264 いつもギリギリ
小型ミサイルを移動装置代わりにしてクロエの車両まで戻ったラティスは、空中で小型ミサイルを投げ捨てて屋根の開口部から車内に入った。そして椅子から立って自分を迎えたクロエに頭を下げる。
「......申し訳御座いません。処分は
クロエが僅かに視線を鋭くする。
「確認するわ。その謝罪、彼を殺せなかった結果に対してのものと考えて良いの? それとも、また私の指示に逆らったの?」
ラティスはクロエに畏怖を覚えながらも、真剣な表情で答える。
「彼を殺せなかったことへの謝罪で御座います。ご満足頂ける結果をお嬢様に必ずやお届けする。その言葉を妄言と変えた己の不明を恥じるばかりです」
「繰り返すわ。私の指示に逆らったの? 従ったの?」
「......非才ながら、お嬢様の指示に従い全力を尽くしました」
ラティスは緊張を強めてそう答えた。するとクロエの表情が和らぐ。
「それなら謝罪は不要よ。彼を殺しきれなかった責は、指示を出した私にあるのだからね。ご苦労様。疲れたでしょう。車両の防備はパメラに任せて少し休みなさい」
まりました。ご満足頂ける結果をお渡しできなかった私にそのようなお言葉、誠に有り難く......」
「ん? ああ、大丈夫よ。これはこれで満足しているから」
「お、お嬢様。それはどのような意味と解釈すれば......」
クロエはそれ以上の言葉を返さずに椅子に戻り、再び深く腰掛けた。そして機嫌良く笑いながら今後の計画の思案を始めた。
ラティスが困惑した表情のまま答えを求めてパメラを見る。パメラは自分にも分からないというように首を軽く横に振った。
巨大な蜂型モンスターが足先の武装から光弾を敵に撃ち放つ。無人機となった重装強化服が無数の小型ミサイルを発射し、大型の銃で巨大な弾丸を撃ち続ける。アキラはその両方の攻撃から逃げ回っていた。
全員が真っ向から戦っていれば三つ
蜂と無人機は互いの火力を真っ向面からぶつけ合っていた。
蜂の巨体では重装強化服の武装による攻撃を避けられない。無人機から放たれた分裂増殖する小型ミサイルの群れが巨大な標的に直撃し、融合して膨れ上がった爆炎が巨体を包み込む。更に一発でアキラを木っ端
その火力の前には、高空領域のモンスターとはいえ無傷では済まなかった。蜂の体を覆う装甲のような外骨格が割れ砕け、肉片と一緒に剥がれていく。しかし内側から新たな装甲が現れ、更に傷口から流れ出た補強材のような体液が硬化して、すぐに外傷を塞いでいく。無人機の攻撃は敵の生命力を確かに削っているが、即死させるのにはほど遠い状態だった。
そして無人機の方も無事では済まなかった。蜂の脚部武装から放たれた光弾や光線が機体に直撃し、残存エネルギーを大幅に削っていく。
蜂の巨体に比べれば無人機は十分に小型であり更に高速で飛び回っている。加えて蜂の武装は基本的に自身と同程度の大きさの敵を破壊する
『道理で都市上空の飛行が禁止される訳だ。この辺の上空でもあんなのが飛んでるのか』
『それでもあれは結構上空のモンスターのはずよ。普通ならここまでは下りてこないわ』
『じゃあ何で下りてきたんだ?』
『さあ? 上に飛んだ流れ弾が運悪く直撃でもしたのかもしれないわ。あの大型銃なら、真上に撃てば相当上まで届いたはずよ』
『勘弁してくれ......』
思わず嫌そうな顔を浮かべたアキラに、アルファが笑って補足を入れる。
『でもそれならあの重装強化服を倒せば帰ってくれる可能性が高くなるのよね』
蜂型モンスターの標的にアキラが含まれているかどうかは不明な状態だ。だからこそアキラは一切攻撃せずに逃げ回っている。蜂に僅かでも攻撃してしまえば、その時点でアキラも確実に標的になるからだ。
『帰還を捨てている上に車両を巻き込む恐れも無くなって、ありったけの火力を使用できるから、あの重装強化服も自動操縦にしては頑張っているわ。あのまま刺し違えてくれれば一番なのだけれど』
標的の片方を排除した巨大な蜂が、上空に戻らず残りの標的の方へ体を向ける。無人機との戦闘で体と武装を少々破壊されているが十分な戦闘能力を残しており、加えて足先の砲口をアキラに向けることで戦意も十分に残していることも示す。
そしてアキラがバイクを最大出力で加速させた直後に、蜂の砲口から光線と光弾の弾幕が放たれた。光線も光弾も
荒れ狂う光の弾幕から、アルファがバイクの巧みな運転でアキラを守る。同時にアキラにしっかりと告げる。
『アキラ! 仕方無いわ! 倒すわよ!』
に残ったであろう無人機が無くなった以上、存分に巻き込めば良い。向こうも必死になって蜂を攻撃してくれるだろう。そう思っていたアキラは思わず困惑を顔に出した。
そのアキラにアルファが険しい表情を向け、アキラの顔を更に
『もうクガマヤマ都市に大分近付いてしまったわ。この状態で車両を追うと、あのモンスターをアキラが都市に連れて来たことになるの。そんなことをしたら都市に帰れなくなるわ』
モンスターの群れを引き連れて都市に向かうと都市の防衛隊に群れごと
弱いモンスターを十数匹ほど引き連れてスラム街に飛び込んだ程度のことであれば、防衛隊はスラム街に対処を任せて出動などしない。都市の下位区画への被害は軽微だからだ。
逆に強力なモンスターならば一匹であっても出動する。強力な個体であれば下位区画への被害は大きく、場合によっては防壁付近まで被害が及ぶからだ。
『付け加えれば、向こうは初めからこの状況をある程度想定していたのでしょうね。だから車両からの攻撃は最低限に抑えていたのよ。アキラに近付かれても追い払うだけ。重装強化服の援護もしなかった。恐らく、重装強化服の援護をした
『クソッ! そういうことか!』
下手をすると、クロエがリオンズテイル社の施設から
自分の生も死も、向こうの事情、相手の都合次第。その考えがアキラの心の奥底を刺激した。過去からドス黒いものが湧きあがってくる。
だがその感情が自身を飲み込む前に、アキラはそれを抑えきった。また無様を
『......アルファ。こいつは倒せるんだよな? とっとと倒して追えば良い。それだけだな?』
アルファは少し意外そうな顔を浮かべた後、不敵に満足そうに笑って返した。
『そうよ。大丈夫。私のサポートがあれば簡単よ。任せなさい』
『頼んだ。行くぞ!』
くと、運転席に連絡を入れて指示を出す。運転手は指示の内容に少し疑問を覚えたが、指示通りに車を減速させた。
既に強化服でもある執事服に着替えたラティスが表情をかなり
「ん? ちょっと速いかなって思ってね」
ラティスは困惑しながらも、それ以上のことは言えなかった。
蜂の武装から放たれる光弾が空気を焦がして宙を飛ぶ。その流れ弾が周辺の地面に着弾して爆発し、着弾地点を吹き飛ばす。並の車両なら一発で原形ごと消し飛ばす光弾が光の雨となって降り注ぎ、アキラの眼下を地獄に変えている。
蜂の胴体から発射された無数の小型飛行端末がアキラを追って宙を飛ぶ。鏡面のような側面を持つ円盤状の機体群が、直接アキラを攻撃はしないものの、蜂本体のレーザー砲から発射された光線を巧みな連携で反射し、光線を幾重にも折り曲げてアキラを狙う。更には折り曲げた光でアキラを囲む
『アルファ! これだけ撃っても効いてる気が全くしないんだけど、これ、どうすれば倒せるんだ!?』
『かなり上空のモンスターだから、それだけ頑丈なのよ。ちゃんと倒せるから安心しなさい。あと、そろそろ敵の主砲のチャージが終わる頃よ』
回避場所など存在しないような攻撃範囲と、ラティスの重装強化服を消滅させた威力を兼ね備えた敵の主砲を思い出し、アキラが顔を険しく引き
『分かった。気を付ける』
『ええ。覚悟を決めなさい』
バイクのエネルギータンクからAF対物砲にエネルギーが送り込まれる。安全設定を全て切り、過剰エネルギーによるAF対物砲の自壊を恐れずに、アルファの演算による本当の限界まで供給し続ける。
その状態で射出方向を極限まで絞った状態で撃つのは、バイクのアームでは照準精度に限界があった。そこをアキラがAF対物砲を自分で構えることで、アルファのサポートを十全に
アキラの表情が苦笑いに変わる。
『......何で俺はこういつもギリギリなんだ?』
むアルファを見て、アキラは苦笑いをどこか楽しげな苦笑に変えた。
アキラは表情を厳しいものに変えると、バイクを勢い良く走らせて再びクロエの後を追った。
クロエ達はアキラが巨大な蜂型モンスターと戦っている間に大分距離を稼いでおり、既にクガマヤマ都市までもう少しというところまで来ていた。だが本来なら既に都市に着いていた。クロエの指示で途中から減速した
そしてパメラがアキラの反応を車載の索敵機器で捉える。全速力で車両に向かってきていた。
「お嬢様。彼の反応を捉えました。モンスターを撃破してこちらに向かってきています。このままでは追い付かれます」
「車の速度はそのまま。迎撃も不要よ。攻撃されても車両の防御で耐えなさい」
クロエがパメラをじっと見る。それだけでパメラは反論できなくなった。
いた内容の意味も、パメラ達には分からない。それでも険しい表情のまま指示に従う。
アキラが急速に距離を詰めてくる。だがクロエの指示で迎撃を封じられたことで追い払うことも出来ない。主の安全の
まらずに、全速力で都市に向かいなさい。広域汎用通信の送信内容を再確認。私が乗っていると、外部に確実に伝えること」
パメラ達は顔を見合わせたが、クロエの指示にすぐに従った。
クロエの車両を目視で捉えたアキラの顔に殺意が
その時、アルファが表情を険しく変えた。
『アキラ! 注意して!』
「こちらはクガマヤマ都市防衛隊である! 直ちに武装を解除し投降せよ! 抵抗は都市への反逆と
クガマヤマ都市に比較的近い位置で発生した大規模な戦闘の反応は、都市の防衛隊を動かすのに十分なものだった。その反応の余りの大きさに、人型兵器の部隊が偵察ではなく現場での遅滞作戦まで考慮した重装備で緊急発進する。
都市による反応の解析により、非常に強力なモンスターが存在している危険性が高いと断定され、それに対抗する重装備の準備の
そして緩い威嚇射撃では車両の進行を止められなかった。車両が部隊の下を通って都市へ進んでいく。
隊長機から指示が飛ぶ。
指示を受けた3機が部隊から離れてクロエ達の車両を追う。
「6番機は戦闘域の調査、1番から5番はバイクの方を囲むぞ! 絶対に逃がすな!」
その指示に従い隊長機を含む5機がアキラの包囲を開始した。
めたアキラの視界の先にクロエ達の車両が映る。既に肉眼では豆粒のようにしか見えないが、そちらを思わず注視して拡大表示すると、車両の後部扉を開けてアキラに笑って手を振るクロエの姿が見えた。普通なら互いに視認など出来ない距離だ。だがクロエの態度は確実に自分を見ていると、そして見られていると告げていた。
アキラは思わずAF対物砲を構えようとしたが、都市の防衛隊に囲まれている状況でそのような
Ch 264
Latis, who rode the mini-missile, returned back to Chloe's APC. He let go of the missile while in mid-air and landed inside the APC, dropping through its opened ceiling door. He then gave Chloe a bow as she stood up from her seat to welcome Latis.
"...I am really sorry for my failure, I will accept any punishment."
Chloe squinted her eyes.
"Just to confirm. That apology is for failing to kill Akira, right? Not because you ignored my order again, right?"
Latis felt a slight tinge of fear from her as he replied with a serious expression.
"My apology for failing to kill Akira. It has brought great shame to me for not being able to keep my words before returning back. Unable to deliver any good news."
"In that case, just to make it clear, did you ignore my order again? Or did you not?"
"...I did my best to follow Milady's order."
Latis kept getting anxious with every reply. Finally, Chloe's expression loosened.
"In that case, there's no need to apologize. You were not able to kill that Hunter partly because of my order too. You did well out there. I'm sure you're tired, you can leave guarding the APC to Pamela and take a rest."
"O-of course. Thank you very much for your kind words despite my failure..."
"Hm? Sure. Don't worry about that, I'm pretty happy with the result, after all."
"M-Milady, how should I interpret your words...?"
Chloe did not say anything and just returned back to her seat and sunk into it. She then smiled happily as she started to think about her next plan.
Latis threw a confused look at Pamela, seeking help. But Pamela just shook her head as if to say that she was as confused as he was.
The monstrous wasp kept shooting the weapons on its legs at its target. The unmanned augmented suit shot countless missiles from its missile pods and kept shooting its guns at that monster. While they were exchanging fire, Akira kept running around, trying to not get involved.
If they were fighting each other head-on. They would be locked in a 3-way fight. But Akira understood that he was no match against the monster. Meanwhile, the unmanned augmented suit was engaging the monster while chasing after Akira. Thus, they were running around with Akira and the unmanned augmented suit orbiting around the wasp monster.
The unmanned augmented suit and the wasp monster were exchanging attacks head-on.
The wasp monster did not have the dexterity to evade the heavy augmented suit's attacks. The cluster missiles coming from the unmanned augmented suit went straight and broke off into countless mini-missiles. Every single one of them managed to land on the wasp monster, enveloping its huge bodies in a fiery of explosions. Meanwhile, it kept shooting huge warheads repeatedly at the wasp's abdomen. Each warhead could obliterate Akira in one shot.
In front of such an assault, even a monster from the upper region could not get away unscathed. The armour plating covering the wasp's body crumbled along with the flesh attached to it. However, what laid under them was another layer of armour plating. Moreover, the liquid that oozed out from its open wound quickly hardened, thus rapidly closing its open wounds. Although the barrage from the unmanned augmented suit shaved off its life force, it was still far from being dead.
Of course, the unmanned augmented suit was also damaged from that intense exchange. The lasers and the beams coming from the wasp devoured the remaining energy of that augmented suit.
Compared to the wasp monster, the unmanned augmented suit was relatively small, flying around at a high speed. Moreover, the weapons that the monster was equipped with were designed to fight against an opponent of the same size. In exchange for high firepower, its accuracy was mediocre. Because of that, it was difficult for it to accurately aim at the unmanned augmented suit.
"With that monster roaming the sky, it's no wonder why people are usually not allowed to fly."
"But with that being said, that monster is normally only in the upper region, you see. Normally, it would never come down like this."
"I see, so why is it here?"
"No idea. One of the stray bullets might have hit it. It would not be strange for a gun like that to be able to hit a monster up that high. Especially when shot straight up."
"Seriously... give me a break already..."
Akira could not help but frown. Alpha, who saw that, smiled and tried to cheer him up.
"But if that's really the case, it might just return back up once it destroys that heavy augmented suit."
It was not clear whether the monster was also aiming to eliminate Akira as well. That was exactly why Akira was only running around without attacking it. Even if it was by pure accident, if he hit the monster, there was no doubt that it would target Akira as well.
"Abandoning the option to return back, without any fear of getting that APC involved, that amour suit can now use all its firepower. It's fighting pretty hard although it's only on autopilot. It would be great if they kill each other."
Instead of returning up, the wasp that had completely eliminated one of its targets turned around to face its remaining target. Although it had lost some of its weapons from fighting against that unmanned augmented suit, it still had enough fighting capability to continue its mission. With the weapons on its legs aimed at Akira, it was obvious that it was going to engage with Akira next.
Right after Akira accelerated his bike away, the wasp started its assault. Although its lasers and its beams were not anti-forcefield armour, they were powerful enough to be able to crush through forcefield armour as if they were non-existent. The increase in temperature caused the air in their trajectories to form plasma and explosions soared the moment they made contact with the ground.
Alpha protected Akira by executing a complex maneuver with her amazing driving skill. While at the same time, she warned Akira.
"Akira! We have no other choice! We need to shoot it down!"
With that much firepower, if he could bring that monster to the APC, even the APC would not be able to get out from an attack completely unscathed. That unmanned augmented suit stayed behind to make sure that would not happen, but now that it was gone, Akira thought that he was free to do that now. Furthermore, the APC should get desperate and try to shoot the monster down as well. But outside of his expectation, Alpha rejected his idea.
Alpha looked at Akira with a solemn expression which caused Akira's frown to deepen.
"We're approaching Kugamayama city. If we try to chase that APC with that monster following us, City Management would see it as us bringing that monster over to the city. If that happens, they will never allow you to return to Kugamayama city."
Those who brought swarms of monsters back to the city were often eliminated together with the swarm. The decision to kill them with the monsters relied not on the number of monsters, but on the strength of the monster they brought with them.
If it was only a handful of weak monsters, they would not dispatch their main defence squad and just let the guards stationed in the slums to handle them. But that was only because they would cause minimal damage to the city's lower district.
This meant that if it was a powerful monster, even if it was only a single monster, they would dispatch the defence squad. After all, a powerful monster would cause considerable damage to the lower district, in the worst-case scenario, they might even damage the area close to the wall.
"Moreover, they might have predicted this situation right from the start. That is why they are not trying to attack us from the APC. It is to avoid ending up as the monster's target."
"Dammit, so that's what is going on, huh!?"
Alpha explained to Akira, that in the worst-case scenario, the reason why Chloe left the Lion Steel facility near Mihazono ruin and headed to the city was to lure him to chase after her. There was a good chance that all of this was a trap for him. Since they were already trapped, it would not be strange if they prepared another trap for him.
With both his life and death basically in the palm of their hands. That fact hit something deep inside Akira, causing an ominous dark emotion to rise up from deep inside his heart.
But before that emotion completely devoured him, Akira was able to somehow manage to put a lid on it. To keep his own emotions from making him do something rash, which might lead to him killing himself, Akira managed to keep his cool.
"...Alpha, we can kill that thing, right? In that case, we just need to do it quickly and turn our attention to that APC, right?"
Alpha raised her eyebrows in surprise, but she quickly smiled confidently and said.
"Yup, that's fine. It's a simple thing to do with my support. Just leave it to me."
"Alright, I'm counting on you, let's go!"
After she mumbled, she called the driver and gave her order. The driver was not sure why Chloe would give such an order, but he decided to abide by it.
Latis, who had already changed from his augmented suit to his original butler outfit, frowned with a confused look. He hesitated for a bit before finally deciding to ask Chloe.
"Hm? Well, I just thought that we were going too fast."
Although that did not resolve Latis' confusion, he did not pursue it any further.
The energy bullets released by the wasp scattered around the area and exploded the moment they made contact with the ground. It left behind huge craters. Even a common tank would be blown to bits with a single hit from those bullets. Akira kept driving around while looking at the destruction that those bullets caused, as they were raining down.
Drones that came out from the wasp's abdomen flew and sourced Akira. The flying disk that had a mirror-like surface swarmed at him. Although they did not directly harm him, They bounced the laser shot by the main body's laser cannon toward him. Furthermore, they surrounded Akira as they envelop him inside a storm of energy bullets.
"Alpha! That thing seems completely fine even after taking that barrage! How are we going to take it down!?"
"Well, it's a monster from the upper region, after all. No surprise that it is this resilient. But don't worry, we can defeat it. Also, it's about time it finishes charging its main cannon."
Akira was reminded of the laser cannon that evaporated Latis' heavy augmented suit. It was so powerful and covered such a wide area that it seemed impossible to evade. Because of that, Akira could not help but frown.
"Alright, I'll be careful."
"Okay then, get yourself ready."
The AF anti-material cannon took a huge chunk of energy from the bike's energy tank. Alpha completely deactivated its safety lock, as it took in as much energy as it could to its breaking limit. The only reason it did not self-destruct was because Alpha had precisely calculated its limit.
The reason why Akira took the cannon himself instead of leaving it on the bike's arm was because there was a limit on how accurate the bike's arm can be. With Akira carrying the cannon himself, Alpha could give her full support to increase the accuracy.
Akira smiled bitterly.
"...Hm, what can I say? Why does it always come down to something so dangerous every single time?"
Seeing Alpha smile as she said so, Akira's bitter smile turned into a sweeter one.
Akira's face turned serious as he turned the bike around and sped toward Chloe's APC.
During his fight with the huge wasp, the APC was quite away from the battle and was already pretty close to Kugamayama city. If the APC had kept its original speed, it would have arrived in Kugamayama city by now.
The moment Pamela noticed Akira's signal moving toward the APC, she quickly told the driver to go at full speed toward the city.
"Milady, he started moving towards us. He has defeated the monster and is heading this way at this very moment. At this rate, he will catch up to us."
"Let the APC go at its current speed. There's also no need to try to engage with him. Just use the APC's defences to withstand his attacks."
Chloe stared at Pamela, and with that, Pamela could no longer argue back.
Pamela and the others did not understand why Chloe said so. Likewise, they did not know what her mumbling meant. But even so, they still abide by her order. Though, with a stern look on their faces.
Akira quickly closed the distance to Chloe's APC. But due to Chloe's order, they did not make any attempts to repel him. Right when Pamela was considering ignoring Chloe's order for the sake of her master's safety, she suddenly noticed another blip appeared on the radar.
"Whatever happens, keep going toward the city at this speed. Start broadcasting that message again, saying that I'm in this APC."
Pamela and the others looked at each other with confusion, but they quickly followed her order.
Akira, who could be seen from Chloe's APC, was looking at the vehicle with extreme intensity to kill. Seeing that, Alpha warned him.
That was when Alpha's made a stern expression and warned.
"Akira! Be careful!"
"This is Kugamayama city defence squad! Lower your weapon! Any form of resistance will be seen as hostile action towards City Management! Repeat! Lower your weapon! Any form of resistance will be seen as hostile action towards City Management!"
A large battle near Kugamayama city was enough of a reason for the City Management to dispatch its defence squad. Due to the scale of the battle just now, it had sent heavily armed powered suits to suppress the battle, instead of first scouting.
The analysis of the signal by City Management showed that there was a good chance a powerful monster was involved in that battle. Once the gigantic blip vanished, they noticed two signals moving away from that battle. The city defence squad thought that there was a good chance they were the ones responsible for bringing that powerful monster this close to the city. Thus, they went to suppress and arrest them.
Even so, the APC ignored them and kept on going. They went past the powered suits, towards Kugamayama city.
The commander of the squad told some of his men to go ahead.
The 3 units that received the order, went to chase after Chloe's APC.
"Unit 6, go check the battleground, unit 1 to unit 5, surround the guy on the bike! Don't let him get away!"
The 5 units obeyed that order and went to surround Akira.
Since his sight was zoomed in with the help of his augmented vision, he could see Chloe smiling while waving at him. Normally, they would not be able to look at each other from that distance. However, it was obvious that Chloe was looking at him and knew that he was also looking at her.
Akira went to reach his AF anti-material cannon by pure reflex. However, he reminded himself.
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