179 蜘蛛型甲殻機虫
アキラがクズスハラ街遺跡の奥部を探索している。遺跡の奥部と言ってもかなり広く、最奥部にはほど遠い。それでも外周部などと比べると比較的無事な建物も多く、遺跡全体の広さから考えれば随分奥まで来たと感じられる光景が広がっていた。
アルファがバイクの横の空中に寝そべりながら口を出す。
『アキラ。さっきから辺りをずっと
いた後で、ふと思ったことを軽く付け足す。
『......そういう助言も一応サポートの内に入るんじゃないか?』
『......草じゃなくてビルとかを食べるモンスターから始まる生態系? ......いや、ないな』
『食物連鎖の生産者を自動修復する建築物に、分解者を都市の自動清掃機能に、消費者をモンスターにってところかしら?』
『いやいやいや、ビルなんて食べてどうするんだよ。仮にそれで何とかなるのなら、そこらの
『......そうなのか?』
アルファは楽しげに笑って返す。
『いいえ、ただの思い付き』
アキラが表情を少し不満そうに不服そうに
みをそう解釈すると、再びバイクを走らせた。
アキラがその場を立ち去った後、巨大な暴食ワニの死体に異変が起こった。内側から人型の手が強固な
手の持ち主が自分で開けた僅かな穴を強引に左右に広げていく。そして十分に広げた穴から外に出た。それはティオルだった。
近くにいた獣型モンスター達が一斉に警戒態勢を取り、すぐにティオルに襲いかかる。ティオルは飛びかかってきた獣型モンスター達を無表情で見ていたが、右手で敵の頭部を殴り飛ばして粉砕し、左腕の砲で敵を吹き飛ばした。そしてそのまま短時間で敵を
める。ただし今度は興味深いものを見付けたわけではない。
『......アルファ。俺の目の錯覚じゃなければ、タンクランチュラの群れが見えるんだけど』
遺跡の道路やビルの側面などに
型の甲殻機虫の群れよ。系統的にはヤラタサソリに近い種類のモンスターよ』
『......つまり、タンクランチュラとは違うんだな?』
『タンクランチュラは賞金首の個体名であって種族名ではないわ。でもあの群れの1匹が巨体の構成要素となるのに十分な食料を手に入れて何らかの変異をしたら、タンクランチュラと同様の個体に成長、変異、進化する可能性はあると思うわ』
アキラは少し迷ってから交戦を選んだ。右手をハンドルから外して銃を持つ。
『あれを放置して、後であの群れが全部タンクランチュラになって襲ってくるなんてのは御免だ。たとえその可能性が十分低いとしてもな。それに新調した装備の性能を試す良い機会だ。今のうちに弾薬費を
『分かったわ。お手並み拝見ね。存分にやりなさい』
アキラが右手の銃を見て苦笑する。
『どっちかと言えば、見られる手並みは新装備と
めると、狙撃性能にも連射性能にも優れており、特殊仕様の弾丸も使用できる銃となる。その要望を満たした上で、予算内でなるべく高性能な銃をシズカの見積りの中から探したところ、SSB複合銃という多機能銃が見付かった。
SSB複合銃はDSS狙撃銃とDVTSミニガンとCWH対物突撃銃の機能を兼ね備えた銃だ。全長はAAH突撃銃より一回り大きい程度で、CWH対物突撃銃より小型で軽く、片手でも使い
が放った砲弾がアキラの周囲に着弾して爆発する。アキラはバイクの速度でその爆発から逃れ続け、格子状の道で右折左折を繰り返して敵の照準から逃れ続ける。同時に群れの周囲を大きく旋回するように走り続け、ビル群の谷間を駆け抜ける一瞬に、その隙間から見える敵へ銃弾を浴びせ続けた。
アキラが十字路を通り抜けるたびに、無数の
小型ミサイルの残弾が尽きる頃には、敵の群れはほぼ完全に壊滅していた。群れを統率していた巨大な個体だけが仲間の残骸の中に悠々と健在ぶりを示している。
そのタンクランチュラもどきと呼んでも差し支えない大型個体の腹部が動き出す。外骨格のような表面が部分部分に開いていき、そこから無数の小型ミサイルが発射された。全てのミサイルが一斉にアキラを目指して宙を駆けていく。それを見たアキラの表情が引きつった。
タンクランチュラもどきの腹部が誘発で爆発し、その巨体を爆炎とともに四散させた。既に発射されていたミサイルが指揮系統を失って、慣性のみに従って周囲に降り注いでいく。一帯に爆発音が響き渡り、やがて静かになった。
アキラが大きく息を吐く。
アキラは費やした弾薬等の代金を簡単に試算して、具体的な金額が出る前にすぐに止めた。そして後で弾薬費を請求されても絶対に払わないと心に決めた。
借りた端末から連絡が入る。
「こちら仮設基地駐留部隊司令部。14番。応答せよ」
「こちら14番。用件は?」
「そちらの端末から大規模戦闘と思われる情報収集データが送信されている。何があった?」
「いや、ついさっき終わったから不要だ。今から弾薬補充を兼ねて仮設基地まで一度帰還する予定だ」
「了解した。以上だ」
通信が切れると、アキラは別の意味で苦笑を浮かべる。
『向こうから確認が来るほど派手に戦ってたのか。よし。今日はもうお
アキラは軽く笑ってそれを流すと、バイクを仮設基地へ向けて走らせた。
その機体は去っていくアキラの姿までしっかり見届けた後、その情報をどこかに送信した後に、役目を終えたように崩れ落ちて機能を停止した。
翌日、アキラはシズカの店で消耗品の追加注文をしていた。シズカはその注文内容を聞いて少し心配そうな表情を浮かべている。
「いきなり随分な量を使ってしまったのね。大丈夫なの?」
アキラはシズカが自分を気遣ってくれることを
シズカが会計処理を済ませる。決済は今回も問題なく通過した。アキラが表情を少しだけ真面目なものに変える。
「......今回も通ったのか。これならもっと高い物を買っても大丈夫か?」
モンスターの群れを相手にしたとはいえ、弾薬を採算度外視で消費したのだ。幾ら契約上そうなっているとは言っても文句ぐらい来るだろう。アキラはそう思っていたのだが、キバヤシからは散財した理由の確認すら来なかった。
遺跡の大通り周辺で活動するハンターなら、あの程度の弾薬費は必要経費の
「あ、いえ、今は止めておきます。予備分の注文が通ったばかりですから。そっちを使った後にまた考えます」
「そう。まあ、これからも十分注意して頑張りなさい。弾薬使い放題だからって、油断しては駄目よ?」
『アキラ。バイクごと中に入るって方法もあるわよ?』
『いや、それはちょっと無理があるんじゃないか? 階段とかどうするんだよ』
『その無理を何とかするのも技術の内よ。狭い場所を探索する時は降りれば良いだけだしね。それに、アキラがビル内の探索から戻ってきた時にバイクが無事な保証はないわよ? まあ、基本的にアキラが自力でやることだから、無理にとは言わないわ。これも運試し。賭けてみる?』
ビル内の通路は比較的大きな造りになっていた。そのおかげでアキラはゆっくりではあるがバイクに乗ったまま内部を移動できた。
ビル内はアキラの感覚では少し奇妙に感じられるように荒れ果てていた。床や壁や天井など、ビル本体の部分は真新しい様子だが、通路や部屋の中の備品などは破損や経年劣化で
き散らしたような違和感が漂っていた。
セランタルビルのセランタルも、ツバキハラビルのツバキも、管理人格ではあるが当事者だ。ツバキは実体を持っている上に、アルファの知り合いだ。アルファはアキラが遺跡攻略を完遂すれば実体化も可能なようなことも言っていた。
ではアルファはどのような存在なのか。アキラにはアルファにそれを尋ねることはできない。尋ねた場合に失い兼ねないものが大きすぎるからだ。
アキラは再び湧いた疑問を頭の隅に追いやって遺物収集を再開した。
Ch 179
Akira continued searching the ruin. The inner part of the Kuzusuhara ruin expanded through a wide area and it was still quite a distance away from the deepest part of the ruin. But even so, compared to the outskirts of the ruin, the buildings were not that dilapidated, and the condition of the area was not much different compared to the deeper part of the ruin.
Alpha was floating horizontally next to Akira as if she was lying on top of an invisible bed.
"Akira, you've been driving around for some time now, are you not going to check one of those buildings?"
Akira nodded, then something came up in his mind.
"...Wait, isn't this considered as support from you?"
"...A living organism that started as a creature that eats buildings instead of grasses...? Nah, that can't be."
"Hmm, they might be the monsters produced by facilities with self-readjusting food chain preservation function in order to clean up the city."
"No no no, it would be meaningless for them to be eating the building then, wouldn't it? And even if that's true, then why would they even go as far as to fight the defensive equipment just to eat that building?"
"...Is that so?"
Alpha smiled, amused.
"No, that's just my guess."
Akira frowned and looked slightly annoyed, but Alpha did not seem to be bothered by that at all as she kept smiling like usual.
Akira interpreted Alpha's smile as telling him to stop dilly-dallying and get back to his job, so he once again operated his bike and left that place.
After Akira left that place, an abnormality happened in one of the dead greedy crocodiles. An arm suddenly burst out of its strong scales.
The owner of that hand forced itself out of that greedy crocodile after he tore a hole in that carcass.
The other monsters in that area quickly focused their attention on Tiol and attacked him. Though Tiol only looked emotionlessly at those monsters, his right arm already swung at their heads while his left arm, which was in the shape of a cannon, was already shooting at them. It did not take long for him to destroy all the monsters attacking him. Once he was done, he immediately vanished into the deeper part of the ruin.
Akira once again stopped his bike. But this time, it was not because something piqued his interest.
"...Alpha. Unless my eyes are tricking me, there is a swarm of Tank Tarantula right?"
The roads and buildings in front of Akira were crawling with spider-like monsters, some of them had metallic skeletal frames while some of them had concrete-like bodies. Although some of them were unarmed, most had cannons growing on their backs. And their length ranged from barely 1 metre to all the way past 3 metres.
"Those are a swarm of spider-type armoured insects. Classification-wise, they're similar to the Yarata Scorpion."
"...So they're not Tank Tarantulas?"
"Tank Tarantula is the name of a bounty monster, so it doesn't refer to a type of monster. But if one of those spiders eat enough food to grow abnormally big and go through an abnormal evolution, there's a chance that it'll grow, evolve, or maybe mutate into something similar to that Tank Tarantula."
Akira thought for a bit before he decided not to avoid them. He let go of the bike's handle on the right and grabbed his rifle.
"I don't want them to turn into a swarm of Tank Tarantulas later just because I leave them alone now. And that's still my stance. Even if the possibility of something like that happening is very small, I should be prepared. What's more, this is a good chance to test my new equipment. After all, I'm free to use as many bullets as I want this time. I'll fight without your support first, but if things are getting bad, I'll need your support."
"Alright. I'll stand back and watch this time, so you can go ahead and give it your best shot."
Akira looked at the gun in his right hand and smiled bitterly.
"Though to be honest, rather than my skill, I think you'll have a better look at my new equipment and all the free ammo that I'm going to use this time."
So in the end, he aimed for a gun that could do long-range sniping and continuous firing on top of being compatible with a wide range of ammo. After checking all the guns that Shizuka recommended within his budget and searching for the best gun among them, Akira decided on an SSB multi-weapon rifle.
SSB multi-weapon rifle was an amalgamation of DSS assault rifle, DVTS minigun, and CWH anti-material rifle. Its total length was just a little longer than an AAH assault rifle and shorter than a CWH anti-material rifle. It was compact enough to be used with one hand. It was also equipped with force field armour technology to reduce its recoil, thus effectively reducing its kickback and increasing its accuracy. But in exchange, it actively consumed energy packs to power its force field armour. The stronger ammo that Akira used, the faster it would burn through its energy pack. So, although it had so many features, one of its drawbacks was how much he had to pay for using that rifle.
The falling warheads from the spiders bombarded Akira, but he was able to evade them with the speed of his bike as he turned left and right to disrupt their aimings. While at the same time, he was also circling the swarm, releasing a few shots every time he spotted that swarm from the openings between buildings.
Every time Akira passed through a crossroad, multiple warheads would be immediately released in his direction from the spiders both on the ground and on the buildings. But he accelerated his bike to slip through those warheads, or sometimes, he would compress his time perception to its limit in order to evade them, while leaving the spiders chasing him behind. He then sometimes stopped his bike to lay and wait, and immediately released a barrage the moment that swarm made a turn on that crossroad.
When the aftermath of that explosion subsided, the swarm left nothing behind at all. Only a larger sized monster that led the swarm was left in the middle of the destroyed swarm.
That monster, which looked like a pseudo Tank Tarantula, started to move. Part of its body opened up, exposing pods behind them, and released multiple mini-missiles that immediately hunted for Akira. Akira, who saw that, could not help but frown.
The Tank Tarantula exploded from inside, engulfing its big body in flames before blowing up into small pieces. With the mini-missiles losing their guidance system, they just flew straight down to the ground and exploded. Once all the missiles had exploded, silence returned to the ruin.
Akira heaved a big sigh.
Akira started to calculate the total cost of the ammo he spent in that fight but he immediately decided to stop before he could come up with the precise number. He then told himself that he would refuse to pay for the ammo that he used that day no matter what.
Suddenly a call reached his borrowed terminal.
"This is the commander from the forward base. Number 14, are you there?"
"Number 14 here, what is it?"
"Your terminal sent a data pack showing that there was a huge fight over there, what happened?"
"That won't be necessary, I'm just done with that fight. I'll be heading back to the forward base now for resupply."
"Alright, got it."
The call ended there, Akira then smiled wryly and said.
"I see, it was a pretty big fight, enough to warrant a check from them, huh? Alright then, let's end here for today. I'm pretty sure I already worked hard enough for the day. So let's head back home."
Akira lightly smiled and just ignored Alpha as he turned his bike toward the forward base's direction.
So, even after all of that fighting, that unit survived. It made sure Akira left that place before sending some data. Once it had done its duty, it deactivated and went limp.
The next day, Akira was placing some orders in Shizuka's shop. Shizuka could not help but to make a worried face after she took in that order from Akira.
"You went and used quite a lot of ammo on your first day, did something happen?"
Although Akira was happy that Shizuka was worried for him, he also did not want to make her worry as he smiled at her and said.
Shizuka then finalized the payment, and just like last time, it went through without a hitch. After that, she turned to Akira and said to him with a serious face.
"...It went through without trouble again this time. At this rate, don't you think that it should be alright for you to get more expensive stuff?"
Although he did it because he had to fight a swarm of monsters, it did not change the fact that Akira leisurely used ammo while ignoring its total expense. Although his contract allowed him to do so, there was no mistaking that he would receive some complaints later. Even more so when Kibayashi did not even ask why he needed that money before approving payment.
Akira himself also wondered why he was allowed to do that, he wondered if it was because it was normal for Hunters working around the ruin to use that much money, or if there was another reason for that.
"Ah, thank you but I will have to refuse, at least not for today. I just placed an order now. I'll think about it again after I receive it."
"I see, well, good luck and be careful out there. Don't lower your guard just because you're free to use as many bullets as you want, okay?"
"Akira, you can actually take that bike inside too, you know?"
"No no no, there's no way to do that, right? Like, how am I going to take it up the stairs?"
"That's when technologies come in. You can just step off from the bike when you want to search narrow places. Moreover, there's no guarantee that your bike will be fine when you return back from searching the building, you know? Well, in the end, you'll be the one to do everything though, so I won't force you. But this is like another test for your luck, do you want to still go through it?"
The inside of the building was actually pretty wide, thanks to that, Akira could ride his bike inside, albeit only slowly.
From Akira's point of view, the inside of the building was in a weirdly bad condition. Although the walls, the floor, and the ceiling seemed brand new, everything else inside that building was withered. It was as if someone was using that newly made building as a garbage dump.
He then spotted something that seemed to be a display case made of something that looked like glass. When he tried to lift it off to check if he could carry that back, the glass shattered and the whole case fell to pieces.
Both Seranthal from the Seranthal building and Tsubaki from the Tsubakihara building were also from the old-world era although they were nothing more than AI for managing those buildings. Not to mention, Tsubaki had a body, it seemed that she was also acquainted with Alpha. Alpha also did say something along the line that she could get a corporeal body if Akira completed her request to explore a certain ruin.
So then, the real question would be what exactly was Alpha? Of course, Akira could not ask that question to Alpha himself since he would risk losing too many things by doing that.
Thus Akira pushed that question to the back of his mind as he continued searching for relics.
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