275 鹵獲モンスター
車両から飛び降りたアキラはエレナに伝えた方向とは逆側、包囲の最も厚い部分へ向けて走っていた。敵は
同時に敵の砲撃を少々過剰に迎撃する。右手のLEO複合銃で自分には当たらないものを含めて砲弾を次々と撃ち落とし、空中に無数の爆発を発生させる。その爆発を敵に認識させて自分が車両とは別行動を取ったと教える。更に平行して、アルファを介してエレナ達との話を済ませた。
『そうですね。それじゃあ、また今度。......、アルファ! バイクはちゃんとここまで来るよな?』
『私が運転しているのだから当然よ。その前に、あれを片付けておきましょう』
そうアルファから指摘されて、アキラも自分の方に向かってくる前方の反応に気付いた。そしてまだ遠方にいる反応の姿を視界の拡大表示で見ると、思わず
『モンスター? どういうことだ?』
反応は大型肉食獣を模した機械系モンスターだった。完全にサイボーグ化した獣を思わせる外観をしており、金属製の皮膚が硬質化して生まれたような青い装甲を身に
していないはずのモンスターの不自然な行動。そして急に正確になった敵の砲撃。アルファはその関連にすぐに気付いた。
『アキラ。あのモンスターは敵の偵察役よ。急いで倒しましょう』
予想外の説明に、アキラが思わずかなり
した個体を改造したのよ。機械系モンスターなら比較的容易だわ』
強力なモンスターを使役してハンター稼業に役立てるという考えは珍しくない。だが生物系モンスターは本能で人を襲う個体も多く、
役はもう十分やったわ。良いわね?』
アキラが砲弾を意図的に過剰に迎撃していたのは、エレナ達への砲撃を減らす
『500億オーラムの賞金首を狩ろうと思える程には高ランクのハンターでしょうね』
『それは分かってるけどさ』
銃という遠距離攻撃が基本の東部で、
んだ。ブルーサーベルが更に2体、アキラの方へ向かってきていたのだ。
『包囲の内側の他の場所に向かわせていた個体のようね。アキラの位置が判明したから、他の場所の捜索は不要になったのよ』
敵は大分遠く、先程の戦いで遠距離攻撃も可能だと知ったアキラは、今度はLEO複合銃を両手に持ち、それぞれの銃口をそれぞれに向ける。銃口から無数の
『アルファ! どっちから倒せば良い?』
『それが出来ないから聞いてるんだろう? どっちを先に倒せば状況がましになるか聞いてるんだ! 答えないなら俺が勝手に選ぶぞ?』
『大丈夫って、何がだ?』
圧縮した体感時間の中での念話だ。実際にはほんの僅かな時間ではある。それでも悠長に話している余裕など無い。それにも
とした顔でアルファを見る。アルファは楽しげに笑って返した。
『大丈夫だったでしょう?』
『あ、ああ』
に思って光線の発射元の方を見る。光線の片方はバイクに搭載しているAF対物砲であり、アルファがもう近くまで来ているバイクを操作して狙ったのだとすぐに気付いた。だがもう一方の光線については心当たりが無かった。
そして砲弾による土煙を突き破って現れたバイクを見て、アキラはもう一方の光線の発射元を理解する。同時にかなり驚いた。バイクにはキャロルが乗っており、大型の砲を手に持っていた。そのまま勢いを止めずに向かってくるバイクに、アキラはキャロルが伸ばした手を
そのまま自身の後ろに座ったアキラにキャロルが楽しげに笑いかける。
「お待たせ。ちょっと遅れちゃった? 私の判断だと、
よ。私も出来る限り戦うし、アキラのハンター稼業を手伝いもする。そういう条件でアキラを雇ったはずよ? 余裕が無いのなら、私にちゃんと手伝わせなさい。そういう取引で、取引とはそういうものなんだから。違う?」
そう言って渋るアキラの態度に、キャロルが少し意地になったように口調を強くする。
「言っておくけど、アキラが、じゃあ護衛依頼はもう終わりだ、って言っても、こっちは勝手にアキラを助けるからね。これはシロウの指示でもあるんだから。今はシロウに雇われている訳でもある以上、これも仕事、引かないわよ?」
キャロルにはそう思わせているが、正確には自分達はまだ雇われていない。それはシロウも分かっているはずだと思い、アキラが念話で文句を飛ばす。
『おいシロウ。何の
『何が言いたい』
『彼女にお前の救援を頼んだ俺が言うのも何だけど、全然嫌がらずにお前を助けにいったぞ? 頑丈なキャンピングカーを出て、砲弾の雨を潜って、500億オーラムの賞金首を狙う連中からお前を助けてこいなんて言われても、普通は嫌がるだろう。プロの
『分かった。じゃあ、そっちも頑張ってくれ』
「キャロル。さっきも言ったけど、俺にはこの状況でキャロルをちゃんと守り切る自信も余裕も無い。だからこのまま俺と一緒にいるとキャロルは死ぬかもしれない。本当ならキャロルを一度キャンピングカーに戻した方が良いのかもしれない。その上で聞くぞ? それを分かった上で、戻らずに、俺を助けるつもりなんだな?」
「本当に良いのか? これが最後だぞ?」
繰り返しの念押しに、そんなに邪魔だと思われているのかと、キャロルは不機嫌な顔を浮かべていた。
だがそこで、アキラが軽く吹き出し、笑う。
「分かった! じゃあ、助けてくれ!」
「アキラも初めて会った時に比べて随分大きくなったわね。やっぱりそろそろ子供は卒業で良いんじゃない?」
「考えとくよ。行くぞ!」
僅かではあるが以前より好感触の言葉を返されたことにキャロルが驚く。だがその驚きはすぐに別の驚きで上書きされた。バイクが進行方向を直角に変えたのだ。移動ルートを左右にではなく地面に対してほぼ垂直に
そう思わず叫んだキャロルの声を、アキラは楽しげに聞き流していた。
300メートルほど登った辺りでバイクは再び水平方向へ走り出した。砲弾の雨は続いているが、地上に着弾した後の跳ね返りを気にする必要は無くなった。地上で発生した爆発の衝撃、爆炎や爆風もこの高さまでは届かない。地上に比べれば大分静かになった状況に、キャロルも足下が少々怖いが落ち着きを取り戻す。
キャロルは自身の情報収集機器に送られてきた情報を視界に拡張表示した。前方に敵の反応が無数に確認できる。地上では射線上の地形等の
キャロルが砲を標的に向ける。それに合わせて、アキラも銃を構える。バイクの武装も照準を同じくする。
アキラとキャロルは軽く笑い合い、視線を標的に向けて、合図も無しに撃ち出すタイミングを合わせた。アキラ、キャロル、バイクの武装が一斉に砲火を放った。
Ch 275
After Akira jumped off the vehicle, he immediately started running toward the direction where the encirclement was the thickest. As expected, the enemies were still far from his reach. Furthermore, with obstacles in between them, it was impossible for Akira to directly aim his shot. He kept running while calling for his bike.
Meanwhile, he shot down some of the incoming warheads. He even used the LEO multi-rifle on his right hand to shoot down some of the warheads that were not heading towards him. It created a furry of firework-like explosions up in the air. Those explosions alerted his attackers. Informing them that he was heading in a different direction, away from the vehicle. While he was doing all of this, he was about to end his call with Elena and Sara, which was hosted through Alpha.
"Of course, until next time then... Alpha! The bike is heading this way, right?"
"I'm driving it right now, so don't worry. But before that, let's clean those up first."
Alpha then pointed at the signals that were heading toward him. With his vision augmented to see as far as it could, Akira could not help but frown.
"Monsters? What's going on?"
These signals were coming from large-sized carnivorous monsters. Their bodies were half-mechanical, as if they got turned into cyborgs. They were covered in blueish armour plates as if they were born with metallic hard skin. In between their armour plates, four limbs were extending out. They were moving nimbly, as if their 6-meter long body did not impede them at all. The wreckage and the rubble were helplessly crushed under their large legs.
Monsters that were behaving strangely and the sudden increase in accuracy. Alpha immediately noticed their connection.
"Akira, those monsters are working as reconnaissance for the enemy. Shoot them down immediately."
Akira raised his eyebrows. He did not expect that at all.
"I bet they captured and modified them. Modifying a mechanical monster is relatively easy after all."
It was not rare to capture a powerful monster and tame it to help Hunters. Biological monsters had the embedded instinct to attack people so it was extremely difficult to tame a biological monster. However, for mechanical monsters, depending on its biological and mechanical structure, Hunters might be able to interfere with its programming. For example, rewriting the control device or even replacing it altogether.
"Akira, you already did very well as a decoy, can we get serious now?"
The reason why Akira was deliberately shooting down more warheads than needed, was simply to act as a decoy. This was so that they were more focused on him instead of Elena and Sara. Akira knew that shooting randomly upwards would expose his location, they just needed to retrace the bullets' trajectory, but he still did so.
"Whoever they are, I bet their Hunter Rank is high enough to hunt a 50 billion Aurum bounty target."
"I already know that, but still..."
Even in the eastern district, where guns reigned supreme, there were still those who forwent blades and fought with their fists. Those who had survived for so long, even after making such a foolish decision, were powerful Hunters.
However, the next surprise caused him to frown. There were two more Blue Sabers heading in his direction.
"It seems like they're heading here from another location. Since they approximately know where you are, they no longer have to search the other areas."
From his last encounter, he knew that these monsters had the ability to shoot from afar. Therefore, this time, he chose to use his LEO multi-rifles and aimed each of them toward a different blue monster. The rifles released a barrage of C-bullets toward their targets with pinpoint accuracy.
"Alpha! Which one should I take out first?"
"You know that I can't do it. That's why I'm thinking of taking one of them out first. I'm asking which one I should take out first! If you're not going to answer, I will decide on my own."
"What do you mean?"
It was a telepathic conversation through his compressed time perception. Therefore, even a long conversation would only take a short time. Even so, Akira did not have the leeway to have a long conversation. Even in that situation, Alpha was smiling like usual. She was returning replies that did not mesh well with the situation, causing him to be even more bewildered.
Seeing that, Akira was completely flabbergasted and glanced at Alpha. Seeing that, Alpha just smiled back with her usual smile.
"See, it's fine, isn't it?"
"Y-yeah."
Akira agreed and gave a nod. He then frowned and looked toward the source of the lasers. He could see a bike heading in his direction with an AF anti-material cannon perched on its back. He quickly realized that it was his bike and Alpha was controlling it. However, he did not know where the other laser came from.
As the bike came to view through the smoke, Akira finally realized where the other laser came from. At the same time, he was caught by surprise. Carol was on his bike with a large cannon in her hand. Even with that huge thing, the bike did not even seem to slow down as it approached him. As the bike passed him, Akira grabbed Carol's hand and jumped on board.
As Akira took the back seat, Carol glanced and smiled at him.
"Sorry for the wait, was I late? Though, from my point of view, it seems like I just came right on time."
"Then, it was the right decision for me to come here. I will fight together with you and help you as much as I can. Isn't that what we agreed on when you accepted my bodyguard request? If you're that cornered right now, then let me help you. That was the deal and that is just how deals work, no?"
Seeing Akira sheepishly try to deny her, Carol became a little obstinate as she firmly stated.
"Just so you know, even if you say you want to cancel your bodyguard job because of this, I will still come to help you, okay? This is also partly instruction from Shirou, after all. Since I'm also basically working for him, this is also part of my job, so I won't back down. Alright?"
Although Carol made such a claim, they were actually not formally working under Shirou. As he had thought, Shirou intentionally manipulated Carol using her misunderstanding. He quickly connected to Shirou through telepathy and asked him.
"Shirou, what do you think you're doing?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"Though it might be weird coming from me since I'm the one who sent her to help you. But, when I did so, she did not utter a single complaint and just went to you, you know? No matter how you look at it, between leaving the safety of the camping vehicle or going out straight to where it rained warheads and having to fight against Hunters who were strong enough to hunt a 50 billion bounty target, normally, I would expect her to say one or two complaints. I can understand it if she's a veteran soldier, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Are you guys dating or something?"
"Sure. Good luck out there."
"Carol, like I said before, I can't guarantee your safety in this situation. So, you might get killed if you stay with me. To be honest, I would prefer to have you head back to the camping vehicle. You know this already and still want to help me here, right?"
"Are you really sure? This is your last chance to withdraw."
Carol pouted. As expected, with Akira's numerous warnings, she started to wonder if Akira saw her as nothing but a burden. Someone who would only serve to slow him down.
But after hearing her confirmation once again, Akira lightly smiled which quickly escalated into laughter.
"Alright! Help me out then!"
"Compared to the first time we met, you've grown quite a lot. Wouldn't it be fine to graduate from being a boy soon?"
"I'll think about it. Now we are going!"
Although it was just for a split second, Akira responded back positively, which he had never done before. Even Carol did not expect that. However, the one surprise after another event was not over. The bike suddenly made a sharp turn. However, it was neither to the right nor to the left. The bike suddenly went up with the help of invisible platforms under its wheels.
Carol yelped. Akira heard her, but he simply smiled in amusement and ignored it.
After they got to about 300 metres above the ground, although they were still facing a storm of warheads, Akira saw it as positive. They no longer had to worry about the shock wave when the warheads hit the ground. Even the explosions could no longer reach them. Compared to the ground, the sky was a relatively calm place. Though, Carol looked a bit frightened, being at that height with no visible footing. She tried to calm herself down as she asked.
Carol added the information she received to her display. She could see several enemy signals coming from the front. Due to the contour of the terrain, it was impossible to snipe them from afar. However, from up here, it was no longer a problem. Moreover, Akira was moving toward them, thus closing the distance. Although the enemies were trying to move away and keep their distance, thanks to the clear sky with no obstacles, Akira and Carol were moving much faster.
Carol fixed her aim and Akira also did the same. Even the bike took aim as well.
Akira and Carol lightly smiled and zeroed in on their targets. Without even exchanging a signal, they pulled the trigger at the same time. Akira, Carol, and the weapons on the bike's arm all shot at the same time.
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