アキラはシカラベ達よりも早くタンクランチュラを発見していた。アルファの索敵の成果だ。
アルファが荒野の先を指差す。
『アキラ。賞金首を発見したわ』
アキラが双眼鏡でアルファの指差す先を見る。そこには巨大なモンスターの姿があった。
『あれが8億オーラムの賞金首か......。デカいな』
タンクランチュラの外見は、3階建ての家ほどの大きさがある巨大な金属製の
『車を食ってる......。食事中か?』
『返り討ちにしたハンターの車かもしれないわね。下手に近付くと、アキラの車も同じ目に遭いそうね。注意しましょう』
『主食が金属なら、持ち主は逃げ帰れたのか? それとも先に食われたのか?』
『ああいうのは大抵雑食よ。それに装備している重火器や金属部の多い強化服を食べるのに、
『それもそうか。雑食ではなかったとしても、俺の車を食わせる気はないけどな』
アキラが大金を出してせっかく買った車だ。タンクランチュラの食料にするわけにはいかない。
『あの類いのモンスターは、食事の量に応じて大きくなるの。放っておくと更に巨大になって、更に食事の量を増やすわ。大抵の場合はそこまで大きくなる前に他のモンスターに倒されるのだけれど。あれがヨノズカ駅遺跡の奥から来たモンスターなら、偶然餌がたっぷりあったのかもね』
アキラはヨノズカ駅遺跡の通路、戦闘の痕跡はあったが死体等が見つからなかった場所のことを思い出した。まだ幼体だったタンクランチュラが食事をしながら通路を通過できる大きさまで成長し、遺跡の外に出た後に周辺の残骸を食べて更に成長したのかもしれない。
車で近付きながらタンクランチュラの巨体を確認する。鋼の外骨格は非常に頑丈そうで、車を貫いている太い足は非常に強靭強力そうだ。砲塔の2門の大砲も見るからに強力そうである。その見るからに強力そうなモンスターを見て、アキラが
『それにしても、あいつを倒せば8億オーラムか。8億オーラムの賞金が懸かるって、一体どれだけ強いんだ?』
『賞金額が賞金首の強さを決めるわけではないけれど、少なくとも8億オーラム払ってでも、あれに早急に死んでもらいたい誰かがいることは確かよ。
『見れば分かる。あんなのが荒野にごろごろいてたまるか』
『もっと東の地域なら、あの程度のモンスターぐらいごろごろしているわ』
『そしてあの程度のモンスターを簡単に倒すハンターもごろごろしているわ。だから同じ強さのモンスターがいても、その地域では賞金首にはならないのでしょうけれどね』
『世界は広いなぁ......』
『良し。それでは始めましょうか』
『あ、ちょっと待ってくれ』
『どうかしたの?』
『一応確認しておかないとな』
アキラがトガミの方を向いて宣言する。
「俺は俺の好き勝手に戦う。シカラベともそう話を付けている。お前のことは一切考慮しない。降りるなら、今降りてくれ」
ちを高めていたトガミがアキラの言葉を聞いて叫ぶ。
「はぁ!? ふざけるな!」
『始めよう』
アルファは笑ってそう言うと、車の運転をアキラから引き継ぎ、車を急加速させた。
トガミが急加速の勢いで座席に押しつけられて、思わず慌てた声を出した。
にアルファの運転は非常に荒っぽい。アキラは着用している強化服にアルファが動きの補正を掛けているので問題なく動けるが、トガミは大変な思いをすることになるだろう。
アキラが後部座席に移動してCWH対物突撃銃を車から取り外す。両手でしっかりとCWH対物突撃銃を構え、まだかなりの遠距離にいるタンクランチュラに向けて照準を合わせる。
タンクランチュラの巨体でも肉眼では豆粒より小さく見える距離だ。加速のために車体は大きく揺れている。アキラは照準器越しにタンクランチュラの姿を捉える。アキラの視界にはアルファのサポートにより様々な情報が表示されている。
アキラはアルファが計算した弾道予測の線をタンクランチュラに合わせる。そして意識を集中し、一瞬の密度を可能な限り圧縮し、車体の揺れが収まったような感覚を覚えた瞬間、照準を合わせて引き金を引いた。
弾丸が大気を貫いて目標へ向けて飛んでいく。弾丸は弾速により相対的に圧縮された空気の層を強引に貫き、威力を減衰させながらも目標に命中した。
タンクランチュラに命中した弾丸は、強固な金属製の外骨格にあっさり
タンクランチュラは既にアキラ達に気付いていた。ただ食事中であることと、アキラ達との距離が離れていることから、対処の優先順位を落として食事を優先していただけだ。しかし自身に攻撃が届いたことで、攻撃を受けても無傷であろうとも、アキラへの対処の優先順位を上げた。
タンクランチュラの砲塔が動き始める。好物である金属の塊に向けて、大砲の照準を合わせようとしている。
になることには成功したわ。もう狙われている。相手の大砲を避けるために、これから運転がもっと荒っぽくなるから注意してね』
アキラは左手を銃から離して車体を
とともに砲弾が発射された。砲撃の反動がその巨体を揺らしていた。だが体勢は全く崩れていない。多数の足で砲撃の反動を殺しているのだ。砲撃が断続的に続く。複数の砲弾が放物線を描いてアキラへ向けて飛んでいく。
タンクランチュラが放った砲弾は、アキラを周辺ごと吹き飛ばそうとしている。アルファは素早く弾道予測を済ませると、車の乗員を無視して勢い良く進行方向を変えて着弾地点から離れようとした。
乗員であるアキラとトガミに車の速度に応じた慣性が襲いかかる。アキラは立ちながら強化服の握力で車体を
を巻き上げる。振動と爆風がアキラ達の車体を更に揺らす。車体が少しだけ空中に投げ出され、そのまま着地する。アルファの運転技術により車は無傷で済んだ。積んでいる荷物も無事だ。
アルファが余裕の
『相手の照準の精度は結構悪いみたいね。これなら問題なくもっと近づけるわ』
『それは良かった! できればもうちょっと着弾点から離れてくれ!』
アキラは車体から両脚が浮いた感覚を覚えていた。左手でしっかり車体を
『大丈夫よ。あの程度の威力なら、直撃を受けても1発ぐらいは耐えられるわ』
『それは車のことだよな!?』
言うな。そんなの一体幾らするんだよ』
『アキラが1人でタンクランチュラを倒せば、多分その賞金で買えると思うわ』
『そんな金はない!』
『それならもっと稼がないといけないわね。頑張って稼ぎましょう』
は億超え。良い度胸だ」
パルガが余裕の笑みで話す。
としては十分だ。少し早いが、俺達も出るか。シカラベ、開けてくれ」
シカラベが車の端末を操作すると、車両後部の扉がゆっくりと開いていく。シカラベが一応念を押す。
「無理はするな。仕事を済ませたらすぐに戻ってこい」
「分かってる。確かにあれを見て、俺も少しは
「拍手喝采の中で死ぬ気はない。そういうのは別のやつの仕事だ」
シカラベが2人の様子を見て安心したように少し表情を崩した。
「2番。作戦開始だ」
「3番。作戦開始だ」
ヤマノベとパルガが走行中の車の中からバイクに乗って飛び出していく。空中でタイヤの回転を加速させ、そのまま地面に着地する。2人はそのままシカラベが乗っている車を追い越し、二手に分かれてタンクランチュラに向けて走り続けた。
りながら敵との距離を縮めていく。敵の砲撃の合間を縫ってCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾で銃撃を続ける。アルファの運転技術と弾道予測のおかげで、車も今のところは無傷だ。
CWH対物突撃銃の専用弾がタンクランチュラの装甲に着弾する。弾丸が装甲に減り込み、装甲と弾丸が大きく変形する。着弾地点の装甲がタンクランチュラから剥がれて落ちていく。剥がれた装甲の下には別の無傷の装甲が有り、内部から新しい装甲がせり上がってきてすぐに元に戻る。今のところ、タンクランチュラに損傷らしい損傷は与えられていない。
『もっと近付かないと駄目か?』
『これ以上近付くのは危険よ。囮としての役割は十分果たしているわ。シカラベ達に何か作戦があるようだし、この距離を保って攻撃を続けましょう』
『そうだな。了解だ。引き続き安全運転を頼む』
『自分で言って何だが、安全運転の意味が問われるな』
は言っていない。それはアキラも分かっている。乗車している人間への考慮に差があるだけだ。そしてアキラも自分のことで手一杯だ。他者を気遣う余裕はないのだ。
トガミは必死になって車にしがみついていた。両手両脚で体を車体に固定し、車外に
アキラはアルファの強化服の操作により、事前に車の動きに合わせて体勢を変えたりしていたので、激しく揺れる車体の上でも問題なく立ち続けることができている。
しかしトガミはそうはいかない。アルファの運転に加えて砲弾の爆風や衝撃がトガミの体を激しく揺さぶっていく。一瞬でも気を抜けば車外に放り出されそうな衝撃に辛うじて耐えていた。敵を攻撃する余裕などない。それどころではないのだ。
トガミは辛うじて首を動かして後部座席のアキラを見る。アキラは少し険しい表情を浮かべたままタンクランチュラへ攻撃し続けている。
(......な、何なんだこいつは!? これがハンターランク21のハンターだって!? ふざけるな! こんなランク21がいてたまるか! ふざけるな! 何なんだこれは!? どうしてこんな状況になっているんだ!?)
タンクランチュラは自分の食事の邪魔をした目障りな相手に砲撃を続けていた。目障りな相手とは、自分に効きもしない鬱陶しい攻撃を続ける者達だ。
まずはアキラだ。次にシカラベだ。シカラベは装甲兵員輸送車に搭載されている機銃でタンクランチュラを銃撃している。一発一発が並みのモンスターなら木っ端
タンクランチュラに十分近付いたヤマノベが、バイクを止めてネルゴの奮闘振りを見ている。
「アキラの他にも頑張り屋がいたか。あれだけの腕があるなら幹部連中もあいつの加入を納得するだろう。昨日聞いた事情も大したことはなかったしな。......あの腕なら別に賞金首討伐の功績がなくても、少し金を積めば良かったんじゃないか? その金がなかったのか?」
がったまま対物狙撃銃を構え、タンクランチュラに照準を合わせる。そして引き金を引く。勢いよく飛び出した弾丸に似た形状の物体がタンクランチュラに命中してそのまま張り付いた。それは強い粘着性を持つ物体に包まれた小型の機械だった。
ヤマノベが更に銃撃を続ける。発射された物体は全く攻撃力を持たないため、タンクランチュラの注意がヤマノベに向かう事は無い。複数の小型の機械が巨体の至る所に貼り付いていく。
「こちら2番。マーキングは済んだ」
「こちら3番。了解だ。先に戻ってろ」
「お前が外したら大変だから、一応残っておくよ」
ヤマノベの軽口にパルガが笑って答えた。
パルガは別の場所でタンクランチュラとの距離を詰めていた。囮のおかげで自分から攻撃さえしなければ相手からの攻撃対象にならない境界のぎりぎりの位置にいた。そしてヤマノベからの連絡を受けると、不敵に笑ってその境界を踏み越えた。
タンクランチュラの砲塔が自身に向けられるよりも早く、パルガがバイクで素早く距離を詰めながら無反動砲を構えて引き金を引く。発射された砲弾は敵の巨体に命中する直前で爆発し、周囲に煙を
パルガが移動しながらバイクの弾薬庫から自動装填される砲弾を次々に発射する。幾つかの砲弾は同じように爆発して周囲の煙を濃くしていき、残りの砲弾はそのままタンクランチュラに貼り付いた。
濃い煙が立ち込める中、パルガが素早くその場から離脱する。タンクランチュラがパルガを大砲で攻撃しようとする。しかし大量の煙の為に、正確に狙うことができなかった。巨大な砲塔から発射された砲弾が見当違いの場所に飛んでいく。
単純な煙幕ならば、タンクランチュラは問題なくパルガを狙うことができた。しかし可視光のみならず、赤外線や超音波など、相手を捕捉する
シカラベがパルガからの連絡を受ける。
「こちら3番。こっちも終わった」
自分達の勝利をほぼ確信したシカラベが笑って指示を出す。
「了解。2人ともすぐに距離を取れ。近くにいると巻き込まれるぞ」
パルガとヤマノベが返事を返す。
「さっさと始めてくれ」
シカラベが通信機の通信先を全員に切り替える。
「こちら1番! 配布したロケットランチャーの使用を許可する! 全員タンクランチュラをロック可能な距離まで接近しろ! こちらの合図で一斉に発射する! 絶対に遅れるな!」
『煙幕か? 全然見えなくなったぞ』
アルファがアキラの視界を拡張する。煙に覆われて見えなくなっていたタンクランチュラの姿がはっきり分かるようになる。アキラがかなり驚いている。
『こんなにはっきり分かるのか。しかもあれで向こうからはこっちの位置とかは分からないんだろう?
『かなりの高級品を使っているようね。敵の情報収集を可能な限り阻害した上で、味方の情報収集の阻害を抑えているわ。この手の物は安物だとただの煙幕と変わらない効果しかないものも多いのだけれど、賞金首を相手にするために随分奮発したみたいね。......経費を抜いた後に賞金が残っていると良いわね?』
シカラベからロケットランチャー使用の連絡が来る。アキラはCWH対物突撃銃を置き、ロケットランチャーの準備を始める。
被弾する可能性が劇的に下がったのでアルファが車を止める。トガミがよろよろと体勢を立て直した。
トガミはアキラに文句を言おうとしたのだが、アキラは勘違いしてロケットランチャーとその弾をトガミに投げて渡した。トガミは何とかそれを受け取って、再び体勢を崩した。
アキラがロケットランチャーの準備を済ませる。ロケットランチャーの照準器には既に目標の捕捉と自動追尾が有効になっていることを示す内容が記されていた。
「15秒後に攻撃する! この
トガミが慌てて準備を始める。
「5! 4! 3! 2! 1!」
アキラは既にロケットランチャーを構えている。トガミも辛うじて間に合った。
アルファが勝ったつもりでいるアキラを注意する。
『アキラ。まだ倒したと決まったわけではないわ』
アキラが思わずアルファの方へ顔を向ける。誰もいない方向へ急に顔を向ける不審者の行動だ。それだけアキラは驚いていた。
『えっ!? いや、幾ら何でも死んだだろう!? いや、生きているとしても、あの爆発に巻き込まれたんだ。もうボロボロだろう。後はゆっくり全員でロケット弾の雨でも降らして止めを刺せば......』
アルファがタンクランチュラを指差す。
『あ、あれでまだ動けるのか!? いや、でもほら、もう動けないみたいだし、大丈夫だろう?』
「もう一度だ。誘導装置の取り付けが終わり次第、同じように攻撃する。各自ロケットランチャーの準備をしておけ」
「こちら2番。了解だ。すぐに済ませる」
「こちら3番。俺はどうする? 一応
シカラベが答える。
「ちょっと待ってろ。確認する。......敵は遠距離攻撃能力を消失しているし、大丈夫だろう。次の賞金首との戦闘でも使うんだ。残しておけ。状況が変わって必要だと思ったら使え」
この場にいるハンター達の認識は様々だ。勝利を確信して完全に気を緩めてしまっている者もいる。一応まだ生きているのだからと一定の警戒を残している者もいる。しかし程度の差はあれど、自分達が圧倒的に優勢であり、残りは後片付けのようなものだと考えていたことに違いはなかった。
その全員の予想を覆す光景がハンター達の前に現れる。既に一部が裂けていたタンクランチュラの腹部が更に大きく割れる。そしてその裂け目から大量の小型のタンクランチュラが湧き出てきたのだ。
達が一斉に砲弾を放つ。車の後方に無数の砲弾が次々に着弾していく。トガミが叫び声を上げていた。
激しく揺れる車体の上で、アキラがCWH対物突撃銃を構えて引き金を引く。発射された専用弾が群れの一体に命中する。子
アキラが険しい表情を浮かべる。
『CWH対物突撃銃の専用弾がちゃんと効いているな! 親よりは
『分かったよ!』
アキラはすぐに次の個体に照準を合わせて引き金を引いた。CWH対物突撃銃の専用弾の直撃を食らった個体が粉砕されて、機械部品を
周囲の爆音を肌で感じたアキラが、歯を食いしばってアルファに頼む。
『ちゃんと避けてくれよ!?』
『あの程度の威力なら多少食らっても移動に支障はないわ』
『だから! それは! 車の話だよな!? 俺は!?』
『体に当たるのが嫌ならできる限り敵の数を減らしなさい。僅かでも数を減らしていけば、それだけ被弾する確率が確実に下がるのよ?』
Akira was able to locate the Tank Tarantula sooner than Shikarabe and his friends. It was all thanks to Alpha's detection ability.
Alpha pointed her finger toward the vast wasteland.
"Akira, the bounty monster is over there."
Akira grabbed his binoculars and looked at the direction where Alpha was pointing at. He quickly spotted a huge monster in that direction.
"That's the 800,000,000 Aurum worth bounty monster, huh... It's huge!"
The Tank Tarantula was a spider-like monster as big as a 3-storey house. 16 legs extended out from its abdomen and its whole body was covered in reinforced plating. The upper portion of its abdomen was equipped with 2 big cannons that you would usually only find on tanks. There were wheels and caterpillar tracks outfitted on the bottom part of its body.
"It's eating a vehicle... Is it in the middle of a meal?"
"It might be one of the vehicles of the Hunters who tried to hunt it. If you approach it carelessly, your vehicle will meet the same fate. So let's be extra careful."
"If it only eats metal, did the Hunters escape? Or did they get eaten first?"
"Monsters like that are usually omnivores. Moreover, Hunters' weapons and equipment are usually made of metal, and I'm sure it won't even bother to separate them."
"Well, that's true. Even if it's not an omnivore, I have no plans to feed it my vehicle."
Akira spent a lot of money on his vehicle. Thus he had no plans to let the Tank Tarantula eat it.
"The amount of food that monsters eat is usually proportional to its size. If you leave it alone, it'll only grow bigger and bigger with time, and with that, the amount of food it eats will also grow. Usually, monsters will get eaten by the other monsters before they can grow that big. But this one came from Yonozuka station ruin where it had an abundant amount of food."
Akira remembered when he went to Yonozuka station ruin, he found a hallway filled with the leftover of battles but no corpses. When it was still small, the Tank Tarantula must have eaten the corpses and grown to a size where it could still fit the hallway. It then must have escaped the hallway to the surface and eaten all the wreckage around the area as it grew even bigger.
They approached the Tank Tarantula carefully while closely observing it. Its metallic exoskeleton body looked extremely tough and its huge powerful legs looked strong enough to crush a vehicle. Not to mention that the twin cannons on its back looked extremely powerful. Akira looked completely amazed by the appearance of that powerful-looking monster.
"But then again, if I can defeat that monster, it would earn me 800,000,000 Aurum, huh. I wonder how strong of a monster it is to be worth that much."
"The amount of the bounty prize is not decided based on how strong a monster is. But at least, there's someone who wants that monster dead as soon as possible to the point that they would even pay you 800,000,000 Aurum. It might be because it's sitting on an important trading route, or it might be because it attracts strong monsters to gather in that place and worsen the monster distribution. There are basically a lot of factors that decide how much a monster is worth. And when you add the fact that it's a strong monster that Hunters' can't easily kill, then it would be identified as a bounty monster. Think of it as a monster that's way stronger than any of monster that you've fought until now."
"You don't have to tell me that, it's rather obvious from what I can see. Like hell I would stand having monsters like that roaming the wasteland."
"If you go further to the east, you can find a lot of monsters like that, you know?"
"And there are a whole lot of Hunters who can defeat that level of monsters without having much trouble. That's why, even if there are monsters like this in that area, those monsters would not be identified as bounty monsters."
"I guess there are still a lot of things out there that I don't know, huh..."
"Alright then, let's start!"
"Ah, wait for a sec."
"What's wrong?"
"There's one thing that I want to make sure first."
Akira turned to Togami and said.
"I won't follow orders, I fight the way I want. Shikarabe had agreed with that too. I won't try to work together with you, if you want to board off, then this is your chance."
Togami who was already in a bad mood quickly exploded when he heard Akira's words.
"Hah!? Are you kidding me?!"
"Let's start!"
Alpha smiled when she said that as she took over the control of Akira's vehicle and immediately turned up its speed.
Togami could not help but shriek as the vehicle suddenly accelerated and pushed his body deeper into his seat.
Since they were going to fight a bounty monster, Alpha's driving was rather rough. Akira, who was wearing an augmented suit with Alpha's support, could move around with no problem. But that was not the case for Togami.
Akira moved to the back seat, took his CWH anti-material rifle, and aimed at the Tarantula Tank that was still quite far away from them.
Although with its big size, the Tank Tarantula looked just like a blip with n.a.k.e.d eyes from that distance. Not to mention there was the shaking and swaying from the vehicle too. Akira aimed at the Tank Tarantula through the aiming device on his rifle, Alpha added a lot of extra information in his vision.
Akira fixed the TP line created through Alpha's support such that it accurately targeted the Tank Tarantula. He focused his concentration and compressed the time as much as possible, the moment he felt the shaking from the vehicle slow down, he fixed his aim and pulled the trigger.
The bullet pierced through the air and flew straight to its target. It pushed against the air barrier formed on its tip due to its velocity which reduced its power on its travel before hitting its target.
But when it did, it just ricocheted after hitting the hard metallic exoskeleton of the Tank Tarantula.
The Tank Tarantula had already noticed Akira and the other Hunters. But since it was in the middle of its meal, it chose to focus on its meal rather than the Hunters that were still rather far away from it. Now that it received an attack, albeit a harmless attack, it quickly shifted its attention to Akira.
The huge cannon on the Tank Tarantula's back started to move. It was as if the Tank Tarantula was trying to aim its huge cannon.
"Well, you're doing fine, it's already focused its attention on you. My driving will be a bit rougher to evade its cannon, so be careful."
Akira shifted his left hand from the rifle to grab his vehicle.
The Tank Tarantula already fixed its aim at Akira, its big cannons spewed out huge warheads with a loud bang. The kickback shifted its huge body, but not enough to throw it off-balance. It was able to hold off the powerful kickback using its multiple legs. But it did not stop there as it shot multiple warheads in succession, the huge warheads drew multiple parabolic lines on the sky as they flew toward Akira.
They rained down and created craters around Akira. Alpha quickly finished her calculation and predicted where those warheads would hit the ground, she then ignored the people on Akira's vehicle as she controlled it to move away from the fallout area.
The sudden acceleration threw Akira and Togami off-balance. Akira used the power of his augmented suit to get a secure grip on his vehicle and avoid getting himself thrown off the vehicle while still standing. As for Togami who was sitting on the driver assistance seat, he got himself pushed between his seat and the door, thus he was also able to avoid getting thrown off.
The explosions from the warheads that rained down from the sky threw dust, smokes, and rubbles to the air. The shockwave and the pounding from the explosions shook Akira's vehicle. It even threw the vehicle off the ground, but thanks to Alpha's driving capability, it was able to land safely and all its luggage was also undamaged.
Alpha smiled casually.
"It seems that it has a bad aim. In this case, we can safely approach it."
"That's good to hear!! By the way, can you keep us further away from the warheads?!!"
Akira could feel the shaking transmitted through his legs. If he was not grabbing on his vehicle with his left hand, he might have been thrown off the vehicle by now.
"Don't worry, with that level of firepower, we can at least take one direct hit."
"You're talking about the vehicle, right?!"
"Don't be crazy, just how much do you think it would cost?"
"If you can defeat that Tank Tarantula alone, you should get enough money to buy one."
"I don't have that kind of money!!!"
"In that case, you should gather more money. Let's work hard to earn that much."
"Not bad at all! As expected of a Hunter worth more than 100,000,000 Aurum. He's doing pretty good there."
Varga smiled casually.
"He's doing a good job as a diversion. It might be sooner than we planned, but we should head out too. Shikarabe, open the door."
Shikarabe pushed the button on the terminal and opened the rear door of the APC. He then left some words for Varga and Yamanobe.
"No need to be reckless, return back as soon as you finish your job."
"I know. Even for me, I can't help but get a little excited after seeing that. But I have no plans to put myself in danger just to show off my skill."
"I have no plans to crash and burn in glory, that's the job for another person."
Looking at how both of them reacted, Shikarabe looked relieved.
"Number 2, operation start!"
"Number 3, operation start!"
Yamanobe and Varga jumped out from the vehicle on their bikes. They accelerated their bikes while still on the air, the wheels were spinning furiously as they landed on the ground. Both of them left Shikarabe's APC behind and separated into two teams as they headed to the Tank Tarantula.
Akira kept heading toward the Tank Tarantula while avoiding the warheads. In the middle of that, he also kept on sniping the monster using his CWH anti-material rifle loaded with CWH special ammo. Thanks to Alpha's driving skill and her ability to predict the warheads' trajectories, Akira's vehicle was still doing fine.
When the CWH special ammo hit the Tank Tarantula's armour, it bent and eventually stripped off that armour plating of the Tank Tarantula. As that armour part fell down to the ground, another undamaged armour plating was exposed under it, it was then pushed out and replaced the stripped off armour plating. At the moment, Akira realised he could not inflict any meaningful damage to the Tank Tarantula.
"I really have no other choice but to get closer, huh?"
"It's dangerous to get any closer than this. You've done your job well as a diversion. I'm sure Shikarabe has some kind of plan, so let's keep our distance while keeping it occupied."
"That's true. Alright then, I'll leave the driving to you, please drive safely."
"It's kind of weird to say this myself, but you do get the 'drive safely' part, right?"
Alpha was not lying, Akira himself knew at least that much. It was just a matter of standard between her and the people on the vehicle that she was controlling. Moreover, Akira himself was rather preoccupied with the monster, so he had no leeway to worry about other things.
Togami was desperately grabbing on to the blazing vehicle. Both of his arms and legs were used to keep himself inside the vehicle so that he would not get thrown off-board. He kept his mouth shut since he felt like he would bite his own tongue if he tried to say something.
As for Akira, he was able to adjust his posture before the vehicle swayed thanks to the support from Alpha, thus he was able to stand without much trouble in the intensely rocking vehicle.
But that was not the case for Togami. Alpha's rough driving and the shockwave from the warheads threw his body around, he desperately grabbed onto the vehicle as he felt like he would be thrown off-board the moment he loosened his grip. He did not even have the leeway to aim at the Tank Tarantula.
Togami faced a lot of trouble in just turning his head toward Akira from the assistant driver seat. While Akira only looked a bit challenged as he kept on sniping at the Tank Tarantula.
[...Wh-what the heck is with this boy!? Is this really the power of a Rank 21 Hunter?! You gotta be kidding me!! Like hell I would accept someone like him as only a Rank 21 Hunter!! What the heck is going on here!? How the hell did I get roped in this situation?!]
The Tank Tarantula did not stop spewing warheads toward the Hunters who interrupted its meal. After all, there was nothing more obnoxious than those people who kept attacking you although it was barely effective at all.
Its first priority was Akira, then Shikarabe. Shikarabe was also shooting at the Tank Tarantula using rifles fixed into his APC. Although each shot was enough to blow a monster into minced meat, for Tank Tarantula, it did not have any effect at all. But at least, it was able to prevent the Tank Tarantula to stay where it was. With those continuous shots, the Tank Tarantula could not get a good aim.
After Yamanobe got close to the Tank Tarantula, he stopped his bike and looked at Nergo.
"There are other Hunters who are working as hard as Akira, huh. If he's that powerful, he should've been able to strike a deal with the Drankam management instead. From what I heard yesterday, he doesn't seem to be in so much trouble anyway... And with that power, there's not even any need to hunt for a bounty monster, right? He can still acquire some money on his own like that, right? Or is it that he doesn't have the money to do that?"
Yamanobe was still on his bike as he raised up his rifle, aimed it at the Tank Tarantula, and pulled the trigger. The bullet-like projectile spewed out from the rifle's muzzle, hit the Tank Tarantula, and stuck on its body. It was a small device wrapped in strong sticky glue.
He did not stop there as he kept on shooting at the Tank Tarantula. Since the sticky projectiles were completely harmless, the Tank Tarantula was ignoring him while more and more of those sticky small devices got stuck on its huge body.
"This is number 2, marking done."
"This is number 3, roger that. You can go back first."
"It would be bad if you miss your shot, so I'll stay."
Varga laughed and said that in response to Yamanobe's joke.
Varga was approaching the Tank Tarantula from another direction. Thanks to the diversions, he was able to get pretty close to the Tank Tarantula and the Tank Tarantula would not attack him as long as he did not attack it, but the Tank Tarantula might aim at him if he got any closer. After that short exchange with Yamanobe, he then decided to get closer.
While still on the top of his bike, he quickly closed the distance to the Tank Tarantula, he then aimed his kickback-less cannon at the Tank Tarantula and pulled the trigger before the Tank Tarantula could aim its huge cannons back at him. The projectile from the cannon exploded before it hit the Tank Tarantula's body and covered the area in thick smoke.
With the help from the automatic reloading device in the back of his bike, Varga kept on shooting that smoke warhead while still moving around. He shot some of the bullets to thicken the smoke around him while the rest went straight to the Tank Tarantula.
After that, Varga sped his bike out from within that thick smoke. The Tank Tarantula tried to shoot at him, but it could not get a good aim due to thick smoke. As such, the warheads just landed randomly around the area away from Varga.
If it was only normal smoke, the Tank Tarantula would not have any trouble aiming at Varga. The smoke not only blocked the visible light but also dulled all light spectrum as well as sound. Thus preventing any information to be perceived correctly and completely throwing the monster's aim off.
Varga then contacted Shikarabe.
"This is number 3, I'm done here too."
Now that their victory was almost guaranteed, Shikarabe smiled and said.
"Roger that, get away from that place. You'll also get blown off if you guys stay too close."
Varga and Yamanobe swiftly replied back.
"Just start the barrage."
Shikarabe then changed the broadcast to all the Hunters there.
"This is number 1! You guys can use the rocket launcher now! Make sure to get close enough to get a lock on the Tank Tarantula! Pull the trigger together on my mark!! And don't be late!"
"Smokescreen, huh? I can't spot the monster at all now."
Alpha then enhanced Akira's vision, thanks to that, he was able to see clearly the Tank Tarantula inside that thick smoke. Akira was a bit surprised by that.
"Whoah, I can see it very clearly though. And it's not like it can look at us too, right? Jamming smoke is really nice."
"It seems that they're using a pretty high-quality jamming smoke. It blocks as much information as possible for the Tank Tarantula while suppressing its effect on the information-gathering device at the same time. There are many cheap jamming smokes out there that are nothing more than just normal smokescreen. It seems that they spent quite a lot of money on this hunt... I just hope there will still be enough money to share after subtracting the equipment expense."
Shikarabe then contacted everyone again to get the rocket launcher ready. Akira quickly put down his CWH anti-material rifle and started preparing his rocket launcher.
Since it was unlikely to get shot in that situation, Alpha stopped the vehicle. Togami was finally able to stand up.
Togami actually wanted to complain to Akira, but Akira misunderstood him and threw a rocket launcher and its ammo to him. Togami was somehow able to receive it, but it did throw him off-balance again.
Akira quickly finished preparing his rocket launcher, the aiming device on the rocket launcher already indicated that it had locked on its target and that the homing feature was already on.
"We'll start the barrage in 15 seconds!! This is the reason why we brought you guys here!! So if you don't join the barrage, we'll reduce your share of reward!!"
Togami started preparing his rocket launcher in panic.
"5! 4! 3! 2! 1!"
Akira was ready to launch his rocker launcher, Togami was barely able to catch up with him.
Alpha then warned Akira who thought that he had already won.
"Akira, we don't know if we defeated it or not."
Akira inadvertently turned to Alpha, from the outside, he looked like a suspicious person who suddenly looked in a direction where no one was present. That was just how surprised he was.
"Eh!? No no no, there's no way it survived that explosion!? And even if it did, there's no way it's fine after taking that explosion head-on. So we can just take it easy later while showering it with more missiles to deliver the finishing blow..."
Alpha then pointed her finger toward the Tank Tarantula.
"I-it can still move even after taking that attack?! No, wait, it seems that it can no longer move. It should be okay, right?"
"One more time! We'll execute another barrage once we get the guidance device attached on its body!! Make sure that your rocket launcher is ready!!"
"Number 2 here. Roger that, I'm on it."
"This is number 3. What about me? Should I put the jamming smoke again?"
Shikarabe quickly answered Varga's questions.
"Wait for a sec, let me check for a bit... It seems that it no longer has any long-range weaponries, it should be fine without the smoke. So save the smoke for the next bounty monster. Or you can use it later if things get dicey."
Everyone in that place had a different reaction after watching that explosion, some of them thought that they already won and relaxed their guard, while some of them did not lower their guard thinking that it was still alive. Although there were differences, all of them thought that they already had the upper hand and they could just take it easy from there.
But a sudden turn of events that was out of their imagination suddenly happened in front of them. The Tank Tarantula's abdomen that was already crushed, suddenly cracked open and vomited hundreds of small Tank Tarantulas.
Alpha quickly mustered the vehicle back on. The countless tiny Tank Tarantulas released another barrage that landed behind Akira's vehicle. When that happened, Togami started screaming.
While standing on top of the rocking vehicle, Akira aimed his CWH anti-material rifle and pulled the trigger. The released CWH special bullet hit one of the tiny Tank Tarantula and blew it to small pieces.
Akira's face turned grim.
"It seems that CWH special ammo works on these monsters! So is it like their body is weaker than the big one?! But there is just too many of them!"
"I know!"
Akira quickly took an aim at another Tank Tarantula and pulled the trigger, the CWH special ammo pierced through that Tank Tarantula and blew it to small pieces.
The explosions from the warhead propagated through the air and reached Akira's skin. He just gritted his teeth and said to Alpha.
"You won't let them hit us, right?"
"If it's only that much, we can at least take some shots and still be safe, you know."
"You're talking about the vehicle, right? Then how about me?!!"
"If you don't want to get hit, then do your best in reducing their number. The chance of you getting hit falls by a lot even if you are only able to take out a few dozen of them."
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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