アキラの車が急加速する。車の後部にいるアキラとキャロルに急加速分の慣性が掛かる。アキラはアルファによる強化服の操作のおかげで体勢を崩さなかった。キャロルは彼女自身の実力と強化服の性能のおかげで体勢を崩さなかった。
キャロルがアキラの様子を抜け目なく見ている横で、アルファがアキラに状況を説明する。
『アキラ。進行方向にモンスターが多数存在しているわ。エレナ達は移動の障害になる敵だけを倒して突破するつもりよ。道路の左右にエレナ達が無視したモンスターが残っているから注意して。そのモンスター達が追ってきた場合、挟み撃ちにされる恐れがあるから早めに倒しましょう』
アキラがキャロルに一応敵襲を告げる。
「キャロル。敵だ」
「分かってるわ。任せて」
キャロルも自分の情報収集機器による索敵で既にモンスターを察知していた。笑って銃を構えるキャロルにアキラが話す。
「いや、俺も戦う」
キャロルが少し不服そうに答える。
「信用ないわね。大丈夫よ」
「そうじゃない。そもそも俺はキャロルを案内役として雇ったんだ。戦ってもらえるのは助かるけど、無理して積極的に戦わなくても良いぞ?」
「あら、私もしっかり戦っておかないとアキラに報酬を請求しにくいじゃない。参加している以上、私も案内役の報酬だけで済ませる気はないわ」
アキラも笑って答える。
していた。強さも大きさも様々だ。エレナ達は通行の妨げになる敵を銃撃して破壊し、車で体当たりして破壊し、踏み潰して破壊しながら先に進む。下手に速度を落とすと周囲のモンスター達の集結を許すことになるので、車が多少被弾しても先に進んだ方が安全だ。
道路には破壊された機械系モンスターの金属部品が散乱しており普通の車なら通行も難しい。しかし荒野仕様の車両ならばその程度の障害は通行の妨げにはならない。大型の残骸が道を塞いでいない限り、エレナ達の車両ならば強引に突破することは十分可能だ。
機械系モンスターは味方をどれだけ破壊されようとも、自身をどれだけ破壊されようとも、その戦意を失うことはない。しかし行動の優先順位は変化する。攻撃目標が離れていけば、他の敵の索敵等を優先して攻撃の手を止めることもある。そして機動力に優れている機体の場合、行動の優先順位を追跡に切り替える個体も当然存在する。
アキラ達に追い越された一部の機械系モンスターが、多脚の足の先にある球体型のタイヤを激しく回転させる。タイヤが地面を擦り僅かに煙を上げるほどの回転で一気に加速して、アキラ達を勢いよく追いかけ始めた。
行く手を遮る障害物を撃破しながら進んでいるアキラ達より、障害物の掃除を終えた道を追ってくるモンスター達の方が速い。敵を迎撃せずに
アルファが少し感心したような表情で話す。
『そうだな。急がないと俺の分の的がなくなりそうだ』
『キャロルは先頭の敵から順に狙っているわ。アキラは後の敵を狙って』
アキラの拡張視界に表示されている的の優先順位が書き換わる。アキラは目標を切り替えて、しっかり狙って引き金を引いた。擲弾は目標に命中こそしなかったが、その少し手前に地面に命中した。機械系モンスターが擲弾の爆発で吹き飛ばされた。
アキラが顔を
『外したか。もうちょっと上か?』
『A4WM自動擲弾銃のデータ取りが終わるまで、私のサポートも十全にとはいかないわ。擲弾を撃っているのだから、誤って自分の車を撃ったりしたら大変よ。それだけは止めてね』
『了解。危ない時は止めてくれ』
アキラは再び狙いを定めて引き金を引く。擲弾が空中を飛んでいき、目標近くの地面で爆発したり、通り過ぎて後方のビルの壁に激突して爆発したり、狙っていたものとは別の機械系モンスターに命中したりする。揺れる車体からの狙撃は元々難しいとはいえ、
しくない命中率である。
『当たらないな』
『練習あるのみか』
アキラが敵を多少撃ち漏らしても、キャロルがしっかり撃破しているため問題にはなっていない。山場を越えるまで、アキラはCWH対物突撃銃を使用した時とは別人のようなお粗末な狙撃を繰り返していた。
見張りのハンターが休憩中で情報端末を凝視している別のハンターに尋ねる。
「......何か変化は?」
尋ねられた男は黙って首を横に振った。
尋ねた方も返答は分かりきっていた。何らかの進展があれば、尋ねるまでもなく男の態度に絶対に変化が表れるからだ。それでも尋ねてしまうのは、か細い希望に
ハンター達がこのビルに立て籠もってから、既に半日以上経過している。彼らは日が沈む前にこのビルに逃げ込んだ。その時にいた者達の半数は既に死亡している。
ビルに逃げ込む途中で敵に襲われて、通路や出入り口を封鎖している間に敵に襲われて、戦闘時の負傷が悪化して、ビルからの脱出を試みて周辺の敵に襲われて、応戦して死に、
それでもまだ生還の希望は残っている。考えつく限りの当てに緊急依頼を送信したからだ。救援の依頼が届いている可能性はある。時間を稼げば誰かが救援に来るかもしれない。
生き残りのハンター達に、生還の見込みがない外へ飛び出すほどの勇気と度胸と狂気は残っていない。減っていく弾薬を眺めながら、か細い希望に
男が情報端末をじっと見続けている。夢と幻覚の中で誰かからの通信を受け取り、我に返って情報端末を確認して、夢と幻覚のどちらかであったことに気付く。そんなことを既に数度繰り返していた。
男の端末に短距離通信による通話要求が届いた。男が点滅する通知を見ながら壊れかけた笑みを浮かべる。これが夢か幻覚か現実か、男には分からない。しかしやることは同じだ。情報端末を操作し、通話要求を受け入れた。すると、情報端末から女性の声がする。
「アルハイン保険から救援依頼を受託した者よ。そっちはココレンスさんであっているかしら?」
としていた。女性の声は耳に入っているが、その内容を理解できる状態ではなかった。
「聞こえている? アルハイン保険の救援保険を契約したココレンスさんの情報端末に
男は混乱していた。夢か幻覚か判断できる状態ではなかった。
「負傷で話せる状態ではないの? それなら誰か話せる人に代わってもらえないかしら。そっちの状況を知りたいのだけど」
男が返事を返さないので、女性が話を続ける。
「聞いてるの? 話せないし、他に誰もいないなら、テキストメッセージでも良いから送ってほしいのだけど。それとも外部からの通信に対して自動的に接続するように情報端末に設定されているだけで、本人はとっくに死んでいるの? 聞いている? 誰かいない?」
ついに男が我に返った。男は女性の声が現実のものであることも理解した。その瞬間、男があらん限りの声で情報端末に向けて叫ぶ。
「助けてくれ!」
男の情報端末から聞こえてきた女性の声は、彼らを助けに来たエレナのものだった。
アキラ達がミハゾノ街遺跡の道路を強引に突破し続けている。道は広いが敵も多い。その場に止まって応戦などしていれば、倒した敵の残骸で一帯が埋まってしまい車両での移動が不可能になりそうだ。
アキラとキャロルが追ってくる小型多脚戦車を競うように破壊し続けていた。撃破数はキャロルの圧勝だ。それでもアキラがA4WM自動擲弾銃の試し撃ちの的に困らないほどだ。アルファも十分なデータが取れただろう。
「幾ら何でも多くないか? 切りがない」
キャロルがアキラの問いに答える。
「ハンターオフィスの戦力が出張所を基点にして一定範囲で防衛線を敷いているらしいわ。その外側はその分だけ敵の密度が上昇しているのかもしれないわね」
「ハンターオフィスはそんなことをやっているのか。どうやって知ったんだ?」
「休憩中にシカラベから聞いたわ。夜の内に防衛線の内側にそれなりの数の人型兵器を投入して、強力な無人兵器の排除には成功したようよ。今は主要な通路を封鎖して一定の安全を担保している最中なんだって。ドランカムの部隊もその作業に参加しているらしいわ」
アキラは途中で見た大型機の残骸と人型兵器の腕などを思い出した。恐らくそれがその交戦の跡なのだろう。アキラ達がいるのは防衛線の外側だ。つまりあの手の大型機が
「外側はどこもこんな有様なのか? それなら確かに保険でも掛かっていないと、救助の緊急依頼を受けるやつは少ないだろうな。保険が必要になるわけだ」
「保険会社もこんな状況を想定して保険料を決めたわけじゃないでしょうから、多分大損でしょうね」
アキラにもキャロルにも戦闘中に雑談をする余裕がある。セランタルビルの中で大量の機械系モンスターに襲われた昨日の状況に比べれば、今の状況など慌てるほどのことはない。並みのハンターなら慌てふためく戦場で、アキラ達はその実力を示していた。
エレナから情報端末を介してアキラ達全員に指示が出る。
「200メートル先の門の先のビルに救出対象が立て籠もっているわ。シカラベはビルの出入り口に停車して、救出対象を全て生死不問で乗車させて。残りのメンバーは出入り口周辺の敵を
シカラベがエレナに尋ねる。
「連中の乗車に費やせる時間は?」
「10分。うだうだして乗車を遅らせるようなやつは置いていくわ」
「最優先の乗車対象は?」
「ココレンスってハンターが保険の契約者よ。既に死んでいた場合、遺体の損傷の程度に関わらず乗せてちょうだい。最低でも彼の情報端末は欲しいところね。本人も識別用の情報端末も見つからない場合は、5分で捜索を打ち切って」
「そいつと連絡は取れなかったのか?」
「該当者の情報端末を持つ自称本人とは連絡が取れたわ」
シカラベが少し面倒そうに答える。
シカラベは長年のハンター稼業からいろいろ察していた。サラもキャロルも同様だ。理解が追いついていないのはアキラだけだ。
エレナがアキラに確認を取る。
「アキラ達の方は大丈夫? 私の予想より襲撃が多かったわ。無理をしていない?」
良い意味ではアキラを気遣うための、悪い意味では車両を含めて最も貧弱な装備のアキラと、エレナが正確な装備も実力も把握できていないキャロルの様子を確認する
アキラがしっかりと答える。
「大丈夫です。問題ありません」
情報端末からエレナの勇ましい声が響く。
ビルを包囲していた機械系モンスター達が、攻撃対象を立て籠もっているハンター達からアキラ達に一斉に切り替える。銃器の類いを装備しているモンスターが次々に銃口をアキラ達へ向ける。近接攻撃しかできないモンスターがアキラ達との距離を詰めようと動き出す。
エレナ達の車両に搭載されている機銃から放たれる銃弾が、ビルの周囲から集まってくるモンスター達に浴びせられる。サラは自動擲弾銃を構えて撃ち続ける。無数の擲弾がモンスターの頭上に降り注ぎ、無数の爆発がモンスター達を吹き飛ばしていく。
アキラとキャロルが敷地の門に銃の照準を向け、敷地内に侵入しようとするモンスター達を迎撃する。
敵は数台の車両がすれ違えるほどに大きな門を塞ぎかねないほど大量だが、キャロルが放つ銃弾とアキラの放つ擲弾により破壊され、粉砕され、吹き飛ばされ、
敷地内は瞬く間に鉄火砲火が支配する戦場に様変わりした。
「来た! 本当に助けが来た!」
「早く出口を開けろ! このままだと外に出られないぞ!」
「強化服を着ているやつは、出口を塞いでいる車両を
「負傷者を出口の近くまで運べ!」
ハンター達が慌ただしく動き始める。この機会を逃したら生き延びる術はない。全員がそれを理解していた。残りの気力と体力を総動員して作業を進めていく。
める。そして車両の後部をビルの入り口に向けて、後部の扉を開いて外に出た。
ビルの出入り口は破壊された車両で塞がれたままだ。立て籠もっていたハンターの1人が、何とか出られそうな狭い隙間を通って、必死の形相でビルの外に出ようとしている。
シカラベが出入り口を塞いでいる車両の残骸を思いっきり蹴飛ばした。蹴飛ばされた車両の残骸が数メートル横に吹き飛んでいく。
シカラベが大声で指示を出す。
「10分で出発する! 生死不問で全員乗せろ! それと、ココレンスってやつはどいつだ?」
シカラベの横を通って車両に入り込もうとするハンターが、シカラベに腕を捕まれて止められる。男が必死の形相で叫ぶ。
「な、なんだ!? 入れてくれよ!」
「自力で動けるやつは後だ。自力で動けないやつを先に運んでこい」
男はシカラベの制止を振り切って必死に車両の中に入ろうとする。
「うるせえ! 俺は生き残るんだ!」
シカラベが叫んだ男を勢いよくビルの中に投げ飛ばした。男は体力を消耗した状態で固い床に
シカラベが他のハンターを
み付ける。男に続こうとしたハンター達の足が止まる。
「もう一度言う! 生死不問で全員乗せろ! 死体だろうが頭が無かろうが頭しか無かろうが全員だ! あと、ココレンスってやつはどいつだ? あるいは、俺達と連絡を取っていたやつだ」
シカラベが答えたハンターに、車に乗れと顎で指す。ハンターが
シカラベがエレナと連絡を取っていたハンターを見る。そのハンターの表情は引きつっていた。
アキラが軽く息を吐く。
「アキラ。私への報酬は安値で済みそう?」
アキラが苦笑気味に、しかしどこか楽しげに答える。
キャロルが満足げに笑って話す。
「昨日の私とは違うってことを見せられたようね。報酬を期待してもいいかしら?」
「まだ序盤だ。そうやって安心するのは早すぎる。油断するなよ?」
アルファが笑ってアキラに指示を出す。
『それならアキラの分の報酬が残るように、今のうちに撃破数の追い上げをしておきましょうか。アキラ。CWH対物突撃銃に持ち替えて』
『分かった。あれだけ倒したのに、まだ追加分のモンスターが周囲に残っているのか?』
アキラは指示通りに使用する武器をCWH対物突撃銃に変更し、面倒そうな表情を浮かべた。
『正確には、追加分ではないわね。初めからいた分よ』
アルファがビルを指差す。アキラがビルを見るとアキラの視界が拡張されて、今までビルの壁面に隠れて見えなかった機械系モンスターの姿が表示された。アキラはすぐにビルに向けてCWH対物突撃銃を構えた。
キャロルがアキラに釣られてビルの方向へ銃を構える。しかしキャロルには敵がいるようには見えなかった。キャロルの目に映っているのは、機械系モンスター達の残骸が散らばる地面と、頑丈な旧世界製のビル、撤収作業中のシカラベ達と、周囲を警戒しているエレナ達だ。敵性の存在は見受けられない。
キャロルが再びビルに視線を戻した時だった。ビルの3階の窓から機械系モンスターが飛び出してきた。キャロルはそれを見て驚き、その機械系モンスターが即座にアキラに銃撃されて半壊する光景を見て更に驚いた。狙撃された機械系モンスターはそのまま落下して地面に激突し、派手に
機械系モンスター達がビルの複数の窓から次々湧き出てくる。アキラはそれらを次々に正確無比に狙撃していく。狙撃された機体が着弾の衝撃で壁面から破損状態を問わずに引き剥がされ、落下して地面に激突した衝撃で大破した。その一部が装甲兵員輸送車の天井に激突し、派手な音を内部に響かせた。車に乗り込んでいるハンター達が小さな悲鳴を上げた。
アキラはアルファの索敵により敵の出現位置を正確に把握している。アルファによる命中補正も合わさって、一撃で敵の弱点を正確に狙撃し続けていく。アキラに狙われた機械系モンスターはビルの外部に出た瞬間に撃破されて地上へ落下していった。
エレナ達もすぐに敵襲に気付いて応戦する。キャロルもすぐに攻撃に加わる。破壊された機械系モンスター達の部品が地面に降り注いでいく。
キャロルがビルの側面を降りてくるモンスター達を撃ち落としながら考える。
(まただわ。アキラは誰よりも早く敵の存在に気付いていた。一体どういう索敵能力をしているの? 私達は敵がビルの外に出てくるまで気が付かなかった。そこまで高性能な索敵機器を保持しているようには見えないわ。一流のハンターが持っている優れた勘ってやつかしら)
キャロルはアキラの装備を目視でしか確認していないが、キャロルの目にはアキラがそこまで高性能な情報収集機器を装備しているようには見えなかった。装備を偽装しているようにも見えない。
一流と呼ばれるハンターの中には、高性能な情報収集機器でもなければ絶対に気づけないはずの敵の存在に気付く者も多い。本人にも分からず説明も出来ない何かで敵の存在を察知するのだ。本人にも他者にも説明できないので、勘と呼ばれて一括りにされている何かだ。
(車の運転も、アキラは自動操縦に完全に任せていたわ。戦闘中だからって、あれだけの敵に襲われている状況で、そこまで自動操縦の運転を信じられるの? それともアキラが遠隔操作で運転していたの? そんなことができるの?)
車の自動運転機能の精度にも限度があるのだ。よほど高性能な制御装置を搭載して念入りに設定しなければ、遺跡での運転を任せるのは難しいだろう。戦闘中なら
(私の勘だと、どちらでもないって感じなのよね。......でもそのことでアキラを問い詰めるのも危険な気がするのよね。......本当に、得体の知れない子ね)
キャロルはそんなことを考えながら楽しげに不敵に笑っていた。
キャロルはシカラベからアキラに関する情報を引き出していた。アキラが億超えのハンターであることも知っている。シカラベに誘われて賞金首討伐に参加して、十分な成果を上げたことも知っている。そしてそれらの情報が正しいことも、アキラの実力に間違いがないことも、昨日のセランタルビルでの戦闘で既に知っている。それらの情報は、キャロルのアキラに対する評価を十分すぎるほどに上昇させていた。アキラには一流と呼ばれるハンターの片鱗が確かに存在していた。
くは順当に対処していた。しかしビルのより上階の窓からもモンスター達が続々と現れ始めると状況が変わり始めた。機械の群れがビルの側面をゆっくりと覆い始めていく。その一部がビルの壁に貼り付きながらアキラ達を銃撃し始める。アキラ達は遠距離攻撃持ちの敵を優先して撃破しているが、頭上から降り注ぐ銃弾の量は次第に増していった。
「あの様子だとビルの中にもたっぷり詰まっていそうね。外の戦闘で良かったわ」
キャロルは意識を敵に集中させて笑いながら引き金を引き続けた。余計なことを考える余裕がないだけで、費用が
Akira's vehicle suddenly accelerated. Due to that sudden acceleration, the inertia hit Akira and Carol. Akira was able to keep his balance thanks to Alpha's support via his augmented suit, while Carol was also able to keep her balance thanks to her own skill and her augmented suit.
Carol kept her eyes on Akira to watch his movements closely, right at that time, Alpha explained the current situation to Akira.
"Akira, there are multiple monsters ahead and Elena is planning to just focus their firepower on the front to create a way forward. Since it'll leave the other monsters on the left and right untouched, be extra careful. If those monsters decide to attack us, they would surround us from both sides, so let's take them out first before they can do that."
Akira then said to Carol.
"Carol, we have incoming monsters."
"Got it, just leave it to me."
Carol had already got some incoming enemy signals in her information-gathering device. She then smiled and readied her gun. Suddenly Akira said to her.
"I'll be joining in too."
Carol sounded a little bit offended as she replied.
"You really don't trust me, do you? It'll be fine, just leave it to me."
"That's not the problem. Or more like, I hired you as a guide in the first place. Of course, I'm thankful if you help me in fighting the monsters too, but there's no need for you to proactively fight them."
"Oh my, I won't be able to ask for a reward from you if I don't contribute during the fight too. Now that I'm here, I don't plan to be just content with my reward as a guide alone, you know."
Akira smiled back.
At the moment, the road inside the Mihazono ruin was filled with mechanical monsters. Their sizes and strength greatly varied from one and another. Elena's team blazed through that ocean of monsters focusing their firepower only on the monsters blocking their way forward, while some of the monsters were slammed by their vehicles before getting crushed under the wheels. If they slowed down even for a bit, there was a good chance that the monsters would immediately swarm them. Thus, they had no other choice but to keep pushing forward even if it meant that it would damage their vehicles.
The destroyed mechanical monsters left piles of metallic wreckages on the road. It would be really hard to drive through that road if they were using a normal vehicle. But of course, it did not pose any problem at all against the powerful vehicles designed to be used in the wasteland. As long as the pile of wreckages did not fully block the road, their vehicles should be able to forcefully push the way forward.
For those mechanical monsters, no matter how much the other monsters were destroyed, and no matter how damaged their bodies were, that would not stop them from fighting back, at most, it would only change their priority target. But if the Hunters got away far enough from them, those mechanical monsters would stop attacking and instead search for other targets closer to them. And of course, for those mechanical monsters with high mobility, they might as well decide to keep pursuing the Hunters in that case.
Some of the monsters that they passed were monsters with a lot of legs equipped with wheels. Those wheels suddenly spun so fast that it raised a cloud of dust before it started accelerating to chase for Akira and the other Hunters.
Of course, compared to Elena and Sara who were carving their way forward, those wheeled monsters were way faster since they were chasing Akira through an already cleared road. It would be incredibly difficult to lose them without shooting at them.
Alpha seemed pretty amazed as she said.
"You can say that again. I need to hurry up or all of my shares will be taken."
"Carol is taking out all the monsters starting from the ones in the front, so you should focus on the monsters on the behind."
Akira's target priorities that were shown in hin enhanced vision suddenly changed. He followed that indicator and took another aim before pulling the trigger. But the launched grenade did not hit his target, instead, it landed just in front of his target, but even so, that was enough to blow away the monsters around the impact area.
Akira frowned.
"A miss, huh. I guess I need to aim a little bit higher."
"As long as I don't have enough data for shooting with that A4WM automatic grenade-launcher, I can't give you my usual support. And since you're shooting out grenades, at least keep in mind not to damage your own vehicle, okay?"
"Got it, just stop me if it gets dangerous."
Akira took another aim and pulled the trigger. Some of the launched grenades landed just right next to his target, some of them landed on the wall of the buildings on the side of the road, some of them hit the other monsters that he was not targeting at. Although it was to be expected that it would be really difficult to aim accurately from a moving vehicle, Akira's accuracy there was even worse.
"It's not surprising at all. It's your first time using that gun after all. But even if you miss, it at least slows down the monsters chasing us, so just keep on shooting."
"I just can't get any clean hit."
"I guess that's just how important training is, huh."
Although Akira's accuracy was pretty bad, it at least would not cause any trouble thanks to Carol. His accuracy was completely different compared to when he was using CWH anti-material rifle, it was as if he was a completely different person, and he kept shooting with that accuracy until the situation calmed down.
One of the Hunters who were on guard duty asked one of his friends who was operating his information terminal while taking a rest.
"...Is there any change?"
The other guy did not say anything, he just shook his head.
The Hunter who asked that question actually knew well enough that there was no need to ask that question. After all, if there was a change in their situation, the other guy would definitely show some reaction. The only reason why he ended up asking that question even though he understood that very well was simply because he was still clinging to that slim hope.
The Hunters had been barricading themselves inside that building for half a day. They went inside right before the sunset, at that time, they already lost half of their team members.
They were attacked when they were running into that building, they were attacked when they were putting up barricades, some of them got fatally wounded during those fights, and some of them tried to get out from that building only to get killed. Some of them died during the battle, some of them died while screaming in pain and agony, some of them went on a suicidal rampage before getting killed. The leftover survivors were already in extreme stress. Even if one of them decided to try to get out of that building, they already had no strength nor spirit to stop that person.
But even so, they still had some hopes to return back alive from there. After all, after they completely exhausted their options, they decided to send an emergency SOS request. So someone might come to rescue them. If they kept buying more time, someone might eventually come to rescue them.
All the surviving Hunters did not have the courage nor spirit to try challenging the monsters outside. As their ammo reserve got shaved bit by bit, their already exhausted morale clinging to that slim hope of returning back alive also got shaved bit by bit. They could only cling on that slim hope while waiting, every single second felt so long to the point that it could drive them mad.
That guy kept his eyes on the information terminal in front of him. Suddenly a call came into his information terminal, he immediately pulled himself together and checked his information terminal to reconfirm if it was only an illusion since something like that had happened multiple times before.
There was a sudden call through a local connection. That man then checked the location of where that call came from and started laughing. He had no idea whether it was a dream or an illusion or reality. But, whichever the case, his next action was the same. He operated his information terminal to accept that call, and when he did that, a girl's voice could be heard from his information terminal.
"We're Hunters that accepted the SOS request from Alhain insurance company. Are you Cocolens-san?"
That guy was flabbergasted. Although he heard everything that girl said very well, he was in no position to process that information.
"Can you hear me? This call should be connected to Cocolens-san who is in contract with Alhain insurance company though? Or am I mistaken?"
That guy started panicking. He was still so confused if this was only a dream or an illusion.
"Are you wounded to the point that you can't talk? In that case, can you give the information terminal to someone that we can talk with? I want to confirm the situation over there."
That guy could not say anything back, the girl then continued.
"Can you hear me? If you can't talk and there's no one around, can you at least send me a text message? Or is it that this information terminal is set so that it automatically accepts local calls even if the owner is already dead? Hello? Anyone there?"
That guy finally snapped back to reality. He realized that the girl's voice was real. Right in the next moment, that guy used all his leftover voice to scream at his information terminal.
"Save us!!!"
The girl's voice from that guy's information terminal was Elena's voice, she was heading to where that guy was.
Elena and her team kept pushing their way forward inside the Mihazono ruin. The road was wide but it was filled with monsters. If they stopped even for a few seconds to fight those monsters, they would be surrounded by so many wreckages from the monsters that they would kill to the point that they would not be able to drive their vehicles through those wreckages.
Akira and Carol were shooting at the small tank monsters chasing them from behind as if they were competing against each other. Number wise, Carol was leading Akira. But even so, there were still enough monsters for Akira to be able to shoot enough grenades to get a good feel of his A4WM automatic grenade-launcher, so Alpha should have gotten enough data during that battle.
"Aren't there too many of them? There's just no end to these monsters."
Carol answered Akira's question.
"It seems that the Hunter Office is building up a defense line around its branch using their influence. So that might be the reason why the monster density outside the defense line is so high."
"So, the Hunter Office is doing something like that, huh? How did you get a hold of such information?"
"I heard from Shikarabe when we were taking a break. It seems that during the night, they dispatched humanoid weapons inside the predetermined line of defense to clean up all of those powerful autonomous weapons behind the line of defense. It seems that they're focusing on barricading the main road and securing the safety around the area at the moment. I also heard that the squads dispatched by Drankam are participating in that operation."
Akira remembered the wreckage of a huge monster surrounded by humanoid soldiers that he saw not too long ago. That might be the leftover from the battle last night. But at the moment, they were outside the defense line, thus they might encounter that huge monster somewhere.
"Is the situation outside the defense line like this no matter where we go? If that's the case, I can see why no one would accept that SOS request without taking any insurance. I really get it now why people are taking insurance."
"I'm sure those insurance companies did not expect something like this to happen either, so I bet they're losing a lot of money at the moment."
Akira was having a conversation with Carol while fighting the monsters. Compared to yesterday when they had to fight a swarm of monsters inside the Seranthal building, their current situation was way better. Normal Hunters would be desperately fighting the monsters in that situation, it really showed just how strong Carol and Akira were compared to those common Hunters.
Elena then gave orders to everyone in the team through the information terminal.
"Our rescue target this time has barricaded himself inside a building 200 metre ahead. Shikarabe, stop your APC in front of the entrance to that building and carry everyone into your APC regardless if they are still alive or not. The rest of the team will hold the entrance and keep the monsters away from the entrance. Since the rescue target is staying in a room close to the entrance, there's no need to go too deep into the building or securing the escape route leading to the entrance of the building."
Shikarabe then asked a question to Elena.
"How much time do I have for getting them into my APC?"
"10 minutes. If some of them are taking too long, just leave them behind."
"Is there any priority target?"
"That would be a Hunter by the name of Cocolens, he's contracted with the insurance company that issued this request. In case if he's already dead, bring his body into the APC, or at least, bring back his information terminal. And in case we can't find his information terminal, you have 5 minutes to look for it, just give it up if you can't find it in 5 minutes."
"Can't you get in contact with him?"
"Well, at least I was able to get in contact with someone who claimed to be that person just now."
Shikarabe sounded obviously annoyed.
Shikarabe had been working as a Hunter for a long time, thus he knew what Elena was talking about, that was also the case for Carol and Sara too. The only person who did not understand what was going on there was Akira.
Elena then asked Akira.
"Akira, are you okay over there? It seems that there are more monsters than I predicted. There's no need to be reckless, okay?"
Taking that question from the positive point of view, it sounded as if Elena was worried about Akira out of care. But taking that from the opposite point of view, it sounded as if she was worried about Akira who was the weakest in the group, and Carol, who Elena did not know well. If Akira gave a worrying answer, in the worst-case scenario, Elena might stop their rescue operation there.
Akira then firmly replied back.
"I'm good, no problem at all over here."
Elena then excitedly said from the other side of the information terminal.
All the monsters surrounding the building where the Hunters were, suddenly shifted their attention to Elena and her team. The monsters with guns and cannons aimed their long-range weapons at Elena and the other Hunters, while the monsters only equipped with close-range weapons started running towards them.
Elena and her team released a barrage of bullets to all the monsters surrounding that building. Sara readied her automatic grenade launcher and started shooting too. As countless grenades rained down from the sky, they exploded and blew the monsters to smithereens.
Akira and Carol shifted their aims to the entrance of the building and started shooting at the monsters who were trying to crawl their way into the building.
The monsters tried to force their bodies through the big entrance into the building, there were so many of them that they almost completely blocked the big entrance that was wide enough for few vehicles to pass through at the same time. But Carol's barrage and Akira's grenades made short work of them and blew them to pieces, thus turning them to just metal wreckage.
The area around that building immediately turned into a battlefield riddled with explosions and gunshots.
"They're here!! Someone actually came to save us!!"
"Quickly, open the entrance door!! We won't be able to go outside with the barricade there!!"
"For those Hunters with an augmented suit, help me move away the vehicles blocking the entrance!!"
"Leave the wounded near the entrance!!"
The Hunters there immediately sprung to action. If they let go of this chance, they would have no other chance to survive. Everyone in that building understood that very well. They squeezed all of their leftover physical power and spirit to start working again.
After they cleared the monsters around that building, Shikarabe stopped his APC just right in front of the entrance, the back door of the APC opened and he stepped out from the APC.
The entrance was still blocked by the vehicles that the Hunters left there. One of the Hunters from inside the building was trying to desperately squeeze his way out through a small opening in that entrance.
Shikarabe then just stood there and released a powerful kick at those vehicles, blowing them a few metres aside.
Shikarabe then shouted.
"We'll leave in 10 minutes!! Get everyone inside the APC, it doesn't matter if they're alive or not!! And also, which one of you is Cocolens?!"
When one of those Hunters passed aside Shikarabe and was about to enter the APC, Shikarabe suddenly grabbed that guy and stopped him. That guy immediately shouted.
"Wh-what!? Just let me in already!!!"
"You guys that can still move are for later, get those who can't move on their own first."
That guy then shook off Shikarabe's grab and went to the APC.
"Shut up!! I'll definitely return back from here!!"
Shikarabe immediately grabbed that guy and threw him back into the building. That guy landed hard on the floor and lost consciousness as he rolled over on the ground.
Shikarabe glared at the other Hunters, few Hunters who were about to do the same thing immediately stopped.
One of the Hunters who was helping a wounded Hunter to stand up pointed his finger.
"I'll say it one more time!! Get everyone inside the APC regardless if they're alive or not!! Either it's only a corpse, or it has lost its head, or it's nothing but a head, it doesn't matter, just get everyone inside the APC! And also, which one of you is Cocolens? Or at least, which one of you was on a call with us not too long ago?"
Shikarabe then signalled that Hunter who just answered his question to get inside the APC. That Hunter sighed in relief and boarded the APC. The other Hunters started helping the Hunters who could not move on their own regardless if they were already dead or not.
Shikarabe looked at the Hunter who spoke to Elena not too long ago, that Hunter looked completely terrified.
Akira lightly sighed.
"Akira, do you think I can get a lot of rewards this time?"
Akira just smiled bitterly at Carol, but he sounded a little bit amused as he said.
Carol smiled satisfied.
"It seems that I was able to show you that I'm not the same as yesterday. So, it means that I can look forward to my reward, right?"
"I can't say anything for now. And also, it's too soon for you to relax, don't drop your guard just yet, okay?"
Alpha then gave Akira an order.
"So then, to make sure that you won't lose your share of reward, let's go kill some monsters. Akira, change back to CWH anti-material rifle."
"Roger that. Geez, even after we killed that many, there are still some extra reinforcements, huh."
Akira then changed back to his CWH anti-material rifle as ordered, he obviously looked annoyed.
"Well, to be more precise, it's not like they're new monsters. They're already here right from the start."
Alpha then pointed her finger toward the building. When Akira also looked at the building, his vision immediately enhanced. Thanks to that, he was able to see the monsters that were hiding behind the walls of that building. He immediately aimed his CWH anti-material rifle at that building.
Carol noticed that and aimed her guns toward the building too, but she did not see anything that resembled a monster. She could only see a strong-looking wall, a pile of dead monsters scattered around it, and Shikarabe and the other Hunters carrying wounded Hunters into the APC as well as Sara and Elena who were standing guard near them. There was nothing suspicious at all.
When she looked back at the building, a monster suddenly jumped out from one of the windows on the third floor. She was a bit surprised by that, but she was surprised even more when Akira immediately sniped that monster, it then just crashed into the ground and stopped moving.
The other monsters immediately started jumping out from the other windows too. Akira was able to snipe them down one by one accurately. The sniped monsters then fell off regardless of the damage from the impact of the sniping and crashed into the ground. Some of them crashed into the APC and made a loud banging sound which caused the Hunters inside the APC to start screaming.
Akira was able to firmly grasp the location of the monsters thanks to Alpha's support, and with her aiming support, he was able to snipe the monsters' weak points only with one shot. He kept shooting down the monsters that jumped out from the building one by one.
Elena and Sara immediately noticed that and started helping out, Carol also did the same. The pieces of the destroyed mechanical monsters rained down from above.
Carol then thought as she kept shooting at those monsters.
[Again, Akira was able to detect enemies faster than anyone else. How exactly did he do that? We didn't notice them at all until those monsters started jumping out from the building. But it doesn't seem like he's carrying a powerful information-gathering device either. I wonder if it's that intuition that those top-ranking Hunters have.]
Although Carol only checked Akira's equipment based on its outlooks, from what she could gather, she did not think he was carrying a powerful information-gathering device and it did not seem like he was faking the appearance of his equipment either.
There were many Hunters among the top raking Hunters who could accurately detect enemies' locations which were not supposed to be detected unless with a powerful information-gathering device. They themselves could not exactly explain why they could do that. Since they could not exactly explain it to the other Hunters, people just called it as intuition.
[There's also that too. During the fight, he fully left the driving to auto-drive. Although there were that many monsters and we were in such a situation, did he really trust the auto-drive function that much? Or is it that he was driving the car through remote driving? Is that even possible in the first place?]
There was a limit on how good an auto-drive function could be. Unless it was supported by a specially designed control device, it would be almost impossible to traverse the old-world ruin fully relying on the auto-drive function. Even more so when they were in the middle of a fight. In the worst-case scenario, relying on the auto-drive function could throw Akira and Carol off the vehicle.
[If I trust my intuition, I don't think that's the case though... But I feel like it's a bad idea to poke Akira about that... Seriously, this boy is a real enigma.]
Carol was smiling confidently while thinking about all of those things in the back of her mind.
She had gathered some information about Akira from Shikarabe, she knew that Akira was a Hunter who was worth more than 100 million Aurum, she also knew that he participated during the bounty monster hunt at Shikarabe's invitation, and he did very well during that hunt. She also knew that that information must be true and she knew well just how strong Akira was judging from what happened yesterday inside the Seranthal building. That information really pulled up her evaluation of Akira to the point that she was sure he was one of those top-ranking Hunters.
Akira and the other Hunters were able to deal with the incoming monsters for a while, but as more and more monsters started to jump out of the building from the higher windows. The wall of that building started to get covered with monsters. Some of them even started to latch their bodies on the wall of that building and shoot at Akira and the other Hunters. Although they prioritized the monsters with long-range weapons, the number of bullets raining down from above their heads just kept increasing.
"Judging from this situation, I'm sure that building is filled with monsters up to the brim. I'm glad we only need to fight the monsters from the outside."
Carol focused on the monsters in front of her while smiling and shooting at them. Although she did not have enough leeway to think about something else in that situation, she was not hard-pressed either since she came there with her expensive powerful equipment.
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