も思っていない。しかし斬りたいものは斬った。斬撃の衝撃でティオルの腕の体勢が大きく崩れ、それぞれの腕が構える銃の射線も大きく狂う。アキラはティオルの無数の銃から伸びる射線の束を斬り開いたのだ。
射線を切り開いて強引に生み出した死角に飛び込む。床を蹴り、加速する。足場を強固な接地機能で補強して体勢が崩れるのを防ぎながら、強化服の出力を限界まで上げた身体能力で、その床を粉砕しかねないほどの力を足に込める。その反動から生み出された速度を
アキラは初めから最後まで想定通りに動いた。意識の全てを動きの精度の向上に割り当てて、現状で可能な最高の動きを見せた。
その差がアキラに先手を取らせた。無数の腕を
(そうだ......。シェリル......)
ティオルは最後に、自分の名前よりも
激しい頭痛に襲われながら周囲を見渡す。ティオルの肉片がそこら中に散らばっている光景を見て、幾ら何でもこれで殺せただろうと判断する。
「これで殺しきれていなかったら、もうどうしようもねえぞ......。そのまま死んでろ。せめて化けて出るのは次の機会にしてくれ」
過剰摂取していた回復薬の成分がすぐに腕の治療を開始する。腕の先から流れ出ていた血がすぐに止まり、痛みが消える。そして露出部が液状の回復薬にも見えるもので覆われていく。
世の中には腕が生える回復薬も存在する。その意味では、自分はまだまだ安い回復薬を使っている。アキラは何となくそう思い、軽く笑った。
カツヤが戻ってきたアイリから話を聞いて険しい表情を浮かべている。アキラとティオルの他にモンスターまで住み着いているという懸念は、今のカツヤ達には重すぎた。
「アイリ。ごめん。疑うわけじゃないが、本当なのか? 俺達があいつらを追っていた時には、そんな気配は全く無かったはずだ」
「推測が混ざっているのは認める。でも床に大量の血が広がっているのに、武器も死体も残っていなかったのは本当。武器だけならあいつらが持ち去ったのかもしれない。でも死体まで
悩んでいるカツヤを見て、ユミナが悲痛な面持ちで意見を述べる。
「カツヤ。私だけ助けてもらった身でこんなことを言うのは恥知らずかもしれないけど、言うわ。もうあいつらのことは放っておきましょう。好きに殺し合わせておけば良いじゃない。私達はすぐにでも急いで撤退しましょう」
「あいつとの取引を受け入れろって言うのか?」
むざむざ引き下がる。カツヤは無意識にそのような意味合いに捉えて表情を僅かに厳しくさせた。だがユミナは悲痛な表情のまま首を横に振る。
「そんな取引なんかどうだって良いわ。これ以上犠牲を出したくないだけ。......そもそも私を見捨てていればもっと犠牲は減っていた。だから私の
カツヤが言葉に詰まる。本来その非情な決断をする役目を負う者は部隊長であるカツヤだ。だがカツヤはその決断をしなかった。
ユミナを助けたかったという思いは本物だ。だがその思いの強さにより迷う必要など無かった、訳ではなかった。仲間の犠牲を承知の上で、それでも仲間を見捨てないという強い思いにより、選択の余地など無かった、訳でもなかった。単純にカツヤの頭の中に、仲間の犠牲という考えが浮かんでいなかっただけだった。
その認識がユミナの強い言葉で僅かに揺らいだ。カツヤが自分でもよく分からない困惑を覚えてたじろぐ。ユミナはそのカツヤの様子を見て、もう少し説得すればカツヤに撤退を了承させられると思い、皆の身を、特にカツヤの身を案じて更に強く訴えかける。
「みんなを助けたい。見捨てたくない。そして、それが出来なかったのなら、間に合わなかったのなら、せめて
「......カツヤ?」
カツヤは困惑するユミナの呼びかけにも答えずに、
そのような人物がハンターを目指してチームを組んだ。その善意と才能は一緒に戦う仲間を全力で助けることに存分に発揮された。結果、多くの者を助け、多くの者に感謝された。そして助けた相手はカツヤが無自覚に送信していた念話によって、相手を助けたいという打算の無い思いを受け取り、大きく心を動かされた。
カツヤに厚意や好感を持った者も多かった。それらの好意的な感情は旧領域接続者の受信機能によりしっかりと伝わり、カツヤの相手を助けたいという思いを大きくさせた。
だが全員が無条件に感謝した訳ではない。その行動を、才能を、そこから生まれた成果を、
カツヤは旧領域接続者の能力で多くの者達に影響を与えてきた。だが同時に多くの者達からそれらの望みを願われて、それ以上の影響を受けてきた。
自分がこれほどまでに称賛する者は、その称賛に見合うほどに素晴らしい存在であってほしい。その無言の雄弁な望みは、言語を介さない念話の
ローカルネットワークを構築すれば、その規模に応じてその影響も大きくなる。多数の者を率いてハンター稼業を続ける限りどうしても死者は増える。その状況でローカルネットワークにより自分と仲間達を自身として同一視するのは、カツヤにとっては救いでもあった。自分が傷付く程度のことなら、大したことではないからだ。
死者が再びカツヤに声を張り上げる。どうか助けてくれと。どうして助けてくれなかったんだと。せめて、
ユミナがカツヤの余りの様子に今の状況すら忘れて呼びかける。
「......ユミナ、アイリ。2人はみんなを指揮して撤退してくれ」
ではない様子に驚き困惑しながらも、カツヤの強い意志を乗せた指示によって、既に始めていた撤退作業を戸惑いながらも優先した。
撤退作業が慌ただしい様子で進んでいく。ユミナ達も副隊長として場の細かい指揮を執っている。だが2人ともカツヤが心配で
先にアイリが表情に決意を込めて自身の意思を表に出す。
「......ユミナ。ここの指揮を頼んでも良い?」
行かせて死なせたくない。行って助けてあげてほしい。ユミナが相反する苦悩で顔を
「......カツヤを連れ戻す。それ以外の目的があるのなら、駄目よ」
アイリのユミナに
カツヤの
Akira did not think that one slash just now had hurt Tiol. But at least, it completed its intended goal. With that attack, Tiol's arms were thrown into disarray. The aim of those rifles were thrown off. The goal of that slash was to open up a path towards Tiol, a path not in his line of fire.
Akira turned on the stick contact function to strengthen his foothold, preventing himself from losing balance as he used the full power of his enhanced physical strength to place an enormous force on his leg. This force was enough to even crush the floor beneath him. By Newton's third law, Akira's body accelerated straight ahead. He used the opening he forcefully made and quickly executed a powerful leap. Finally managing to close the distance between the two of them.
Up until this point, everything was as Akira had planned. He put all his concentration to increase the sharpness of his movement, increasing his agility to its utmost possible state.
That difference allowed Akira to take the first strike. He ducked and waved through the ravenous arms as he got even closer to Tiol, into the reach of melee weapons. He then thrust the SSB rifle on his left hand as hard as he could to the base of Tiol's multiple arms.
[Ah... That's right... Sheryl...]
In his last moment, Tiol remembered the person that he loved instead of his own name, and with that, his life had come to an end.
Akira's head was assaulted by pain as he scanned his surroundings. Tiol's leftovers were scattered all over the place, so Akira thought that should have been enough to kill Tiol for good.
"If that guy is still alive even after this, then there's really nothing that can kill him... Just stay dead you bastard. If you're going to rise up again and come at me, at least do it some other time."
The huge dose of medicine that Akira took immediately went to heal his lost arm. The bleeding immediately stopped. The pain immediately subsided and the exposed part was slowly covered in a strange liquid that came from the medicine.
There exist medicines that could heal lost limbs. Compared to that, it could be said that the medicine that Akira used were still considered cheap. As Akira thought so, he lightly chuckled and thought.
After hearing Airi's report, Katsuya frowned with worry. The possibility that there was another hostile entity roaming the building other than Akira and Tiol was too serious of a problem to him.
"Airi, sorry, it's not like I'm doubting you, but are you sure? There was no sign of any other hostile forces when we were chasing both of them, you know."
"It's true that it's just a guess. But it's true that the bodies and their equipment are all gone. If it's only the weapons, it might be because the other guys took them, but there is no need to take the bodies too, right?"
Seeing Katsuya who was at a loss, Yumina voiced her opinion with a pained expression.
"Katsuya, it might be shameless of me to say this since I'm the only one spared, but I'll say it straight, let's just leave them alone. We can just let them duke it out as we retreat from here."
"Are you saying that we should accept his offer?"
Katsuya took that opinion as a suggestion to run away and that did not sit well with him. But Yumina then shook her head and said with a pained expression.
"I don't care about that deal, I just don't want to let anyone else die... In the first place, you could have cut your losses had you just abandoned me. That's why this is also my fault. But he saved me and now I'm nothing more than dead weight. You can go ahead and admonish me as much as you like but listen to me."
Katsuya could not say anything back. Normally, it was his duty to make such a difficult decision, but he could not make it.
It was true that he wanted to save Yumina. However, it was not the case that he was blinded by his emotions. He was not forced to save Yumina at the cost of his friends' lives. In fact, the thought of getting his other friends killed never crossed his mind.
But Yumina's harsh words gave him a wake-up call. Katsuya was shocked and hesitated because of a feeling that he did not fully understand was welling in him. Seeing that, Yumina thought that she just needed one more push to make him decide to retreat. So she brought up the safety of everyone and Katsuya himself in particular to give that last push.
"You want to save them, you don't want to abandon them. When you couldn't do that, when you couldn't make it, you believe you should at least avenge them. That's how it has been up till now. But, that vengeance, is it something that you should do no matter what even if it means that you'll get more of your friends killed?"
"...Katsuya?"
Katsuya did not reply to Yumina's call at all, his expression turned pale as if all colour was drowned from his face.
That kind of person then formed a party to work as a Hunter. That kind of predisposition and his talent had more opportunities to stick out as he did his best trying to save the members of his team. Because of that, many of his friends were saved and grateful to him. Those that he saved, due to the feeling that Katsuya had been broadcasting unconsciously, also felt the wish to save others and that brought about a huge change in their hearts.
There were many who liked Katsuya. That feeling was conveyed as it was straight to Katsuya, which inflated Katsuya's wish to save everyone even more.
But it was not like all of them were unconditionally thankful to Katsuya. There were also people who were jealous, envious, covetous of Katsuya's skill and talent. Naturally, those feelings were also transferred to Katsuya as well. If the ones being saved were being awful, then the one who did the saving would feel unmotivated. That caused Katsuya to unconsciously prioritize who he saved. And once there was a bias, it only grew larger with time.
Katsuya had affected a lot of people with his ability as someone who was connected to the old-world domain. But at the same time, many had expectations and wishes for him, which affected him even more than he affected them.
He wanted to exceed the expectations of those people who recognized his skill. That wish, that silent wish of his was difficult for him to admit since he never put it into words. Thus, it started to pile up on him.
With the local network up, the effect grew with the scale. On the other hand, with more and more people under his lead, there were also more casualties. As for Katsuya, the fact that they recognised themselves as being the same being, acting as one entity, was a saving grace for him. After all, if the situation was bad enough to mentally hurt him, it also allowed him to share that pain.
The voices of the dead once again resurfaced. They were begging to be saved, they were blaming him for not saving them, telling him to avenge them.
Seeing Katsuya like that, Yumina completely forgot their current situation as she asked him.
"...Yumina, Airi, both of you take the command and order everyone to retreat."
Katsuya only said that before he shrugged Airi's hand and ran into the distance. Everyone was confused by that sudden order from Katsuya. It indicated something serious was about to happen. However, because Katsuya was completely determined when he gave that order, although they were still confused, they started to prepare for a retreat.
The preparation was done in a hurry. Yumina and Airi were busy giving orders as the vice-captains. But in the middle of that, they could not help but to worry about Katsuya. Moreover, with Katsuya recognizing that they were no longer a single entity, the feeling of having to obey his order unconditionally was lessened.
Airi was the first one to make her decision.
"...Yumina, can I leave the lead to you here?"
Yumina wanted to let Airi go and save Katsuya, but at the same time, she did not want to let Airi go just to get killed. Her conflicting feeling was fully reflected on her face and it took her some time before she could give a reply.
"...I won't let you go unless your only goal is to bring back Katsuya."
Airi desire to not lie to Yumina caused her to pause for a bit before she gave her reply.
[I've always thought that even if Katsuya chose someone, I want to at least stay beside him. But it seems that I'm no longer even able to stay beside him, huh...]
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