ギューバの説明自体は納得できるものだが、アキラはどこか釈然としなかった。
アキラがアルファに尋ねる。
『なあアルファ。さっきのモンスターの群れの話なんだけど......』
『そうね。考える時間ができたのだから、少し考えてみましょうか』
『あれ、やっぱりちょっとおかしいよな? 幾ら俺の運が悪いからって、偶然集まってくる量じゃなかったぞ?』
『偶然ではないとしたら、例えば意図的にあの量のモンスターを集めようとする場合は、荒野を走り回って集めて回るか、敵寄せ機を一度に大量に使用しないと駄目ね』
『敵寄せ機?』
『そういう道具があるのよ。特定の場所にモンスターを
アキラがデイル達に尋ねる。
「なあ、敵寄せ機って持っていたりするか?」
心当たりのあるデイルが答える。
「持っているというか、持っていたぞ。何でそんなことを聞く......、ああ、あのモンスターの群れか」
「持っていたのか?」
「全部あの車の中に置きっぱなしだ。手元にはない。あってもあの状況で使うわけないだろう?」
デイルはそう言って笑い飛ばした。
アキラは荒野の方へ顔を向けて黙っていた。心当たりがあるからだ。つまり、アキラだ。
平静を装うアキラの表情を見て、アルファが笑いを堪えている。アキラが少し不機嫌そうに話す。
『......なんだよ』
『怒らないでよ。仮にそうだとしても、何とかなったでしょう? つまり、今のアキラにとっては大したことではなかったのよ。成長したわね?』
『そういうことにしておく』
アキラは黙って座っている。ギューバも黙って運転している。デイルが急に黙りだした二人を見て少し不思議そうにしていたが、大して気にしなかった。
アキラのCWH対物突撃銃とDVTSミニガンは、行きと同じように車に設置されている。今のアキラの装備はAAH突撃銃とA2D突撃銃だ。
ギューバがアキラの装備をチラッと見ると、何でもないことのようにアキラに話す。
「なあ、その銃を荷台のやつに渡せないか?」
「渡したぞ? 俺の予備の装備はあのセブラってやつに貸した。アキラには後ろのデカい銃があるから、そのAAH突撃銃とかはなくても大丈夫だろ?」
アキラが荷台にいるセブラを確認する。確かにセブラは銃や
アキラがギューバに答える。
「俺の武器だからだ。それにまたモンスターの群れに襲われたとしても、俺が持っていた方が役に立つ」
「......そうか。まあ、無理強いはしないさ」
一行はヒガラカ住宅街遺跡を出てから一度もモンスターに遭遇していない。アキラはこのまま何事もなくクガマヤマ都市まで到着することを願っていた。しかしその願いはあっさり打ち砕かれる。
『アキラ。モンスターよ』
アキラがアルファの指差す方向を見ると、一体のモンスターがアキラ達の方へ向かってきていた。モンスターとの距離は肉眼で十分認識できるほど近い。
『近いな』
『雨の、色無しの霧の影響が残っているから、発見が遅れるのは仕方ないわ』
荒野の一点を凝視しているアキラの姿を見て、デイル達もモンスターの存在に気付いた。
ギューバが車を
ギューバがそう答えて車から降りる。デイルとコルベは一度顔を見合わせた後で、ギューバに続いて車を降りた。
ギューバが視線をアキラから荷台の方に移す。アキラが荷台を見ると、荷台からセブラが降りてギューバ達に加わろうとしていた。アキラが口を挟む。
「おい、そいつも戦わせる気か?」
ギューバが笑って答える。
に銃を貸したんだろうが。気になるなら降りてフォローぐらいしてやれ」
アキラが少し考える。
『アルファ。他にモンスターの気配は?』
『ないわ。発見したらすぐに教えるわ』
アキラが車から降りる。セブラを援護するためにではない。セブラが余計なことをして状況を悪化させるのを防止するためだ。そして速やかにモンスターを倒して早くここから出発するためだ。
ハンターが4人もいるのだ。一匹のモンスターを倒すために、車に設置しているCWH対物突撃銃とDVTSミニガンまで持って行く必要はないだろう。アキラはそう判断してそれらを車に置いていった。
コルベが銃を構えてモンスターに狙いを定めている。セブラは黙って立っている。デイルはセブラを足手
アキラはモンスターの方を見ており、コルベが手こずりそうならばすぐに攻撃に加わるつもりでいた。
敵を倒して車に戻るだけ。全員がそう同じように考えていた。敵とは何か、という決定的な認識の違いを除いて。
ギューバはアキラ達に注意を払っていた。機会を
『......な、何が......アルファ?』
『アキラ! 立ちなさい! 今すぐによ!』
アルファが強く叫んでいる。それは状況がアキラにとって致命的であることを意味する。ならばアキラは立たなければならない。立たなければならない理由など後回しにして、今すぐに立ち上がらなければならない。アルファの指示に速やかに従うことが、状況を改善させる最善の手段であることをアキラは理解している。
うつぶせで倒れていたアキラが、ゆっくりと、混濁している意識の中で可能な限り急いで立ち上がろうとする。しかし少し
アキラの前には、ふらつきながらも立ち上がり、アキラへ銃口を向けているギューバの姿があった。
引き金を引こうとするギューバの指の動きが遅い。殺意を込めてアキラを見るギューバの、視線の僅かな動きまで認識できる。時間感覚の矛盾、濃密な体感時間の圧縮を、アキラは明確に感じ取っていた。
『避けて!』
アルファの指示を待つまでもなく、アキラはその場から飛び
く一致していた。そのおかげで地面の銃を素早く拾うことに成功する。すぐに体勢を立て直しつつ、ギューバへ銃口を向けて引き金を引く。だがふらついた体勢で撃った為、弾丸は見当違いな方向へ飛んでいった。
それでもギューバはアキラが反撃してきたことに驚き、急いでその場から飛び
く狙えない。アルファの方で照準を合わせられないか?』
『もうやっているわ。今のアキラの状態で、可能な限り精度を上げようとはしているのよ』
としている場合や、意識を失っている場合は、その操作精度が著しく落ちるのよ。外したのはその所為よ』
『......分かった。回復するまで......、回復? 回復薬はどこだっけ? 車の中? リュックサックの中? どこかに落とした? あれ、どこだ?』
としたアキラの意識が別の方向に向き始める。アルファがそれを正す。
アキラはアルファの指示に従って、その場から移動した。
セブラから話を聞いて、荷台の遺物を手に入れると決めてから、ギューバはアキラ達を殺す気だった。
デイル達のレンタル車を銃撃して、自動帰還機能を起動させたのはギューバだ。雨が
アキラ達がモンスター達に殺された場合は後で遺物を回収する。アキラ達が勝利したとしても負傷者が出る可能性は高く、最低でも相当量の弾薬を消費する。少なくともギューバがアキラ達を襲う時に有利になる。結果として負傷者なしで終わったが、ギューバはデイルとコルベが予想以上に奮闘したのだろうと判断していた。
ギューバはセブラを計画に巻き込み、セブラに分け前を与えることで協力を約束させた。そしてセブラを信用させるために予備の装備を渡した。ギューバはその装備の中に遠隔起動が可能なスタングレネードを紛れ込ませていた。
に受けた所為か? いや、もうそんなことどうでも良い。殺すんだ。あいつを殺して、遺物を奪って、俺はやり直すんだ!」
ギューバはアキラ達にスタングレネードの影響が残っている間に勝たなくてはならない。通常の状態での3対1では、ギューバに勝ち目はないのだ。
の影に身を潜めて体調の回復を待っていた。しかしそれはすぐに中断しなければならなくなる。アキラの敵はギューバだけではない。元々モンスターを倒すためにアキラ達は車から降りたのだ。
モンスターはアキラ達にかなり近い距離まで近付いてきている。モンスターを荷台にいるシェリル達に近づけるわけにはいかない。アキラが身を乗り出してモンスターに向けて銃を構える。だが視界が
アキラの銃からモンスターの周辺に無数の銃弾がばらまかれる。銃弾がモンスターに当たることはなかったが威嚇には十分だった。被弾を嫌がったモンスターがアキラ達から距離を取り、遮蔽物の影に隠れる。
アキラが舌打ちする。それなりの数の銃弾は撃ったのだから、偶然でも良いので当たってほしいという希望は
強力なモンスターなら、そもそもギューバも行動に移さなかっただろう。強力なモンスターの場合は、仮にギューバがアキラ達を殺せても、その後にギューバ一人でそのモンスターを倒さなければならなくなる。その場合、ギューバが行動に移るなら全員でモンスターを倒した後になる。アキラ達には運の悪いことに、ギューバが行動を決断するぎりぎりの強さのモンスターが襲いかかってきたのだ。
アルファがアキラに叫び、同時にアキラの強化服を操作する。アキラは強化服の動きに逆らわず、アルファの指示通りに右に飛ぶ。その一瞬後に銃弾がアキラの横を
ギューバが続けてアキラを狙って乱射する。アキラは強化服の身体能力で不格好ながらも素早く転げるように銃弾を回避して遮蔽物に飛び込んだ。
ギューバが表情を非常に険しくさせる。今の攻撃を回避されるとは思わなかったからだ。ギューバの経験では、会心の
の狙撃をしていたはずだった。
の影から銃を乱射する。一応ギューバがいる方向を狙ってはいるが、銃弾は見当違いな方向に飛ぶばかりで威嚇以上の効果は見込めない。
アキラの無様な銃撃を見て、ギューバが自分に言い聞かせるように口に出す。
に銃を撃てる状態でもない。偶然だ。あのガキはスタングレネードの影響から回復していない!」
「コルベ達より早く、あのガキだけが立ち上がったのも、ただの偶然だ。起き上がった直後に俺の攻撃を
ギューバは偶然であると思いたかった。理由は分からないが必然的に避けられた。そう判断できないことが、ギューバのハンターとしての限界でもあった。
アキラは身を潜めて体調の回復を待っていた。少しずつ回復しているが、十分戦えるほどまで回復するには今
『アキラ。あれ』
アルファがそう言って指を差す。アキラがその方向を見ると、デイルとコルベがよろよろと立ち上がろうとしていた。それを見たアキラがデイル達に向かって叫ぶ。
「ギューバが俺達を殺そうとしている! モンスターも近くにいる! 俺の敵じゃないならモンスターの方を倒してくれ! 俺はギューバを殺す!」
デイル達は困惑の表情で辺りを見渡していた。聴覚が回復しておらずアキラの声が聞こえていないのか、単に状況の理解が追いついていないのか、それとも
デイル達がアキラに気付く。アキラがモンスターの潜んでいる方向を指差す。それを見たコルベはすぐにその方向へ銃を構えた。デイルも慌てて同じ方向へ銃を構える。コルベが慎重にモンスターを探しに行く。デイルもその後に続いた。
『モンスターの方は彼らが何とかしてくれそうね』
『......よし。あいつらとは戦わずに済みそうだな。これで少し楽になった。それで、あいつはどこにいる?』
い便利だよな。どうやってるんだ?』
『あらゆる手段で得た情報を、高度に分析解析演算した結果よ。今は特にあいつの周辺の情報の収集解析を優先させて精度を高めているわ』
『情報収集機器で集めた情報か?』
『情報を取得することと、それを解析して活用することは別よ。必要のない情報を気にしないことは大切なことでもあるしね。もしアキラが自分の五感で得た情報を全て厳密に解析しようとしたら、その余りの情報量の負荷で脳死は確実ね』
『アルファにはそれができる訳か』
に、無意識に行っている無駄な情報の選別と有用な情報の解析能力が非常に高くて、自分でも理由が分からない何かに気付く人がいるわ。勘が鋭いって言われる人ね。意図せずにそう言う能力を磨く機会があったのかもね』
『勘か。俺のよく当たる嫌な予感もその類いかな。それを磨く機会はたっぷりあったしな』
アキラがいろいろな心当たりを思い出して自嘲した。
『よく外れる良い予感の方は、今後その予感が不要になるぐらいに、私が良い目にあわせてあげるから我慢しなさい』
『そうね。まずは、今も私がこうやってアキラのサポートをしていること。これが一番ね。いろいろ良い目にあっているでしょう? 危険な遺跡から生還したり、高い遺物を手に入れたり、知識や戦闘技量を手に入れたりね』
『後は、この私の素晴らしい美貌と身体を、膨大な演算能力から生み出された芸術的なまでに魅力
アルファが肢体を見せつけるように軽くポーズを取る。アキラがそのアルファを少し見て、何とも言えない表情を浮かべる。
『えー、あー、そ、そうだな。うん』
に巻くように、言い訳するようにそう答えた。それはアルファに向けた言葉でもあり、アキラ自身に向けた言葉でもあった。
『ちょっと、随分微妙な反応ね。私の体の何が気に入らないっていうのよ』
『いや、そんなことはないぞ? 気のせいだって』
『さて、無駄話ができるぐらいに回復したのなら、そろそろ反撃に移りましょうか?』
『ああ、大分回復した。行こう。反撃だ』
に隠れたままギューバの動きを監視して、ギューバが身を乗り出した瞬間に銃撃するという手もある。しかしデイル達がモンスターの撃破に手こずる可能性もある。不意を突かれてシェリル達への攻撃を許す可能性もある。アキラは速やかにギューバを撃破してシェリル達の護衛に戻るつもりだった。
ギューバは近くにある半壊した壁の裏に隠れている。アキラがギューバを銃撃するためには、右、左、上のいずれかの方向から半壊した壁を回り込む必要がある。そう考えたアキラが走りながらアルファに尋ねる。
『アルファ。右、左、上の、どのルートで行けば良いんだ?』
『もっと安全なルートで行きましょう。真っ
ぐ? 壁越しに撃つのか? この銃じゃ無理だと思うぞ?』
アキラが装備しているのはAAH突撃銃だ。弾倉の銃弾も通常弾だ。車に設置してあるCWH対物突撃銃でなければ、壁を貫通させてギューバを直接銃撃するのは難しい。
ギューバが足音など気配や安値の情報収集機器の反応などからアキラの接近に気付く。表情を
「どこからだ!? どこから来る!?」
アキラの気配がギューバの壁の反対側まで近付いてきた。強化服の身体能力ならば、ギューバが隠れている壁を飛び越えることは難しいことではない。
ギューバが意識を壁の上に集中させる。壁の上から何が飛びだしてこようが、視界に入った瞬間に撃つつもりだった。
次の瞬間、ギューバの目の前の壁が蹴破られた。
アキラは壁の手前まで来ると、強化服の身体能力を十全に生かした強烈な蹴りを壁に
『生身だし、死んでいるわね』
『良し。戻ろう』
アルファの判断という確証も得た。ギューバへの興味をなくしたアキラは、そのまま走ってシェリル達がいる車へ向かった。
Although Guyver's explanation was reasonable, Akira was not fully convinced by that.
Akira then asked Alpha.
"Say, Alpha, about that monster from before though..."
"Well, we do have time for that now, so let's talk about it."
"Don't you think that it's weird? I know that I have bad luck, but that swarm didn't feel like a pure coincidence."
"Let's assume that it was not a coincidence and someone intentionally gathered those monsters there. There are only 2 possible ways of doing that, either that person runs around the wasteland to attract those monsters or by using a decoy device."
"Decoy device?"
"Yep, that's a device to attract monsters. It's usually used to gather monsters in one place."
Akira then turned to Dale and the others and asked them.
"Say, did you guys bring decoy devices with you?"
Dale, who did bring some before, answered that question.
"I did, but I don't have it right now. Why do you ask...? Ahhh, about that swarm of monsters, huh?"
"So you did have them?"
"I left them in our vehicle. So I lost them when our vehicle went back to the city on autopilot. Well, even if I did have some back then, it was not a situation where you would use the decoy device, right?"
Dale laughed after he said that.
Akira just kept his face looking out to the wasteland without saying anything. It was because he knew the answer to that question, he might be the unlucky person that Dale was talking about.
Seeing how Akira was keeping silent, Alpha smiled teasingly at him. When Akira noticed it, he annoyedly jabbed at her.
"...What?"
"Don't be angry. Even if that's true, you did survive, right? And that's all that matters. So in short, it was not that big of a trouble for the current you. You really got stronger, don't you think so too?"
"Yeah yeah, I'll leave it like that."
Akira was just sitting there looking out to the wasteland without saying anything, Guyver who was beside him was also driving without saying anything. Although Dale found that sudden silence a bit weird, he just decided to ignore it.
Just like when he was leaving for the wasteland, Akira fixed his CWH anti-material rifle and DVTS minigun back on his vehicle. At the moment, he only had his AAH assault rifle and A2D assault rifle with him.
Guyver glanced at Akira's equipment.
"Won't you at least let the children on the back borrow some of those rifles?"
"I'm doing that already, you know? I've lent one of my guns to that Sebla guy. You have those big weapons on the back, so it's okay to just lend them those assault rifles, right?"
Akira peeked back at Sebla who was in the back cart. It was true that he was holding a gun and some grenades. But even so, Akira did not feel any reassurance from seeing that.
Akira then replied to Guyver.
"They're my weapons. Even if we get attacked by monsters again, it's much more useful when they're with me."
"...I see. Well, I won't force you."
Akira did not get to encounter any monsters even after they got out from the Higaraka residence ruin. He prayed that nothing would happen until they reached the city. But it was quickly proven that his prayer would not come true.
"Akira, it's a monster."
Akira turned to the direction where Alpha was pointing, he quickly spotted a monster running toward the vehicle. It was obvious from their distance that the monster was a carnivorous monster.
"It's closer than I thought."
"Blame the rain, there's still some effect left from the rain, so it's like we're still in a colourless mist. That's why I was late detecting that monster."
As Akira's gaze was fixed in one direction in the wide wasteland, Dale and the other Hunters found it weird and followed his gaze, thus they quickly spotted that monster too.
Guyver stopped the vehicle, Akira immediately criticized him.
After he said that, Guyver hopped off the vehicle. Dale and Colbert looked at each other before hopping off the vehicle too.
He then shifted his gaze from Akira to the back cart. When he did that, Sebla hopped off from the cart and joined Dale and the other Hunters.
"Whoah there, are you planning to make him fight too?"
Guyver laughed lightly and said.
"Isn't that exactly why I'm lending my gun to him? If you're worried, you can just hop off from there and help us too."
Akira thought for a bit.
"Alpha, are there any other monsters?"
"None. I'll let you know when I find any."
Akira then hopped off from the vehicle. It was not for keeping Sebla's safe, but it was to make sure that Sebla would not cause extra trouble. It was also to help take out that monster and get back to the vehicle as soon as possible.
There were 4 Hunters against one monster. So Akira thought that there was no need to take out his CWH anti-material rifle and DVTS minigun. Thus, he just left them on the vehicle.
Colbert readied his rifle and took an aim at that monster. Sebla just stood there in silence. Dale ignored Sebla, he just kept his eyes on the surroundings while making sure that he was not blocking Colbert's aim.
Akira kept his eyes on that monster, he was ready to jump in to help if Colbert was having some trouble taking out that monster.
Everyone there thought that they just needed to quickly take out their target and return back to the vehicle. But there was a minor difference in what they were calling as their targets.
Guyver was being careful of Akira and the other Hunters, he was observing them as if he was looking for an opportunity.
"...W-what was that? Alpha?"
"Akira! Get up!! Quickly!!"
Alpha shouted at him. Akira understood that it meant he was in a deadly situation. In that case, he had to get on his feet as fast as he could. He did not care about the reason, for now, he just had to get on his feet. Akira understood very well that following Alpha's instructions as fast as he could was the best possible choice to fix his situation.
So, Akira, who was lying face down on the ground, slowly pulled himself back up. He was trying to get on his feet while still severely dazed. But in that situation, when he was still so dizzy, it would be almost impossible to make any quick manoeuvres. He was still swaying left and right as he pushed his body against the ground, got on his knee, and looked up.
The moment he did that, he saw Guyver in front of him with the muzzle of his rifle pointing at him.
Guyver's finger moved ever so slowly as he was pulling the trigger. He was staring at Akira full of killing intent, Akira was able to see even the slightest change in Guyver's expression. Akira could clearly feel his time perception stretched out as the passage of time from his point of view considerably slowed down.
"Move away from there!!"
Akira did not wait for Alpha's instruction as he quickly leapt away from that spot.
Akira instinctively scanned the area for his rifle as he leapt from that spot, he was in perfect sync with the movements of his augmented suit that was controlled by Alpha. Thanks to that, Akira was able to quickly reach out and grab his rifle. He then got on his feet, aimed at Guyver, and pulled the trigger. But because he was still severely dazed, he was not able to hit Guyver at all.
But even so, Guyver was taken aback by that swift move. He quickly jumped to the nearest wreckage and hid behind it.
"...Alpha, I'm sorry but I can't get a good aim, can you help me with that?"
"I'm already doing it. I'm already increasing your accuracy as high as possible in your current situation."
"That's not the problem. Although I'm controlling your augmented suit right now, I'm controlling it through your body. So if you lose your consciousness or have a hazy mind, my support will also get diminished. That's why you missed your shots."
"...I understand. I just need to recover... The medicine, where did I put my medicine? Did I leave it on the vehicle? Or is it inside my rucksack? Where did I drop it? Hm? Where is it?"
Akira's still dazed mind started to veer off into something unnecessary, thus Alpha quickly straightened that up.
Akira followed Alpha's instruction as he repositioned himself.
After he listened to Sebla's information and decided to take the relics in the cart for himself, Guyver was determined to kill Akira and the other Hunters.
Guyver was the one who shot at Dale's rental vehicle and activated its auto-drive function. There was a good possibility that Akira would move separately once the rain stopped, thus Guyver took out the only means for Dale's team to get back to the city in order to come up with an excuse so that they could go back together to the city with Akira. And in case if Akira refused to give them a ride back home, Guyver was planning to get Dale's and Colbert's help to start a fight against Akira.
If Akira and the other Hunters were killed by the monster, then he just needed to recover the relics from the vehicle later. Even if no one got killed, there was a good chance that the monsters would wound some of them, or at least exhaust their ammo reserve. Whatever it was, it would give Guyver some extra advantage when he fought them. Although none of them were wounded, it was at least enough to provoke Dale and Colbert.
Guyver also included Sebla in his plan, Sebla was given a different role and had made him promise to help out. Then in order to win Sebla's trust, Guyver lent some of his equipment to him. Guyver had mixed a remote detonation stun grenade among all of those equipment that he lent to Sebla. Of course, he did not tell Sebla about that.
"Is this because I trusted the information from that boy? Nah, I guess it doesn't really matter now. I just need to kill him and take the relics for myself, I still can fix this!!"
Guyver had to take out Akira and the other two Hunters while they were still dazed from the effect of the stun grenade. Once they recovered, it would be 1 against 3 and he would not have any chance to win.
Akira was still hiding behind another wreckage while waiting to recover. But he had no other choice but to cut that short as Guyver was not the only threat present. They hopped off from the vehicle to take out a monster that was running in their direction.
The monster had already gotten close to where Akira was, and he could not afford to let that monster too close to the cart attached behind his vehicle. He peeked out from behind the wreckage with his rifle ready on his hand. But his vision was still blurry and he still could not stand up straight. Since he was sure that he would not hit his shots on target, Akira changed his aim from killing that monster to just provoking its attention.
Akira scattered bullets around that monster. Although none of them hit that monster, it was enough to attract its attention. That monster quickly moved behind a wreckage to take shelter from Akira's shots.
Akira clicked his tongue, it was because even though he shot that many bullets, none of them hit that monster. He had hoped that at least some of them would get hit even if it was by pure chance. With his luck, he might miss some of his shots even if he took a careful aim, but it was strange that he would not get a hit even if he scattered a lot of bullets at his target.
If it was a strong monster, Guyver would not have done what he just did. After all, if it was really a strong monster, even if Guyver was able to kill Akira and the other Hunters, he then would have to face that monster alone. So in that case, Guyver would have waited until 4 of them killed that monster before activating the stun grenade. But unfortunately for Akira and the other two, that monster was not weak enough to just run away after that barrage and it was not strong enough to make Guyver wait until they killed it.
Alpha shouted at Akira and moved his augmented suit at the same time. Akira did not resist that movement as he followed Alpha's instruction and jumped to his right. The moment he did that, a bullet passed through beside him.
Guyver did not stop shooting as he aimed his rifle at Akira. Although Akira was still a bit dazed, he was able to quickly roll over and evade those shots thanks to his augmented suit.
Guyver looked completely desperate. He never thought that Akira would be able to evade it. According to his experience, he should have been able to fatally wound Akira with that shot.
"He even evaded that?! I'm shooting from his flank, you know?! Did he foresee that I'll do that? That's just impossible!! Even if he somehow noticed my position from his information-gathering device or something and predicted my shooting trajectory, there was no way he could measure my timing too!! That must be just a pure coincidence!!"
Akira started shooting back while peeking out from behind wreckage. Although he was aiming at where Guyver was, the bullets just flew randomly around the target without hitting their real target, as such, they were only enough to prevent Guyver from returning shots.
Guyver noticed Akira's inaccurate shooting and said to himself.
"Look at his shots, he doesn't know my position for sure and he's not in a condition where he can aim properly!! His previous evasion must have been just a pure coincidence, that boy is still dazed from the stun grenade!!"
[But he got up sooner than Dale and Colbert. It must be just a pure chance too. It's also by pure luck that he evaded my shot right after he got up.]
Guyver wanted to think that it was all just a pure coincidence. Although he did not know the reason behind Akira's actions, he didn't even try to think about it. It was basically the limit of his ability as a Hunter.
Akira got back to hiding behind wreckage and tried to recover. Although he was slowly recovering, it would still take a few minutes before he could get back to fighting normally.
"Akira, over there."
Alpha pointed her finger at something. Akira immediately turned to the direction that she was pointing and saw Dale and Colbert slowly getting back on their feet. Seeing that, Akira immediately shouted at them.
"Guyver is trying to kill us!! And the monster is also somewhere nearby!! If you guys are not my enemies, then go and kill the monster!! I'll deal with Guyver!!"
But both looked confused. Akira did not know whether it was because they could not hear him since they were still recovering, or because they could not process what was going on, or because they were just feigning ignorance.
Dale and Colbert noticed Akira. He was pointing his finger at the monster that was closeby. Colbert who saw that quickly pointed his rifle at that direction and carefully checked the area for that monster, Dale quickly followed suit.
"It seems that they'll take care of that monster."
"...Alright then. It seems that I don't need to fight those guys. This is getting better, so then, where's the other guy?"
"...This reminds me of how nice this function is. How exactly are you doing this?"
"It's by using my advanced calculation ability to analyze all the information I gather around you. Right now, I focus on analyzing the data especially around that guy."
"Is it from the information gathered through my information-gathering device?"
"Gathering information and understanding the information that you get is not the same. It's crucial to ignore the information that you don't need. If you try to analyze all the information that you receive from all of your 5 senses, it would quickly fry your brain."
"And you're saying that you can do that, huh?"
"Yep, that's the gist of it. But for some reason, there are sometimes people who could unconsciously pick out important information from other unimportant information and analyze them. These people usually have sharp intuition. I guess it's because they have a lot of chances where they can unintentionally hone that ability."
"Intuition, huh? I guess it's the same as that bad feeling that I sometimes get from time to time, huh. I had a lot of opportunities to hone my intuition after all."
Akira remembered his past and realized it.
"Well, as for your good premonition that usually misses, I'll make it up for you so you don't need it anymore. So just hang around with me, okay?"
"Let's see. First of all, I'm giving you my support even right now. This is the best example and it does help you a lot, don't you think so? Because of that, you're able to explore dangerous ruins, find expensive relics, and learn important information as well as fighting skills."
"Other than that, you're able to monopolize this beautiful body created through an advanced calculation, right? Isn't that just wonderful? Right?"
Alpha took a pose as if she was showing her body to Akira. Akira glanced at her, his face was saying that he had no comments at all.
"Uhh, uhh, w-well, yeah."
Akira stuttered as if he was evading that question. His answer was directed both to Alpha and to himself.
"Wait there, that was a rather vague reaction. Is there anything that you don't like about my body?"
"Not really, it's just your imagination."
"Now then, since it seems that you've recovered enough to do some silly talk like this. How about we go and start our counter-attack?"
"Yeah, I'm more or less already recovered. Let's go."
Although he had the choice of waiting for Guyver to peek out from behind the wreckage and snipe him the moment he did that, Akira thought that the other two might have some problem dealing with the monster behind him. Not to mention, the monster might attack Sheryl and her gang too. As such, Akira decided to quickly take out Guyver and go back to protect Sheryl and her gang.
Guyver was hiding behind a half-destroyed wall. In order to shoot him, Akira had to take a big detour and shoot him from the side or from above. Akira thought so as he asked Alpha while still running.
"Alpha, which route should I take? Left? Right? Above?"
"Let's take a much safer route, run straight at him."
"Straight at him? Do you mean shooting through the wall? This rifle is not enough to do that, you know?"
Akira was carrying an AAH assault rifle with him. Both the magazine and the bullet were not of piercing type. As long as he did not have the CWH anti-material rifle that he had left in the vehicle, it would be impossible to shoot Guyver through that wall.
Guyver was able to notice Akira, who was approaching him, both from Akira's footsteps and the signal detected from his cheap information-gathering device. His face distorted with fear as he readied his gun and looked left and right. His brave front had already completely crumbled down since his position was swapped from the hunter to the hunted.
"Where is he coming from? Which direction?!"
He could feel that Akira was already right on the other side of that wall. With his augmented suit, it was not impossible for Akira to jump over.
Guyver's attention was completely focused on watching above him. He was ready to shoot anything that flew over him.
But the next moment, the wall in front of him suddenly crumbled down.
After Akira arrived next to that wall, he mustered all the power of his augmented suit to deliver a destructive kick on that wall. With the help of Alpha's support, the leg part of Akira's augmented suit turned hard the moment his kick touched that wall thus increasing the destructive power of his kick. That powerful kick was enough to destroy the wall that was already withered because of the harsh environment in the wasteland.
"He's not a cyborg, so I guess he's dead for good."
"Nice, let's head back then."
After receiving confirmation from Alpha, Akira quickly lost interest in Guyver and headed back to his vehicle.
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