえ、飛行しながら斬り合うという状況に十全に対応できるものではない。加えて着用している重装強化服は銃火器での戦闘を前提にしたものだ。ブレードも付いているがあくまでも補助武器であり、身に付けた剣技を存分に発揮するのは重装強化服の構造上無理があった。
そして何よりも、アルファのサポートを得たアキラの動きは、単にバイクに乗りながらブレードを振り回す者とは隔絶していた。まるで、空中を走行可能なバイクに乗る前提で剣技を
相手の大型銃の射線を自身に向けられる前に、その銃を左手のLEO複合銃で逆に銃撃して照準を狂わせながらバイクを縦横に勢い良く回転させて、大口径の銃口から撃ち出された巨大な弾丸を回避する。
敵の銃弾は重装強化服の複腕が持つ銃からも撃ち出される。銃は重装強化服の巨体と比較すれば小型だが、それでもアキラのLEO複合銃より大きい。十分な威力を持つ弾丸が広範囲に
それでもラティスが焦り始めたのは、徐々にアキラに押されていたからだった。自身の攻撃を防がれる度に相手の動きの精度が増していく。より素早く、より鋭く、より的確に回避され反撃される。
予測を超えたアキラの対応能力に、そしてアキラの猛攻を防ぐ代償として想像以上に早く減っていく重装強化服のエネルギーに、ラティスの余裕が削り取られていく。まだ自身が優勢だ。だがこの状況が続けば優勢が覆るのはそこまで遅くない。その気付きが更に焦りを生み、余裕を更に削り取っていく。
だがその状況そのものが覆る。空から降り注ぐ巨大な光の柱が生み出した大爆発が一帯を吹き飛ばしたのだ。
天から降り注いだ光の余波はクロエ達の車両にも届いていた。車体に搭載されている高性能な衝撃吸収機能でも波打つ地面の影響を完全に消し去るのは難しく、車内まで伝わった揺れの
アキラ達の武装はクガマヤマ都市付近の難易度から逸脱した強力なものだ。それを存分に使用した高速での空中戦。加えて流れ弾も空へ大量に飛んでいた。大量の小型ミサイルを一度に使用した大爆発の余波も上空まで多少は届いていた。上空のモンスターがアキラ達を見付けてしまう恐れは十分にあった。
アキラが思わず上を見る。その視線の先に点が見えた。そして情報収集機器がその点の周辺を拡大表示し、アキラの拡張視界に表示する。それにより対象の姿を認識したアキラの顔が引き
蜂は部分的に機械化されており強力に武装していた。飛行装置から噴出する光が羽のような形状を作り出している。更に大型のガトリング砲らしいものやミサイルポッドのようなものを胴体や脚の先に付けていた。そして針の部分は巨大なレーザー砲となっていた。
クロエへの殺意に押し流されていたアキラは、その見るからに強力そうなモンスターの姿を見て少し落ち着きを取り戻していた。昆虫型のモンスターということもあり、都市間輸送車両の護衛で見た
ではどうするかと思案を続ける。ラティスにとって最悪の事態は、自分とアキラがモンスターの相手を押し付け合った結果、自分が先に倒されてしまいアキラがモンスターを引き連れてクロエの車両を襲うことだ。その場合、下手をするとクロエにまで被害が及ぶ。それだけは絶対に防がなければならない。
生還を度外視してアキラに食い下がれば、アキラもモンスターの相手など出来ない。後はモンスターに自分ごとアキラを殺させれば、目標を始末し終えたモンスターが帰る可能性は高い。モンスターはアキラと自分の両方、
(仕方が無い。刺し違えるか。すまん。パメラ。俺は戻れん)
ラティスはあっさりと自分の命を捨てる判断をした。死にたくはないが、必要なら死ぬ。ラティスの部下達がその判断でアキラと戦って死んだように、ラティス自身も同じ判断を下した。
部下達とラティスの違いは、自身の命を度外視する
そしてその判断に従ってすぐさま動き出そうとした時、パメラの通信が割り込んだ。
ラティスは自身の判断を一々伝えるまでもなく、パメラも分かっていると思っていた。それは正しかったのだが、その上での返事を聞いて僅かに戸惑った。そして指示の内容を聞かされると、更に困惑を深めて聞き返す。
「パメラ。それではあのモンスターがそちらに向かう恐れが......」
「ラティス。繰り返すわ。お嬢様の御指示よ」
Even after receiving such an assault, seeing how Akira did not die and instead was closing in on the APC, Latis could not hide his astonishment.
[To tell me that he is a Rank 55 Hunter!? You gotta be kidding me. Even Rank 60 is not high enough. He might as well reach Rank 65!]
The way Akira raised his Hunter Rank caused it to not be properly reflected. Even Latis could tell that Akira's true strength was not something reflected on his Hunter Rank.
Then there was also Alpha. With her help, Akira could proficiently use equipment that required rigorous training.
Akira's bike was one that was created in Zegelt city. Even high ranking Hunters would consider it to be an exceptional bike. Thus, even common Hunters from that city would normally have trouble using his bike. With the culmination of Alpha, his bike and his current equipment, Akira's battle prowess skyrocketed.
Latis, who was unaware of this till now, made his conclusion based on everything he had gathered.
[That guy, he's a bike specialist, huh!?]
In the eastern district, there were individuals who had a special affinity and proficiency toward a certain skill or equipment. Just like how some preferred the long-range gun while others preferred the close-range combat with blades. There were also those who preferred to use their fist, complemented with their superhuman strength. Such individuals might not even use guns nor an augmented suit.
As if to not miss even the slightest opening, as Latis was thinking, Akira's bullets flew and struck him. Although he was unharmed thanks to his forcefield armour, it still diminished some of his energy reserves. Latis frowned. He roared. Though, it seemed to be directed towards himself.
"...This is not the time for that!! I will kill him first and ask Milady afterwards!"
Akira was chasing after Chloe's APC on his bike. He was moving in an unpredictable, complicated manner. The bike's ability to project forcefield armour below its tire allowed the bike to run on air. It was a crude function, and it would have been better to install a flying device on the bike instead. However, with Alpha's advanced support, the bike was able to smoothly ride on both the air and the ground.
The bike made sharp turns, which would have been impossible with a flying device. It avoided the incoming missiles. It ran as if it was inside a tube, a tube created from the narrow openings between rubble and missiles. Such maneuvers even caused the missiles to collide into the rubble around him.
[It's still the usual battle.] Thanks to that, Akira was able to stay calm even while his body was pumped with adrenaline. He even had room to complain, just like usual.
"Alpha!? Can you do something about this!? You said that you would show how good your support is, right?!"
Thanks to his time perception compression, Akira was barely able to keep up with how fast the scene in front of him was changing. If it was not for his extrasensory sense, he would have completely lost orientation, unable to tell where was left or right.
Even so, they did well to throw those warheads off their original trajectories. All of them were aiming at Akira's bike but flew past their target and landed on the ground, away from Akira. The shockwave was released when they hit the ground, causing it to tremble, and even threw the bike off.
Normally, the bike would be a sitting duck once it was off the ground. The dirt and dust that enveloped the area would even throw a bike's flying device off balance. However, with Alpha's perfect control of the bike, aerial fight was not an issue. She was able to harden the dust and the dirt to create stable footing for the bike's wheels.
"Now then, I'll show you one more great thing I can do. Let's go!"
Akira's yelp was completely buried by the sound of the bike diving into the wreckage and rubble under it.
Latis frowned. He suddenly lost Akira's signal. Though he did not think he made a blunder and went straight under the rubble. Just to be safe, he shot several bullets toward the area where Akira's signal had suddenly vanished. The large warheads dove straight into the mountain of rubble and wreckage. It blew the dirt and rubble up into the sky. It was akin to water sprouts, though made of concrete and sand. It had completely destroyed the contour of the area. Even so, Akira's signal still had not returned.
[If he's hiding with some kind of camouflage, that should have flushed him out. What's going on?]
Pamela was standing guard in Chloe's APC when a call suddenly reached her.
"Just to confirm. It's not like you've killed him and it's not because he ran away, right? You simply lost him, right?"
"Akira! We're breaking out!"
Akira had already known the details of their strategy since Alpha had already told him through telepathy. So, he once again readied himself to break through another part of the tunnel that was already weakened. Though already weakened, it did not change the fact that the layers of the rubble and soil above were still quite thick. At least, thick enough for monsters to go over them without collapsing. Thus, Akira had to prepare himself to break through it.
"That thing is really hard! Forget the APC, the people on top of it are still fine, you know?!"
Those who were in the path of the blade, quickly raised both of their arms to block it, even before it touched them. The blade managed to slice through their arms and legs, even the weapons that they had. However, it did not slice through all of them.
Alpha frowned and told Akira the reason why they were that strong.
"Their forcefield armour has assimilated with the APC's forcefield armour to strengthen their defences. They are also remotely controlled bodies. That's why they are tougher than normal flesh and bone."
Akira raised his eyebrows and looked back at the leftover of what he had just cut. No blood was coming out from them, when he took a good look at them, their insides were pure metal. Even when their bodies were cut into two, they were still standing up straight.
The maids that came out from the APC were all remotely controlled by Pamela, just like those dolls. The reason why she did not use those automaton dolls back in Mihazono ruin was because they were originally the property of the Lion Steel facility. Moreover, the more automaton they brought out, the more shame it brought their master.
But this time, Chloe had permission to use these automatons outside. She did not care about shame at this point and she was free to use as many automatons as she wanted.
"...It seems that they still have a lot of extra automatons, huh? Alpha, what's our plan?"
"It seems that it'll take more effort to destroy the APC, so let's start by cleaning out the smaller targets first. That heavy augmented suit has less energy than the APC. If we get close enough and slice it again and again, I'm sure we'll be able to eventually cut it into pieces."
"That one can fly though. I wonder if we can get close enough that easily."
Akira confusedly frowned and saw Alpha pointing in a certain direction. From that direction, Latis was closing in from afar. He extended his heavy augmented suit's blade, closing in as fast as possible.
Since Latis was shouting on top of his lung through the general close-range communication frequency, Akira could easily hear him. However, he simply gave a firm nod toward that chilling shout.
Akira readied the liquid metal blade on his right hand and used the LEO multi-rifles in his left hand to shoot Latis. Although the bullets landed on their target, Latis kept charging forward, undeterred by them.
"...He is pretty tough as well. Alpha, I'm counting on you."
Seeing Alpha smiling confidently, Akira kept on shooting, feeling reassured by that confident smile. Latis came closer while still under the barrage and eventually got within Akira's reach. Akira swung the blade in his hand and Latis reacted accordingly and swung his own blade.
The blades clashed with a loud bang and released a fiery spark followed by a blinding flash of intense light.
Latis was more skilled in melee fighting than most of the Hunters. As a butler from Lion Steel, he was trained to fight in a room filled with speed filters where rifles were not effective. Even so, at this moment, in terms of trading slashes, he was losing his ground against Akira.
The sword fighting style that Latis had learnt was to engage with his opponents on the ground. Although it was still usable to some extent in this case, it was not the most optimal fighting style against someone who was flying around. The blade that the heavy augmented suit had was also, in the end, just a reserve weapon. The structure of the heavy augmented suit was not ideal for him to make full use of the skills that he had learnt.
More than anything, with the help of Alpha's support, Akira was not just swinging his blade around while on his bike. It was as if his ability to use blades was made specifically tailored to when he was on a bike. It was as if Akira and his bike had become one, and he had full control of his bike.
Just before Latis managed to aim his large gun at Akira, Akira quickly prevented it from targeting him using the LEO multi-rifle in his left hand as he leaned his bike to one side and accelerated away. He swiftly moved away from the warhead that the big gun spewed out at him.
The other arms of the heavy augmented suit were also carrying rifles, which were also trying to shoot him down. Although they were smaller compared to its main gun, they were still bigger than Akira's LEO multi-rifle. A barrage of bullets was coming at Akira each containing considerable destructive power.
But even so, his mind still wavered. The reason being, that Akira was slowly overwhelming him. Every time Akira blocked his attack, Akira's moves became sharper. As time went by, he was becoming faster, sharper, and keener as he kept evading Latis' attack and launched counters of his own.
Against Akira's unexpected fighting capability, in order to withstand his assault, the energy of the heavy augmented suit was being rapidly shaved away. At the moment, he still had the upper hand, but at this rate, it would not take that long before things would change. That knowledge only made him even more anxious, causing panic to rise.
But the situation itself quickly changed. Pillars of light rained down from the sky followed by huge explosions.
The shockwave also reached Chloe's APC. Even with the powerful suspension in the APC, the shaking still could be felt from inside as Chloe inadvertently said.
Both Latis and Akira were equipped way beyond the difficulty level of the area around Kugamayama city. But even so, they did not hesitate to use them in their high-speed battle. They threw stray bullets all over the place. The shockwave from the explosions of the mini-missiles used by Latis also reached the sky. Thus, there was no surprise that their fight attracted one of those flying monsters.
Akira inadvertently looked up. He could see floating points from where the light pillars came from. He then scanned in that direction using his information terminal. The thing on his display caused him to frown. The monster above him was a 50 metres long wasp-like monster.
The wasp was partially mechanical and was equipped with powerful weapons. The flying device that extended from its body looked like a layer of wings made of light. Its body and limbs were equipped with a large-size gatling gun and missile pods. While its stinger was replaced by a large calibre laser cannon.
Akira, who was basically overtaken by the frenzy to kill Chloe, regained some of his calm after seeing such a monstrosity. Since it was an insect-like monster, it reminded him of the giant bug swarm that he had to fight against during the inter-city transport-escort mission and thought that it was futile to try and fight it.
He kept analyzing his options. The worst-case scenario was that both of them tried to get the other side to fight the monster and Latis was the first one to fall. Afterwards, Akira would lure that monster to attack Chloe's APC. If that happened, he would bring more danger to Chloe, that was the one thing that he needed to avoid no matter what.
If he ignored his own safety and kept focusing on Akira, Akira would not have the leeway to deal with the monster as well. Once that monster killed them both, there was a good chance that it would have accomplished its goal and just leave. It came down most likely because it was seeking to eliminate both Akira and him, or maybe only him. Therefore, in order to keep it away from Chloe's APC, he could not afford to return back with this monster in tow.
[I guess I have no other choice. Double suicide it is. Sorry, Pamela. I won't be coming back.]
Latis quickly made the decision to throw away his life. Although he did not want to die, if it was necessary, there was no hesitation to do so. Just like how his men had died fighting Akira because of their conviction, Latis made the same decision based on the same conviction.
The difference between Latis and his men was only how bad the situation was until they were forced to make such a decision. Right now, it was what the situation demanded. If by doing so, he would be able to guarantee Chloe's safety, kill Akira, and fulfill Chloe's order, then there was no place for hesitation.
With the decision in mind, Latis went straight at Akira, but suddenly a call from Pamela reached him.
Latis thought that Pamela understood him without him even needing to tell her everything. Although he was not mistaken, the reply from her surprised him. After he listened to the content of the order, he was even more confused as he asked her.
"Pamela, if I do that, there's a good chance that monster will come over there as well..."
"Latis, I'll say it again. This is an order from Milady."
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/
非公開