に集結したハンター達は、ゲルグスというハンターが率いるチームを中心にしたハンターチームの連合だ。各自で荒野仕様車両や戦車、人型兵器を持ち寄って大部隊を編制している。
その車両の中に一際巨大な荒野仕様車両があった。2階建ての構造で人型兵器を格納できる程に大きい。内部には宿泊施設まで備えており、簡易移動拠点としても使用できる特別な車両だ。その車体にはリオンズテイル社の社標が記されていた。
車内には司令室としても使用できる会議室があり、その中央にはテーブル形の表示装置が設置されている。今はハンター達の機体や車両の索敵機器から集めた情報を基にした現在の戦況が表示されていた。
険しい顔でその戦況を注視していたゲルグスが、味方の車両を示す反応が消えたのを見て思わず声を荒らげる。
「クソッ! またか!」
アキラを十分に距離を取って包囲し、遠距離からの砲撃で一方的に攻撃、撃破するという作戦は、アキラがその砲火を
な様子を見せるゲルグスに、同じチームのタクトというハンターが険しい顔で答える。
「これ以上の誤射は許容できないと言ってます」
「あいつにここまで近付かれた所為で、逆に位置情報の精度は十分に上がってんだ。その状態で照準データ連係を使っても外す馬鹿しかいねえのか?」
「標的も誤射を誘発するように動いてるんでしょう。その上で、何しろ誤射の先は他のチームですからね。装備の破損等なら後で金で解決すれば良いんですけど、他チームの者を死なせてしまえば取り返しが付きません。その辺でしょう」
めて舌打ちする。他のチームの言い分は、ある意味でゲルグス達が力不足である証拠だ。
他のチームの者達も500億オーラムの賞金首に挑むだけあって実力者であり、そこらのハンターとは覚悟が違う。戦闘で死人が出ることへの割り切りもある程度は出来ている。その上でゲルグス達のチームがその突出した力を
誤射を許容できないという言葉は、他のチームの者達はゲルグスにはその抑えが出来ないと判断している証拠であり、同時にそれを公言しているのも同然だった。
「ゲルグスさん。どうします? 俺がチームを率いてあいつを囲みますか?」
その分だけ誤射の恐れは高くなる。タクトはそれを分かった上で、自分達が動くと告げていた。
しかしゲルグスは同じチームの仲間にそこまでの被害を出すことを許容できなかった。険しい顔で首を横に振る。
「駄目だ。お前は目標の再包囲の指揮を続けろ」
「......、分かりました。気が変わったら早めに言ってください」
ゲルグス達が戦況を示す表示装置に再度視線を向ける。味方の反応がまた一つ消えた。
の山すら軽く乗り越える。それだけではなくアキラのバイクに似た機能まで有しており、敵が真上にいようとも見えない走路を自ら作り出してその上を垂直に走行し、照準を車体ごと無理
合わせて砲撃できる。
続けてアキラがキャロルと合わせて別の戦車を攻撃する。アキラのLEO複合銃、キャロルの携帯式レーザー砲、バイクのAF対物砲が同一の目標に照準を合わせ、一斉に銃撃する。
その際、アキラはキャロルより一瞬早く撃っていた。放った銃弾が目標の車体に着弾し、その衝撃に反応して標的の
一瞬後、そこにキャロルのレーザー砲とバイクのAF対物砲による一撃が突き刺さる。装甲を貫き、膨大なエネルギーを車内に送り込み、車両を内側から焼却、大破させた。
新たに2両の戦車を撃破したが、アキラに立ち止まる暇など無い。バイクを全速力で走らせて次の目標へ急ごうとした。
そこでキャロルが後ろからアキラに胸を押し当てながら顔を近付ける。
「アキラ。離脱目的ならこれぐらいで十分だと思うけど、続けるの?」
アキラも戦闘中にキャロルの胸が当たっていることや顔が近いことを気にする余裕は無い。聞かれたことについてだけ思案する。
包囲の一部を破ったが、多勢に無勢であり、全体としては劣勢であることに変わりは無い。何とか戦えている今の内に一度引くという選択肢は十分にある。しかし直近の状況ではしっかり戦えていることも事実だ。部分的に優勢とも言える。その勢いに乗り、更なる優勢を求めるという選択肢もあった。
どちらが良いかと少し迷ったアキラがふと思い、何となくキャロルに聞き返す。
「キャロル。それ、だからさっさと逃げようっていう提案か?」
この戦いにキャロルを付き合わせているのは自分だ。そう思ったアキラは、キャロルが逃げたいのであれば、ここで撤退でも良いかと思っていた。
だがキャロルからは明るい声が返ってくる。
「ん? 違うわ。もし頭に血が上って無理に戦っているのなら、この辺で止めときなさいってだけよ。冷静に考えた上で続けるって言うのなら構わないし、私もとことん付き合うわ」
一緒に死地を駆ける状況を続けても構わない。命懸けを許容するその言葉をキャロルがあっさり返してきたことに、アキラはどこか
「そうか。じゃあ、もう少し付き合ってくれ。とことんまで追い詰めて皆殺しにするとは言わないけど、出来れば向こうから退いてほしいからな。割に合わないと思ってるやつらもいるはずだ。俺達の方から逃げたら、その連中もやる気を取り戻すかもしれないしな」
「了解よ。それなら彼らには、アキラを狙ったことを引き続きたっぷり後悔してもらいましょうか」
『アキラ。その前に一度補給よ。弾薬もエネルギーも残り僅かだわ』
をすれば拡張弾倉も大容量エネルギータンクもすぐに尽きる。だが敵はそれだけ強力で消費を惜しむ余裕など無い。ここで補給が出来なければアキラ達は終わっていた。
「それ、私をそこに置いていくつもりじゃないわよね?」
キャロルがそう言って僅かに顔を
だ死地にいながらも、上機嫌で荒野をバイクで駆けていった。
シロウが運転するキャンピングカーは既に包囲網の外に出ていた。周囲の敵をアキラ達が交戦して引き付けていたおかげだが、それだけではなくシロウの小細工の効果もあった。
包囲からは出たが一人で逃げる訳にもいかない。しかし近付きすぎれば戦闘に巻き込まれる。適度な距離を保ちながら推移を見守っていると、アキラから念話が届く。
『シロウ。一度補給にそっちに戻る。合流できるか?』
『大丈夫だけど、気を付けてくれよ? 俺は戦闘なんて肉体労働には不向きだし、この車両も荒野仕様だからってそっちの連中相手に戦えるようなやつじゃないんだ。こっちから合流ルートを送る。そのルートを厳守してくれ。それにしても、逃げるんじゃなくて、補給して戦闘続行か。大丈夫なのか?』
シロウとしてもここでアキラに死なれては困る。そして欲を言えば、本来ならば自分の目的を達成する実力を示す
だがアキラからはどこか上機嫌な声が返ってくる。
『逃げると相手が調子に乗って面倒臭いだろう?』
シロウは合流ルートをアキラに念話で送ると、軽く笑う。
アキラの態度に余裕を感じ取ったシロウは、この様子なら自分の運はまだまだ残っていそうだと、内心の期待を顔に出していた。
キャンピングカーとの合流を目指すアキラにハンター達の砲火が降り注ぐ。標的が包囲部隊から離れようとしている今ならば誤射の恐れも無い。砲撃は非常に激しいものになっていた。
『アルファ。さっきから砲撃を避けてないよな? 何かやってるのか?』
『私は何もしていないわ。シロウから指定された移動ルートで進んでいるだけよ。だから何かしているのであればシロウでしょうね』
それを聞いたアキラが念話をシロウへ向けて飛ばす。
『ある。危ないから勝手にルートから外れるんじゃないぞ。ギリギリの調整をしてるんだからな』
ゲルグス達は車両や機体の間でデータ連係を実施し、部隊全体で収集した情報を基に目標への照準補正を実施していた。だがシロウはそこに侵入してデータを
『他にも誤射を誘発するように微調整したり、俺もいろいろサポートしてるんだぞ? 感謝しろよ?』
『分かった。借りにしとくよ』
アキラはそう答えながらキャンピングカーに近付き、後部扉から中に入る。同時に体感時間を操作して補給作業を全速力で開始した。
め、LEO複合銃の弾倉とエネルギーパックを交換する。バイクからエネルギータンクを取り外し、付け替える。同じく補給作業を進めているキャロルの動きを遅く感じながら、AF対物砲の弾倉とエネルギーパックの交換を急ぐ。
様子を見に来ていたシロウが何か言っているが、体感時間の速度に差がありすぎて念話でも会話が成立しない。後にしろ、とだけ答えてブレード用の液体金属のタンクを交換する。
そこでシロウから念話が届く。
『もう良いか? データ連係に介入して見付けたんだが、敵の車両の中にリオンズテイルの車両があった。この賞金首討伐部隊の指揮をリオンズテイル社のやつがやってるのなら、その車両を潰せば残りは撤退するかもしれない。戦い方は任せるけど、一応データを送っておくぞ』
『あと、ちょっとした疑問なんだけど、お前、ハンター連中から何か恨みでも買ってるのか?』
『つまり明確な心当たりは無い訳か』
『そうだけど、何でそんなことを聞くんだ?』
『単純に500億の賞金首を狩りに来ただけなら、この被害なら既に撤退していても不思議は無いんだ。その上で連中が退かないのなら金以外の理由があることになる。それは何だろうかと思ったら、まあ、私怨かなって思ってさ』
これだけの部隊に襲われている理由に、自分が賞金首であるということとは無関係な理由があるかもしれない。それを聞いたアキラは、シロウの推測にすぎないとはいえ、面倒そうに顔を
今回の賞金首討伐を成功か失敗かの二択で評価するのであれば、アキラの撃破にこれから成功したとしても、金銭的には既に失敗と判断せざるを得ない状態だ。車両等の損失を賞金で補填できるかどうかすら怪しい。人的な損失は既に取り返しが付かない。
本来ならば状況がここまで悪化する前に撤退するという判断もあった。ゲルグスも単純に賞金目的ならばとっくに見切りを付けていた。正確な損切りを素早く下せる判断力もハンターの重要な要素であり、ゲルグスにはそれがあった。
「500億オーラムもの賞金を懸けた上にモンスター認定までしているのです。以前にお話しした通り、見せしめとしては十分な内容であると判断しております。違いますか?」
ゲルグスが不服そうに顔を
「リオンズテイルは金欠なのか? それともお前らの主人の小遣いが足りてないのか?」
今度はラティスがパメラと同じく平然と答える。
「......、そうかよ」
賞金額と賞金首の強さは必ずしも比例しないが、それでもモンスターの場合は基本的に賞金が高額なほど強くなる。賞金を懸けられるほどに邪魔で速やかな駆除を求められているからだが、強くて
しかし人間の賞金首の場合は少々事情が異なる。怨恨や制裁など人間特有の要素により賞金が増額されるからだ。
ゲルグスはそれらの理由によりアキラの実力を300億オーラム相当、高くても350億オーラム程度だと見積もっていた。実際の賞金額との差分は制裁や見せしめ目的の増額分だ。リオンズテイル社の創業者一族の者を殺そうとしたのだ。その程度の増額はするだろうと判断していた。
しかしアキラの実力はゲルグスの予想を超えていた。だが圧倒されるほどでもなかった。その所為で、300億オーラム相当の実力にしてはしぶといが、もう少しで殺せるだろうと判断してしまい、引き際を誤らせていた。
そこでアキラに500億オーラム相当の実力があるのか聞いてみた。お前達の主人はハンターに襲撃されても、その賞金に制裁分の増額をされないほどリオンズテイル社から重要視されていないのかと、嫌みを交えて暗に尋ねたのだ。そしてその返答は、アキラに500億オーラム相当の実力があることを否定するものではなかった。
それでもゲルグスはまだ撤退を選択できない。それはこれだけの被害が出ても、加えて戦闘を継続して更なる損害を被ったとしても、勝てば割に合う可能性が高いからだ。
ゲルグスはクロエ達から賞金以外の報酬も示唆されていた。それはリオンズテイル社との伝なのだが、支店ではなく本店との伝であり、更に本店の代表であるアリスがここに極秘裏に来訪する予定で、今回の賞金首討伐にも関わりがあることを匂わされていた。
五大企業の重役並みの重要人物との伝。その価値は計り知れない。それを得られるかもしれない機会をゲルグスは逃したくなかった。
「......おい、もう一度聞くぞ。お前達の主人、クロエだったか、そいつ、今回の件が
パメラが自信のある笑顔を浮かべる。
「その可能性は十分に高い、とだけお答えしておきます。少なくとも三区支店はお嬢様を全面的に支援しております。この車両も三区支店の備品です。それだけ力を入れているとお考え下さい」
ゲルグス達にとってアリスとの伝は部隊全体で刺し違えてでも得る価値がある。だがその件はゲルグスのチームの者しか知らなかった。つまり他のチームの者達はこれ以上戦況が悪化すると独自に見切りを付けて撤退する恐れがあった。
「タクト。方針を切り替える。多少巻き添えを出してでもあいつの動きを止めるぞ。それで砲撃で潰す。他のチームのやつらに誤射を気にせずに撃つよう厳命しろ」
「いや、お前達のチームも砲撃の方に回れ」
「ゲルグスさん。それじゃ誰があいつを止めるんです? 他のチーム同士だと誤射を理由に撃ちませんよ?」
ある意味で部隊全体を相手に一人で互角に渡り合っている標的を自分一人で抑えるというゲルグスの言葉に、タクトは驚きを隠せなかった。
巨大な荒野仕様車両の近くで、自動操縦で動く赤い人型兵器が大型の砲でアキラに砲撃を続けていた。
機体が大型の砲を車両の格納庫に戻し、代わりに銃とブレードを装備する。そしてエネルギーの補充を済ませると勢い良く宙を飛んだ。
その機体の中でゲルグスが厳しい表情を浮かべながら、自身に言い聞かせて意気を高めるように口に出す。
「決断は遅れたが、それでも勝てば俺の判断が正しい。ゼロス。見てやがれ」
ゲルグスはゼロスが率いるチームの副リーダーだ。チームのリーダーは今もゼロスだが、ババロドによる情報
もゲルグスも当初はリーダーの座を奪おうとは思っていなかった。しかしアキラを狙うかどうかの会議でゼロスと意見が対立してしまい、チーム内部もゼロス派とゲルグス派に分かれてしまった。
500億オーラムの賞金とリオンズテイル社との伝はチームを更に飛躍させる絶好の機会だ。その認識までは共有していたのだが、ゲルグスが利益を説いて説得してもゼロスはどうしても首を縦に振らず、ゼロスも実際にアキラと会った自身の勘と印象という曖昧なものでしか反論できず、決定的に決裂してしまった。
「ゼロス。俺達はハンターだろう? 賭けるに足る時に賭けられねえようじゃ、後は腐って死ぬだけだろうが。今更
「テメエを殺してゼロスに証明する! 俺が正しいってな!」
赤い機体が宙を飛びながら銃を構え、クガマヤマ都市周辺のモンスターなど一発で消し飛ばす弾丸を連射する。人型兵器用の巨大な銃から撃ち出された砲弾のような大型の銃弾が、大気を貫き、標的目掛けて殺到する。
The Hunters that gathered to hunt the 50 billion Aurum bounty target were centered around the team led by a Hunter by the name of Gelgus. They brought their own vehicles, tanks, and powered suits to form a powerful hunting party.
Among the vehicles, there was a single gigantic vehicle. It was as tall as a 2-storey building. It was large enough to house powered suit weaponry, serve as lodging and could easily be used as a mobile HQ. This vehicle had the Lion Steel's logo adorned on it.
A large meeting room inside it was used as a command centre. A table-type display was placed in the middle of that room. At the moment, it was mostly used to oversee the situation of the ongoing battle. All information sent by the information-gathering devices of the powered suits and vehicles on the battlefield were collated and displayed here.
Gelgus looked anxiously at the display as he saw friendly signals vanishing from the map one by one.
"Dammit! One more gone!"
Their original plan was to keep their distance from Akira. They were one-sidedly bombarding from a distance. However, Akira slipped through in-between the explosions and closed the distance. He even managed to break through the encirclement. At this point, the hunting team had already lost half of its firepower.
As Gelgus was filled with frustration, Takt, who was a Hunter from the same team, frowned and explained.
"They said that they can't allow any more friendly fire."
"When that guy got close, the information accuracy for his position should have got better too; to think they would miss even with such accurate data. Are they stupid or something?"
"I bet the target is also moving to increase the chance of friendly fire. To top it off, the ones suffering friendly fire are not from the same team. If it only ends with broken equipment, they can solve it with money. But, that's not the case if someone gets killed."
Gelgus knitted his eyebrows and clicked his tongue. That argument was proof of his lack of skill.
The Hunters hunting for a 50 billion Aurum bounty target were all veterans. Their resolve when they decided to join the hunting party was not the same as those of common Hunters. To some extent, they were ready to lose lives during the operation. However, Gelgus' team prowess was way above those Hunters. This allowed his team to completely suppress the infighting between the Hunters. Even when they formed the encirclement, they could release the bombardment without the worry of friendly fire. After all, they believe Gelgus' team could remedy any infighting if they struck their ally.
The fact that one team refused to shoot because of the worry of friendly fire showed how uneasy they were. They now believed Gelgus' team no longer had the capability to suppress infighting. On top of that, stating it was a clear indication of their thoughts.
"Gelgus-san, what next? Should I take some of our men and surround the target?"
Naturally, that in turn would increase the possibility of friendly fire for their own team. Takt already knew of the outcome when he offered to take the lead.
However, Gelgus could not send his team out for such a thing. He had a grim expression on his face as he shook his head and ordered.
"No. Order them to restart the bombardment."
"...Alright, if you change your mind, tell me."
Gelgus shifted his gaze once again to the display, and another blimp signal vanished. Another friendly unit was annihilated.
Their caterpillar tracks made easy work of the uneven terrain. They even had enough horsepower to overcome obstacles like rubble and wreckage in their way. Moreover, they had a similar function to Akira's bike. They could create a platform under their caterpillar tracks and elevate the whole tank. It could be used to angle the tanks up, to aim at the sky.
The main cannon was supported by a powerful scanner, which was extremely accurate. They shared information among themselves to further increase their accuracy. The cannon itself had enough firepower to easily blow apart monsters found around Zegelt city.
Akira did not stop there. He quickly aimed his rifle at another tank together with Carol. Akira with his LEO multi-rifles while Carol, with her mobile laser cannon. Meanwhile, the bike's AF anti-material cannon released its shots at the same time as the other two.
To be more precise, Akira pulled the trigger a split second faster than the rest of the group. Akira's bullets reached its target first, causing the forcefield armour of the tank to once again focus on those impact locations. This caused another part of the tank to get weakened. With Alpha's help, the barrage was adjusted so that the weakened part was right where Carol was aiming at.
A moment later, Carol's laser and AF anti-material cannon's laser hit the tank. They pierced through the armour tile and forcefield armour, sending in a huge amount of raw energy into the tank, causing it to blow up.
Although they just shot down 2 tanks, they did not have the leeway to take a break. Akira immediately accelerated the bike toward their next target.
That was when Carol pushed her chest to Akira's back and placed her face close to his face.
"Akira, if it's only to escape the encirclement, shouldn't this be enough? Or are we going to continue?"
In the middle of battle, Akira did not have the leeway to be bothered either by the sensation on his back or by Carol's face. The only thing that was registered in his mind was that question.
Although they had already broken through one side of the encirclement, it still did not change the fact that they were highly outnumbered. It was not a bad decision to use this chance to escape while they still could. However, they were fighting pretty well. It could be said that they were on a roll. Thus, there was an option for them to continue this momentum and push to gain the upper hand.
As Akira was uncertain of which to choose, he then thought of something and asked Carol a question.
"Carol, do you want me to get away now while we still have the chance?"
Akira was the reason why Carol got involved in this battle. Therefore, if she wanted to escape, he was fine with it.
However, she replied with a bright smile and jovial tone.
"Hm? Nope. I was just suggesting. If you're forcing yourself to fight because you got a bit too emotional, it might be a good idea to withdraw. But if that is not the case and you decide to fight with a calm mind, then I don't mind continuing. I will help you go all the way until the end."
Akira's lips curved. He seemed happy at how Carol answered easily. Her answer implied that she did not mind staying on this deadly battlefield, where she could be killed anytime, for him. Therefore, he cheerfully replied.
"I see. In that case, help me out a bit more. I have no plans to go as far as to kill everyone here. But at the very least, I want to force them to withdraw. I'm sure some of them would conclude that this isn't worth the danger. If we run away now, they might get motivated instead."
"Roger that. Let's get them to regret ever choosing to go after you."
"Akira, before we do that, let's resupply first. Your ammo and energy reserve are running low."
It was no surprise that he was quickly going through his extended magazines and energy reserve. However, that was also only because he could not afford to be frugal in front of the opponents he was facing. If he could not get a chance to resupply, it was only a matter of time before he lost the fight.
"It's not like you're planning to leave me behind there, right?"
Carol pouted as she said so. In reaction to that, Akira lightly smiled and joked.
While in the middle of that deadly battlefield, Akira and Carol raced through the wasteland on his bike in a good mood.
Shirou, who was driving the camping vehicle, was already outside the encirclement. He managed to do so not only because Akira attracted all their attention. It was also due to his own skills.
Although he was already outside the encirclement, it was not like he could simply run away from the premise. However, if he got too close, he would only get involved in that battle. Therefore, he was only driving around while keeping his distance from the encirclement. That was when Akira suddenly contacted him through telepathy.
"Shirou, we're heading there to resupply, can you meet up with us?"
"Sure, but make sure to be careful. I'm not good at fighting. Incapable even. Although this camping vehicle is designed to be used out in the wasteland, it's not well equipped enough to fight those guys. I will send the route to get here. Make sure to follow it. Also, you're only coming here to resupply right? We are not running away? Are you sure about that?"
Personally speaking, Shirou did not want Akira to get killed. However, if he was allowed to be greedy, he hoped Akira would repel the Hunters that came after him, a 50 billion bounty target. It would show Akira's fighting capability, which would help to accomplish his goal. Though, as someone who wants to employ Akira, if he decides to withdraw, Shirou was completely fine with that decision.
Akira replied with a rather jovial tone.
"If we run away now, they will get too confident, which will only turn into more trouble later, you know?"
Shirou then sent Akira the route through telepathy and lightly smiled.
Even in this situation, judging from Akira's reaction, it sounded like he was still not that hard-pressed. As Shirou thought as much, it seems like he still had a bit of good luck left. He cracked up a soft smile from his expectation of Akira.
While Akira was heading to meet up with the camping vehicle, the bombardment intensified. Since he was now moving away from the group, there was no fear of friendly fire anymore. Therefore, they stopped holding back and the bombardment grew even more intense.
"Alpha. We're not even trying to evade now, right? Did you do something?"
"I'm not doing anything, it was Shirou who picked this route, so he might be doing something."
Akira turned his telepathy back to Shirou.
"Yep. It's dangerous, so make sure to keep strictly on the route I specified. I'm doing my best adjusting it."
Gelgus' team was using information from the whole squad to adjust the aiming of their tanks and powered suits. However, Shirou managed to hack into their information stream to send in fake information. This caused the aiming devices to register Akira's position a bit away from his real position. Thanks to that, even in the middle of that intense bombardment, Akira did not get hit. This allowed him to just keep driving forward without any issues.
"Other than that, I'm also sending data that might cause friendly fire as well. I'm working quite hard to support you from here, you know? You better be thankful for it, yeah?"
"Sure, I owe you one."
Akira only said so and approached the camping vehicle before jumping into it from the back door. At the same time, he pushed his time perception compression to its maximum as he finished resupplying as fast as he could.
Akira stopped his bike and reloaded new magazines and energy packs into his LEO multi-rifles. He ejected the bike's energy tank and loaded a new one. After that, he quickly reloaded a new magazine and energy pack for his AF anti-material cannon. He did all of this at high speed. It was to the point where Carol, who was also doing the same, felt slow.
Shirou, who came to check up on them, did say something. However, due to the huge difference in their time perception, even telepathy did not work. Akira only asked Shirou to save it for later as he exchanged the liquid metal tank for his blade.
That was when Shirou's telepathy message finally reached Akira.
"Is it okay now? I found something when I was hacking through their information network. It seems like amongst them, there's one vehicle owned by the Lion Steel company. If this hunting party is led by someone from Lion Steel, then the rest might just disband and run away if you destroy that one vehicle. I'll leave it to you on how you want to do that. Just in case you're interested, I'll send you the data."
"And also, just one more thing. Did you do something to annoy those Hunters?"
"So basically, you have no particular guess, huh?"
"Yes, but why are you asking me that?"
"If it's really just to hunt a 50 billion bounty target, they should have already retreated after suffering this many losses. But since they haven't, I simply thought that they must have some other reason other than money. If I were to guess, it should be some kind of personal grudge."
Akira frowned after hearing that. It seems like they had another reason for gathering this many people to attack him. Although it was nothing but Shirou's guess, Akira still could not help but find it pretty annoying.
If they were talking about the success or failure of the hunting party, even if they managed to take Akira down later, from their current losses, they had no choice but to recognize this hunting expedition as a failure. It was even doubtful whether the bounty prize was enough to recoup the loss of the destroyed tanks and power suits. The loss of men was already irreparable.
Normally, Gelgus had the choice of retreating before the situation got this bad. If his goal was purely the bounty, he would have ordered a retreat by now. After all, the ability to decide when to retreat in order to cut off losses was an important skill for Hunters, and Gelgus did not lack such a skill.
"It's not only the 50 billion Aurum bounty. We also had him recognized as a monster. As we said before, it is enough to make a lesson out of him. Or am I mistaken?"
Gelgus annoyedly grunted and asked.
"Is Lion Steel in trouble with money? Or is it that your master only has that much for her allowance?"
This time, it was Latis who answered with the same calm demeanor as Pamela.
"...Yeah yeah."
The price and the strength of a bounty target did not always match up. If it was a bounty monster, there was still a level of correlation between the bounty reward and the strength of the bounty monster. After all, the size of the reward was proportional to how fast they wanted that monster to be taken down. It became a bounty monster since it was too powerful to be defeated through normal means.
However, that was not the same when the bounty target was a human. Things like grudge and intention caused the bounty prize to vary.
Because of that, Gelgus thought that Akira's original bounty was about 30 billion Aurum. Or at most, 35 billion Aurum. He has estimated this difference because of those human factors. After all, Akira did try to kill someone from the founder family of the Lion Steel company. Therefore, it was to be given that a huge bounty was to be placed on his head.
However, Akira's true strength was way above what Gelgus had expected. Though, that disparity was not bad enough to drive Gelgus into a corner. Thus, he still believed that Akira was fairly stronger than a simple 30 billion Aurum human bounty target. It was not impossible to kill him if Gelgus put in some more effort. That was the reason why he did not call for a retreat.
Thus, Gelgus decided to ask that question. To confirm if Akira actually had that much bounty on him because of his true strength. It was also his way of sarcastically asking if their master was not that important to the Lion Steel company. How come she did not increase the bounty prize for that Hunter. As a result, they did not fully deny that Akira had that price tag because of his skill.
Even so, Gelgus still decided not to withdraw. He estimated that even after all the losses. Even if he was risking more to lose by continuing, there was a good chance it would be worth the trouble.
Gelgus was not only offered the bounty prize. He was also offered a connection to the Lion Steel company. It was not a simple connection to a branch office. It was a connection to the main HQ. With Lion Steel representative, Alice, scheduled to come there soon, Gelgus hypothesized that this bounty hunt had something to do with it.
A connection to someone important to a company slightly beneath the 5 biggest companies. There was no question that it was a priceless opportunity. Therefore, Gelgus could not afford to let this opportunity slip past him.
"...Hey. Let me ask you again. Your master, Chloe, was it again? She'll really provide me with a connection to Lion Steel HQ if this operation goes well, right?"
Pamela smiled confidently and replied.
"There's a good chance that is indeed the case. Or at least, that's all I can tell you. Milady has the third ward branch under her. Even this vehicle is originally from the Lion Steel Third Ward Branch. So, you at least know how much we're invested in this."
For Gelgus' party, it was essential to form a connection with Alice even if they had to sacrifice something. It would definitely profit the team as a whole. However, only Gelgus' team knew about it. Which meant, that the other teams might decide to retreat from battle if the situation got worse.
"Takt, let's change our approach. We'll try to stop him even if we get some of our men under friendly fire. And then, we'll kill him with long-range bombardment. Tell the other teams to keep firing and don't worry about hitting allies."
"No, you take your men with the bombardment team."
"Gelgus-san, then who will try to stop him? The other team would not do that fearing they'd get shot by their own allies, you know?"
Takt could not hide his surprise. After all, Gelgus was saying that he would stop them alone. The two have been doing exceptionally well fighting against their whole team.
Near the large-sized wasteland vehicle, a large red powered suit with its equally large cannon was running on autopilot. It was continuously shooting at Akira.
The power suit entered the vehicle. There, Gelgus placed its large cannon back inside the vehicle and picked up a blade as its replacement. He then finished charging its energy before jumping out of the vehicle.
Inside that powered suit, Gelgus had a rather solemn expression as he spoke to himself.
"I made the decision. If we can win this, then the decision is a correct one. Zelos, just you watch."
Zelos was the captain of Gelgus' team. Meanwhile, Gelgus was actually the vice-captain. The current leader was still Zelos, but due to the information leak by Babalod, he had temporarily lost his influence inside the team. Therefore, if Gelgus could show worthwhile achievement, he might be able to take over Zelos' leadership position.
Of course, at first, Gelgus had no plan to take over the leader position. However, for some reason, they ended up having opposite opinions regarding the operation to hunt Akira. It was so serious that the team was split into two - the Gelgus faction and the Zelos faction.
The 50 billion Aurum bounty prize and a connection to Lion Steel HQ were definitely extremely beneficial for the team. It was the perfect opportunity to get both money and connection. Although they both agreed on the benefits, their conversation always broke down to the risks. No matter how hard Gelgus tried to convince Zelos, the latter always shook his head. Zelos gave his evaluation of Akira when he met him as his counterargument. This caused the team to completely break into two factions.
"Zelos, we are Hunters, you know? If we don't have the guts to bet on this, then what's left for us is to just rot and die. It's stupid to get scared at this point."
"I'll kill you and prove to Zelos that I'm right!!"
The red powered suit flew. It had a gun that could decimate monsters near Kugamayama city in just one shot. Its muzzle spewed out a huge shell that tore through the air and straight toward its target.
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