格納庫の周辺でアキラと交戦していた男達が通信機越しに話し合っている。
「逃げた......、いや、一旦退いただけか? どうする? 追うか?」
アキラを下から狙っていたブレード持ちの男がそう提案したが、重装強化服の男に止められる。
「よせよ。俺達の分断が目的だったらどうするんだ。俺の強化服は重いんだ。お前が追っても俺は追いつけねえよ」
DVTSミニガンの銃弾を浴びて落とされた男が地面に横たわっている。強化服から戦闘薬が注入されると、男はそれで何とか意識と体を交戦可能な状態まで持ち直し、少し
「くそっ、何なんだあのガキは!? 普通じゃねえぞ」
「確かあの顔は、ボスが手駒にしようとしていたガキどもの片方だ。格納庫内の俺達をかなり正確に狙ったことを考えると、相当高性能な情報収集機器を保持しているはずだ。他の装備も相応に高性能なんだろうな。腕の方もな」
格納庫内にいる男達から連絡が来る。
「状況は? そっちはどうなった?」
「敵はガキが1人、恐らくあのアキラとかいうガキだ。追い返しただけで殺せていない。こっちは負傷者が1名......、おい、まだやれるか?」
「当たり前だ。この程度で戦線離脱するほど柔じゃねえよ」
負傷した男が威勢良くそう答えた後で、その意気を落として続ける。
格納庫内の男が全員の迷いを察して次順の案を述べる。
「取りあえず、全員一度戻ってこい。ボスに報告するかどうかは後で考える。まずは
の中に侵入したハーリアスの部隊と戦っていた。カツヤもアキラと同じくロゲルトがヴィオラに大金を払って手駒にしようとした人物だ。装備も実力も十分で、そこらの雑兵に苦戦することはない。ほぼ一方的に押していた。
監視も兼ねてカツヤの近くにいる男が、その戦い振りを見て舌を巻く。
(......ガキのくせに凄え強さだな。ボスが手駒にしたがるわけだ。ここまで強いと、何であんな女の
カツヤが苦渋に満ちた顔で周囲の敵を殺し終える。ハーリアスの者達は別にカツヤと敵対しているわけではないのだ。
自分はロゲルトに脅されて仕方なく戦っている。敵も初めから相手を殺す気でここを襲撃した者達だ。応戦されて殺されても自業自得だ。そう考えてもカツヤの気は晴れなかった。
「仕方ない。俺はガキと一緒に東館に行く。お前らは全員で西館の応援に行ってくれ」
「お前だけで大丈夫か?」
「このガキに援護は要らねえだろう。俺はこいつを突っ込ませて後ろで監視だけやってるさ」
「この野郎。お前だけ楽しやがって」
西館に向かう者達がカツヤ達から離れていく。監視の男がカツヤに命令する。
「おい、ぼさっとしてねえでいくぞ!」
「......分かった」
カツヤは嫌そうにそう答えてから先導する男の後に続いた。
の一室で集中している。これからアルファがアキラの強化服の制御装置を書き換えるのだ。その事前準備は済ませてある。アキラはCWH対物突撃銃などの強化服無しでは持ち歩くのも難しい物を全て床に置き、生身でも扱える銃だけを、AAH突撃銃とA2D突撃銃を両手に握ってだらりと下げていた。
部屋の出入口は一応封鎖済みだ。戦闘の余波で照明が破壊されているため部屋の中は真っ暗だ。床には数体の死体が転がっている。耳を澄ませば銃声などの戦闘音が聞こえてくる。
アルファがアキラに最終確認を取る。
『これから強化服の制御ソフトを更新するわ。その間は強化服の機能が完全に停止する。それなりの領域を書き換えるから、一度更新を始めてしまえば何らかの事情で更新を取りやめて再起動するとしても、最短でも1分はかかるわ。覚悟は良いわね?』
『ああ。始めてくれ』
アキラは着用している強化服が僅かに重くなった感覚を覚えた。強化服が完全に停止したことで、最低限の補助すらなくなったのだ。この状態で敵に襲われた場合、生身の身体能力で対応しなればならない。敵にはCWH対物突撃銃の直撃に耐え、DVTSミニガンの銃弾を浴びても戦線に復帰する者達が混じっている。この状況でその手の強敵と遭遇しないことも、アキラの運試しに含まれている。
索敵はアルファが行っているので、アキラの仕事は見つからないように息を潜めながら、何らかの状況の変化が発生した場合に素早く対応できるように備えることだけだ。真っ暗な部屋の中で、天井や床下から、銃声が、足音が、罵声が、悲鳴が、断末魔の叫びが聞こえてくる。アキラは呼吸を深くゆっくりと繰り返しながら、時が不思議なほどに緩慢と流れている錯覚を覚えていた。
アキラは無意識に周囲の音に集中しすぎて精神を余計に
『そういえば、俺はこんなに暗くてもアルファのおかげで周囲をはっきり見られるけど、他のやつらも似たようなものなのかな?』
『非常に高性能な暗視装置を使用していればね。私のサポートを受けているアキラと同等の精度で見えているとは思えないけれど、戦闘には支障が出ない程度の視界は確保しているのでしょうね』
アキラが床に転がっている死体を見る。確かにそれらしい装備を目に着用している死体も転がっている。フルフェイスのヘルメットを被っている者もいる。それらしい物がなく、裸眼の者もいた。
『全員ってわけじゃないけど、着けてるな。そういう装備って結構高いよな?』
『それは性能次第よ。暗視装置は情報収集機器でもあるし、光学情報以外の情報も画像の補正処理に使用して、映像の精度を上げるものもあるからね。ハンターが光源のない遺跡内を探査する
アルファが軽く笑う。
『個人の稼ぎと組織で運用する資金を比較するのもどうかと思うけれど、そこは高い志を立てているとしておきましょうか。一流のハンターならそれぐらい稼いでも不思議はないしね。これからもその調子で頑張ってね』
『一流のハンターか。頑張るつもりだけど、それだけ稼げるようになるのはいつになることやら......』
現状のざまを自覚して少々皮肉気味に答えたアキラに、アルファが笑顔で間違いを指摘するように答える。
『あら、案外早いかもよ? 初回は300オーラムだった稼ぎが今はもう5億オーラムになったのだからね。その調子なら来年には100億オーラムを楽に超えるわ。そこまで行けば、
『そうだな。その時まで頑張るか』
この程度の状況でへこたれていては、アルファの依頼の完遂など不可能だ。アキラはそう考えて気を取り直した。
急にアキラの表情が険しくなる。アルファの表情も真面目なものになる。
『アキラ。覚悟を決めて』
り過ごしていた。だが今度の男達は部屋の中に突入しようとしている。彼らの目的が味方の救出であっても敵の殺害であっても、どちらにしろアキラの敵だ。アキラはエゾントファミリーの者でもハーリアスの者でもないのだから。
『まあ、俺の運じゃ、交戦なしは無理だよな』
アキラが部屋のドアを塞いでいる家具に両手の銃を向ける。そして意識を集中して、家具が外側からドアごと吹き飛ばされた瞬間、両手の銃の引き金を引いた。
数名の男達がアキラのいる部屋に突入してくる。アキラの銃撃を受けて着弾の衝撃で倒れた者も致命傷にはほど遠い。突入した男達が部屋中を乱射する中で、アキラが飛び交う銃弾を辛うじて
極限まで集中して体感時間を圧縮し、アルファのサポートによって視界に表示されている敵の射線から全力で逃れようとする。強化服による身体能力強化を得ていない自身の動きにもどかしさを覚えながら、機能不全でも起きているかのように遅く感じられる身体に意思を送り続ける。強化服使用時の速さと比べて余りに遅い生身の動きを、動きの正確さで補おうと全力を尽くす。
回避行動を取りながら銃口を敵に向ける。倒すべき敵の順番も、狙うべき位置も、アルファがアキラに拡張視界と念話で指示し続けている。アキラはその指示に従って可能な限り的確に行動し続ける。指示に遅れた分だけ敵の射線から身を
アキラの実力とアルファの指揮能力の総和は、男達の戦力を辛うじて上回った。アキラに倒された男達が部屋の床や廊下に転がっている。ただし男達の大半は死んだわけではなく一時的に戦闘不能になっただけだ。そしてアキラもその場に崩れ落ちた。
アルファがそのまま意識を失ってしまいそうなアキラを怒鳴りつけて意識を保たせる。
『急いで戦闘可能な状態を取り戻しなさい! まずは回復薬を追加で使用する! 急いで!』
く取れない。不思議に思って自分の手を見ると、指が数本自然な方向とは逆方向に曲がっていた。
アキラは苦笑して比較的無事な指で何とか回復薬を取り出して飲み込むと、歯を食いしばって痛みに耐えながら、折れた指を少々無理
『次はまだ死んでいない者に止めを刺して。急いで。今のうちに殺しておかないと、また頑張って倒す羽目になるわよ』
『......殺し切れてないのか。生身でも扱える弾丸とはいえ、強装弾で、あの距離から撃ったんだぞ? 随分頑丈だな』
『あの時はCWH対物突撃銃の弾丸に耐えた敵もいたわ。それよりはましでしょう?』
床に倒れていた男が注入された戦闘薬の効果で意識を取り戻し、状況を確認しようとする。その男が確認できたのは、既にアキラに頭部に銃口を突きつけられていることだけだった。
アキラが両手でしっかり構えた銃の引き金を引く。男はほぼ接着状態で強装弾を頭部に被弾して絶命した。優先順位に従って他の男達にも止めを刺していく。ある意味でアキラよりも不運な者達はこの場で全員死に絶えた。
『それで、強化服の方はまだなのか?』
アキラが嫌そうな表情を浮かべる。
『......確かに、強化服有りであれと戦うよりは、強化服なしで
何でそんな機体をここの連中が保持しているのか。そう疑問に思ったが、存在する以上どうしようもないのだ。ある意味で、これも自分の運の悪さだと開き直って、それ以上の思考を打ち切った。
銃の弾倉と防護コートのエネルギーパックを交換し、回復薬を追加で服用してから部屋の片隅で息を潜める。静かに呼吸しながら、回復薬の効果が体中に広がっていくのを感じながら、落ち着いて脳を休ませながら、強化服の制御装置の書き換えが終わるのを待つ。
『アキラ。部屋の外に出て迎撃して。接近を許すと
『いいからとにかく撃ちなさい。間合いに入られたら終わりよ』
アキラはすぐに両手の引き金を引き、敵の男に銃弾を浴びせ続ける。敵の男は前に半身を
『あいつ、あの時に俺の足を斬ろうとしたやつだよな? 追ってきたのか?』
『いいから撃ち続けなさい。あの敵と強化服無しで接近戦になったら勝ち目はないわ。残念だけどその銃弾では体に当てても敵の防御を突破できない。それでも足止めぐらいにはなる。弾数で接近を押さえなさい』
事実アキラが撃った銃弾の一部が敵のブレードでは防ぎきれない部分に何発か命中しているが、敵は
『......あいつ、もしかして、俺の弾切れ待ちか?』
『恐らくね。でも撃つのを止めては駄目よ。銃撃の圧力を弱めたら一気に距離を詰められるわ。強化服の身体能力がなければ逃げるのも無理よ。とにかく撃ち続けて時間を稼いで』
『しっかり当て続けないとその運試しにもならないわ。集中して撃ち続けなさい。
アキラが必死に銃撃を続ける。敵の体勢を崩しやすい場所を狙って敵の前進を阻み続ける。普通の弾倉なら既に弾切れだが、高価な拡張弾倉を先ほど取り替えたばかりだ。そのことに僅かに幸運と準備の大切さを覚えた後で、別の運試し要素に気付いて苦笑する。
(......俺の腕、弾切れまで
銃撃の反動がアキラの両腕を壊し続けている。回復薬がその両腕を治し続けている。その両腕に覚悟を乗せて銃を支え続けている。覚悟はアキラが保証する。だがその程度でアキラの腕が銃を支え続けられるのならば、元より強化服など必要ないのだ。CWH対物突撃銃もDVTSミニガンも、生身の人間が精神論で支えられる重量ではない。超人の類いならば例外だが、アキラはその例外ではない。
(......超人を目指しているって勘違いされるような状態なら、俺の体も少しは鍛えられているはずだ! 頼むから
アキラは都合の良いことを願いながら必死に銃撃を続ける。その結果が出るまでの時間は後僅かだ。
アキラからの銃撃をブレードで防いでいる男は自身の優勢を確信して笑っている。そのトラルトという男はアキラの予想通り相手の弾切れを狙っていた。
トラルトは別にアキラを追ってここに来たのではなかった。トラルト達はアキラを一度退けた後で、その後の対応について相談した。
死なれては困る人質のアルナを
そこでトラルトがアキラと遭遇したのは偶然だった。反射的にブレードを盾代わりにしてアキラの銃撃を防ごうとする。ブレードの強度ならCWH対物突撃銃の銃弾でも数度は耐えられる。防いだ後は一度退く。そう判断した。だがブレードから伝わってきた着弾の衝撃が、その判断を取り消させた。
(あれは、AAH突撃銃? 何でそっちを使う? デカブツの方は弾切れか?)
銃撃を受けてもほぼ無傷。トラルトはその余裕をアキラの様子の確認に振り分ける。アキラは必死の形相で脂汗を流しながら歯を食いしばって銃撃を続けている。両手に持つ銃を支える両腕が大きく震えている。その様子を見て、トラルトが薄く
銃の種類や着弾の衝撃から発砲時の反動もある程度想定が付く。強化服が機能しているのならば、その程度の反動でアキラの体勢があれだけ乱れることはない。トラルトはそれらからアキラの強化服の機能不全を見抜いた。
トラルトが降って湧いた幸運に笑みを深める。
いはあいつが弾切れを起こしてからだ! あの銃の弾倉が拡張弾倉だとしても、あれだけ撃ち続ければ弾切れなんかすぐだ! それに強化服無しならあの銃弾の反動程度でもかなりきついはずだ! あいつが弾切れよりも早く体勢を崩したら、その時に一気に飛び込めばいい!)
トラルトがブレードを盾代わりにして銃弾を防ぎながらアキラとの距離をゆっくりと詰めていく。強化服の身体能力で繰り出される斬撃の間合いは見た目よりもかなり長い。飛ぶように踏み出せば数メートル先の相手でも一歩の踏み込みで事足りる。相手と十分近付いた。トラルトがそう判断するまでの距離は
にアキラのAAH突撃銃が弾切れを起こす。弾切れに気付いたアキラの意識が乱れ、左右の銃の反動が偏り体勢を崩す。崩れた体勢で撃ったA2D突撃銃の反動がアキラの体勢を更に大幅に崩す。そのアキラの視界には、まだかなりの距離があったはずの位置から一瞬で間合いを詰めようとするトラルトの姿が映っていた。
圧縮された体感時間の中で、アキラの意識だけはトラルトの攻撃に追いついていた。だが体の方は敵の動きに全く追いつけていなかった。自分を縦に両断しようと青白く輝くブレードを構えるトラルトの姿が見える。その構えではブレードがその長さから途中で天井に当たるだろうが、その切れ味なら全く問題ないことは既に知っている。生身の動きしかできない自分に回避手段はない。次の一瞬で、自分は縦に両断される。アキラはそれを理解してしまった。
世界が静止するほどの濃密な意識の中でアキラとトラルトの視線が合わさる。トラルトは勝利を、アキラは敗北を確信した。
「えっ? あ、え!? ん!? ちょ、ちょっと待ってくれ!」
『何? 何か質問があるのなら、いろいろ準備を済ませてからにしてね。まずは部屋に戻って床に置いたものを急いで装備し直して。それから両腕とかの治療も済ませないとね』
アキラの混乱は治まっていないが、それでも行動の優先順位ぐらいは理解できた。指示通りに急いで部屋に戻ると床に置いた銃器類や荷物を再び身に着ける。回復薬もしっかり服用して戦闘で痛んだ体をできる限り治療もした。それらを済ました頃には混乱も大分治まっていた。
『アルファ。強化服の書き換え処理が終わったのはいつ頃だったんだ?』
として、照準補正とかのサポートの質もかなり向上したわよ。次にアキラがあのスリを狙撃する時はよほどのことがない限り命中するわ。それで機嫌を直してちょうだい』
アキラは少しだけ申し訳なさそうにしているアルファの笑顔を見て、軽く笑って気を切り替えた。
アキラがブレードの装備を終える。アキラの武器に、AAH突撃銃、A2D突撃銃、CWH対物突撃銃、DVTSミニガン、A4WM自動擲弾銃に加えて、折り畳み式のブレードが加わった。既に相当な重量だ。強化服無しでは移動どころか装備品の重みで押し潰されかねない。
『何か、俺の装備も随分ごちゃごちゃしてきたな』
The people who just fought Akira near the hangar were talking to each other through their communication devices.
"Did he run...? No, a temporary retreat? What should we do? Should we chase after him?"
The guy with the blade asked, but the guy with the heavy augmented suit stopped him.
"No. It would be bad if he's planning to divide us into smaller groups. Not to mention, I'm using a heavy augmented suit. You might be able to chase him, but I don't believe that's the case for me."
The guy that was riddled with DVTS minigun's bullet and fell down from the floor was still lying on the ground. His augmented suit had injected his body with battle stimulants to keep his body and mind ready to fight. He then pushed himself up while still dazed.
"Dammit, the heck is wrong with that boy?! He's not normal!"
"If I'm not mistaken, that face... He's one of the guys that the boss was planning to take control of. Judging from how he accurately sniped us while we were inside the hangar, he must be carrying a pretty high-quality information-gathering device. I bet his other equipments are more or less of the same quality, and his skill must be good enough to match them too."
A call suddenly reached them. It was from those guys inside the hangar.
"How's the situation over there?"
"We're fighting one boy, I think it's that Akira. Although we were able to repel him, we weren't able to kill him. We have one man injured here... Hey, you, can you keep on going?"
"Of course! This much of an injury is not enough to drive me away from the battle, you know."
The injured guy replied in a high spirit. But he then followed up with a calm voice.
The guy inside the hangar understood that all of them were at a loss on what to do next, so he then said.
"Well, for now, let's group up. We can decide whether to report it to the boss or not later. First of all, we need to treat anyone injured and refresh our ammo reserve."
Katsuya was fighting the Haurias people who were invading the mansion. Just like in Akira's case, Rogelt had paid a lot of money to Viola in order to be able to control him too. Katsuya had the skill and the equipment to make that piece of information worth the money, he did not have any trouble fighting back the Haurias, as in a matter of fact, it was a rather one-sided fight.
The guy accompanying Katsuya who also doubled as his observer was amazed to see Katsuya's skill from up close.
[...This boy is pretty strong for just a young Hunter. No wonder the boss wanted to be able to control him. But if he's this strong, then why would he go so far just for that girl. If he only accepted that deal to be able to run away from the boss, he could have escaped once the boss left him alone. But since he's not even trying to do that here, it means that he's really fighting for that girl... I really can't understand him at all. But well, different people have different tastes in women, so I guess I'm in no place to say anything about that. It's all good and well as long as he's obeying us, it's great to be able to take it easy.]
After Katsuya had finished all the Haurias' men in that area, he just stood there with a grim expression. It was not like Haurias' men were being hostile to him.
Katsuya was threatened by Rogelt and had no other choice but to follow his orders. Haurias, who came invading the mansion, were there to kill other people right from the start, so it would be their own fault if they got killed instead. Even if Katsuya told himself so, it did not lighten his feeling of guilt at all.
"Good grief! I'll take that boy to the east side of the mansion, you guys go to the west side."
"You're going alone? Are you sure?"
"This boy doesn't need a bodyguard, you know. I can just let this boy take the front while I'm just observing him from behind."
"This damn guy, taking it easy like that."
They immediately went to the west side of the mansion, leaving Katsuya and his observer behind. The observer guy then said to Katsuya.
"Hey, get a move on!"
"...I know."
Katsuya replied brusquely and followed the other people who went before him.
Akira was gathering his focus in one of the rooms inside the mansion. Alpha was going to start rewriting Akira's augmented suit's control software, they had already finished their preparations. Since it was impossible to use his CWH anti-material rifle without his augmented suit, Akira just left it on the floor with the other things that he could not use without the help of his augmented suit. He was only carrying AAH and A2D assault rifles that he could use just fine without his augmented suit and held one each on his right and left hand.
The entrance to the room was barricaded. The lamp in the room was already destroyed during the fight, so the room was pitch black. There were corpses scattered around on the floor. And if he gathered his focus, he could hear gunshots echoing. The mansion was right in the middle of the war zone of that battle, and Akira was planning to deactivate his augmented suit in that room.
Alpha made the final confirmation to Akira.
"I'll start updating the control software of your augmented suit. You won't be able to use your augmented suit at all while I'm doing that. There's quite a large portion of the software that I need to rewrite, so once I start, even if you try to reboot the augmented suit because something came up, it'll take about 1 minute until you can use your augmented suit again. So, are you ready?"
"Yeah, you can start."
Akira could feel his augmented suit suddenly turn slightly heavier. With his augmented suit completely turned off, it did not provide any support to him at all. If someone attacked him in that situation, he would have to fight back with his own power. But the enemies that he just faced were able to tank a direct shot from his CWH anti-material rifle and was able to survive a barrage from his DVTS minigun. If he encountered them right now, it would be game over for Akira. So it was, in a sense, a test for his luck.
Alpha was still monitoring the surroundings for enemies, Akira's job there was to keep himself hidden and made sure that he could quickly react if something were to happen. In that pitch-black room, Akira could hear the sound of gunshots, screams, and footsteps coming from the floor below and the ceiling above him. As he breathed deeply, he felt like the world was strangely running in slow motion.
Akira kept telling himself to keep his calm and not to focus too much on the sounds coming from his surroundings to make sure that it would not dull his focus. That was when he said.
"By the way, it's thanks to you that I can see clearly in the dark like this, but I wonder how about the other guys."
"Well, they would be able to see just fine too if they are using high-class night vision. Although it won't be as good as my support, they should be able to see enough as not to lower their fighting ability."
Akira looked at the dead corpses lying on the floor. Some of them were indeed equipped with such night vision. But most of them were not using anything like that.
"You're right, they do, although it's not all of them. That kind of thing is pretty expensive, right?"
"It depends on its quality. Night vision is also a type of information-gathering device, some of them might be using other kinds of information besides optical information to increase the accuracy of the imaging process. There are mass-produced night visions for Hunters who want to explore dark ruins. I'm sure that kind of night vision equipment is relatively cheap."
Alpha lightly smiled.
"Well, I don't think it's the right thing to do to compare how much one man can earn to how much an organization can earn though, but it might be a good idea to aspire to earn that much too. It won't be strange for a first-class Hunter to be earning around that much, you know. So let's keep working hard."
"First-rate Hunters, huh. I do plan to work hard, but I have no idea how long it would take until I can be earning that much money..."
Akira replied back rather ironically after he was reminded of his current situation. But Alpha smiled at him and told him that it was not necessarily correct.
"Oh my, it might be sooner than you think, you know? You only got 300 Aurum in your first exploration and now you're already earning 500 million Aurum for one request after all. If you keep this up, you'll be able to easily earn more than 10 billion Aurum by next year. And once you get there, you'll be one of those big earners."
"You're right, I guess I'll keep working hard until I can reach that point, huh."
If that was enough to discourage him, he would not be able to finish Alpha's request to him. Akira thought so as he picked himself up.
Suddenly Akira's expression turned grim. Alpha was also making a serious face.
"Akira, get yourself ready."
There were already some people passing through in front of the entrance to that room, when that happened, Akira would hold his breath to hide himself. But this time, some of them were trying to break into that room. Whether they were only trying to save their friends or search and kill their enemies, either way, they were Akira's enemies. After all, he was neither a part of Ezont Family nor Haurias.
"Well, I guess it's too much to expect a respite with my luck, huh?"
Akira aimed both rifles on his hands at the barricaded door. He then gathered his focus, the moment the door was blown open, Akira immediately started shooting.
A few guys stormed into the room. But Akira did not have enough firepower to deal fatal injuries on those people. Amidst that confusion, Akira was desperately fighting back those guys.
Akira compressed his time perception to its limit, thanks to Alpha's support, he could clearly see the trajectory of the enemies' bullets as he did his best to evade them. Akira could feel the big difference in his movement without his augmented suit. From his perspective, he was moving so slowly as if his body had lost its mobility. With that difference in the moving speed without his augmented suit, Akira put most of his effort into making up for that difference.
Akira was evading the incoming bullets while aiming his rifles at the enemies. Alpha had given him the orders in which enemy he should shoot and how he would do that. He tried his best to follow that order in spite of his current limits. When he was not fast enough to follow that order, he paid that failure with a bullet in his body.
The combination of Akira's skill and Alpha's command was barely able to secure a victory over those guys. The people that he just defeated were lying on the floor both inside the room and the hallway outside the entrance to the room. But most of them were not dead, they were only rendered unconscious. Once everything was done, Akira then fell on his knees.
Alpha shouted at Akira, pulling his consciousness together right when he was about to faint.
"Hurry up, get on your feet! Get some medicines first, quickly!"
The exchange did not even last a minute, but Akira had squeezed all of his physical and mental strength in that exchange. Akira's movement was severely dulled as he was reaching for his medicine inside his coat and he was still a bit dazed. But strangely enough, he could not get his medicines, and when he looked at his arm, he found that some of his fingers were bent in an unnatural way.
Akira smiled wryly and used his still functional fingers to take out his medicines and swallowed them while gritting his teeth against the pain assaulting his body. His broken fingers were slowly returning back to their original shapes in a rather forceful manner. He then slowly pushed himself back up.
"Some of them are still alive, so you need to make sure that they're really dead. Hurry up! If they get up, you would have to go through that fight again."
"...That wasn't enough to kill them, huh. Although these bullets are usable without an augmented suit, they are powerful, and I shot them from a point-blank range, you know? These guys are pretty strong."
"Remember that some of them even survived a direct shot from a CWH anti-material rifle. Aren't you glad that these guys are weaker than that guy?"
Just like the other guy that Akira shot down, the guy who was lying on the ground returned back to his senses thanks to his augmented suit that injected him with multiple battle stimulants. But when he looked around to confirm his current situation, he already found Akira standing in front of him with a rifle extended straight to his head.
Akira used both of his arms to keep his rifle stable when he pulled the trigger. The guy was frozen still as a bullet blew off his head and instantly killed him. Akira immediately moved to the next person on his priority list and killed them without hesitation. From their point of view, it could be said that they were more unlucky than Akira to die in that place.
"So then, how's my augmented suit, is it not ready yet?"
Akira looked super annoyed and said.
"...That's true, rather than fighting that black powered suit with my augmented suit, I would gladly fight the guys inside the mansion even if it means that I don't have the support from my augmented suit."
Of course, he was questioning why these people had that kind of powered suit in their base. But now that it was there, it was not like he could do anything about it. He just blamed it on his bad luck and stopped worrying about it anymore.
Akira reloaded new magazines to his rifle and replaced the energy pack in his coat with new ones. He then took some medicines and hid himself in one corner of the room. He was breathing silently while feeling the nanomachines from the medicines spread through his body. He calmly let his body and mind take a rest while waiting for Alpha to finish rewriting the software in his augmented suit.
"Akira, get out of the room and try to shoot him, it would be bad if you let him get near you."
"Just keep shooting, don't get in his range no matter what."
Akira immediately pulled the triggers of his rifles, releasing a barrage against that guy. That guy immediately crouched his body and used a big-sized blade to shield himself from the bullets. The bullets generated sparks when they hit his blade.
"That is the guy who tried to cut my leg, right? Is he here chasing after me?"
"Don't stop shooting. You have no winning chance against him if you fight him up close without your augmented suit. Though unfortunately, your bullets won't be able to pierce through his armour. But at least it's enough to slow him down. So hold him back with bullets."
Actually, some of Akira's bullets passed through the blade and hit that guy's body, but that guy kept his calm and firmed his footing. Although he could not push forward against the incoming bullets, it did not seem that he was about to run away either.
"...Is that guy waiting for me to run out of ammo?"
"Likely so, but you can't stop shooting, okay? If you slow down even for a bit, he will immediately close the distance. Without your augmented suit, it's impossible for you to run away from him. So just keep on shooting for now to buy some time."
"It won't even be a test of luck if you don't properly aim at him. Keep your focus on shooting at him and don't show any openings."
Akira desperately kept on shooting at that guy. He deliberately aimed at the points that would easily break that guy's balance as he kept that guy from coming any closer. If he was using a normal magazine, he would have already run out of ammo by now, but thanks to the expensive extended magazine that he was using, he could somehow survive that long. As he was thinking how lucky he was for preparing those beforehand, he noticed another issue that he was facing.
[...My arms... Can they hold out until I run out of ammo?]
The kickbacks were damaging both of his arms while the medicines that he took beforehand were continuously healing them. He made his resolve and firmly held his rifles with both of his arms. That resolve was Akira's lifeline there. But of course, that did not help his arms at all, otherwise, he would not even need his augmented suit. He could not use his CWH anti-material rifle or his DVTS minigun without his augmented suit. Of course, that was not the case if he was a superhuman, but Akira was not one.
[...If other people would even suspect me of trying to be a superhuman, it means that I should have more strength than a normal human!! So please hold out!!]
Akira wished for good luck as he held down the triggers. It was only a matter of time before the result of his wish came out.
The guy, who was hiding behind his blade from Akira's bullets, confirmed that he had the upper hand and smiled. That guy, Toralt, was indeed waiting for Akira to run out of ammo just like Akira had guessed.
Toralt actually did not come there for Akira. After Akira retreated, he discussed with his friends what to do next.
It would be hard for them to fight someone as strong as Akira while protecting Alna. But if they asked for extra help, it would hurt their reputations. As such, they wanted to finish Akira by themselves without involving their boss if it was possible. They could just make a deal with the guy observing Katsuya to bring Katsuya somewhere close by and let him fight Akira. Since Katsuya did not want Alna dead, he would give his best to fight Akira too. Toralt and his friends decided to let Katsuya take on the dangerous job while they could just protect Alna in safety, that way, they would be able to deal with Akira without much trouble.
That was when he encountered Akira by pure chance. He used his blade as a shield from the barrage instinctively. After all, his blade should be able to hold a few shots even from a CWH anti-material rifle. He was originally planning to temporarily retreat once Akira ran out of ammo, but the impact from the incoming bullets made him change his decision.
[That's... AAH assault rifle? Why is he using that? Did he run out of ammo for his big guns?]
That level of firepower was barely able to inflict him any damage even if he was to take them head-on. Such leeway allowed Toralt to check on Akira. Akira was shooting at him while gritting his teeth and looking very nervous. His arms were shaking while supporting the guns in both hands. Looking at that, Toralt lightly smiled.
From the impact of the bullets and type of the rifle that Akira was using, Toralt could make a guess on how much kickback Akira was resisting. If Akira was using an augmented suit, that level of kickback would not even affect him at all. So looking at Akira, Toralt could make a guess that Akira's augmented suit was not functional.
Toralt smiled because of his sudden good luck.
[Lucky!! If I can kill that guy, it'll give a good boost to my reputation!! I'm sure that no one would know even if I kill him while he has no functional augmented suit! So then, what's the next plan? He's a little too far. If it's only this much, I can just resolve myself and take some bullets head-on while closing into him, so, should I do that? No, wait, I'm okay right now because I'm using my blade to shield myself from the bullets. Without it, if I get shot on my legs or arms, it would definitely take away my mobility. Of course, it won't kill me, but he might use that opening to run away. I need to get closer first, or at least wait until he runs out of ammo. Even if he's using an extended magazine, it's only a matter of time before he runs out of ammo if he's shooting at me like that! If he loses his balance before he runs out of ammo, I can just use that opening to jump on him!]
Toralt was slowly closing into Akira while still using his blade as a shield. With the help of his augmented suit, he had a longer swing range than normal If he jumped at Akira before slashing down, he could easily trim a few meters between them. It was only a matter of time before Toralt thought that he was close enough to Akira.
Then finally, Akira's AAH assault rifle ran out of ammo. Akira who noticed that was rather flustered. As the force of the kickback from his AAH rifle was gone, he immediately lost his balance, and the kickback from his A2D rifle broke his balance even more. Akira could see Toralt suddenly close the distance between them.
The compressed time perception allowed Akira's eyes to follow Toralt's movement. But his body was nowhere fast enough to react to it. He could see Toralt had his pale blue blade raised up, ready to split him into two. With its length, that blade would hit the ceiling first before hitting him, but Akira knew very well that it would hardly hinder that sharp blade. Without his augmented suit, Akira had no method to evade the incoming blade. Akira understood that the blade would cut him into two in the next moment.
The time stretched into infinity as if it was completely stopped. In that frozen world, Akira and Toralt looked at each other's eyes. Toralt was sure of his victory, while Akira already accepted his defeat.
"Eh? Ah, Eh!? Hm!? W-wait for a sec!!"
"What is it? If you have any questions, let's get yourself ready first. You need to get your rifles and other equipment you left behind in that room. Then you should treat both of your arms too."
Akira was still confused, but he knew that he needed to move. He hurriedly returned back to the room where he left his equipment just like he was told to, and picked up all of his equipment that he had left on the floor. He then used medicines to heal as much as he could. After he did all of that, he was mostly calmed down.
"Alpha, when exactly did you finish rewriting the control program?"
"Thanks to the time that you bought there, I was able to make a good improvisation on the control device. With this, not only can I give you support to increase your fighting power, I can help you calibrate your aim too. The next time you try to snipe at that pickpocket, you'll be able to accurately snipe at her as long as there's no disruption. So cheer up, okay?"
Akira looked at Alpha who apologetically smiled at him, so he returned with a light smile and decided to forget about that for now.
Akira then equipped the blade. With this, he had an AAH assault rifle, A2D assault rifle, CWH anti-material rifle, DVTS minigun, A4WM automatic grenade launcher, and foldable blade with him. He was basically fully armed. He would not have been able to move at all or even crushed under their weight if it was not for his augmented suit.
"Hmm, I feel like I'm carrying too many weapons"
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/
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