219 踏み込み過ぎたもの
ザルモの機体は推進装置の破損による推進力の乱れにより回転しながら落下していたが、機体の自動体勢維持装置による破損状態を考慮した出力調整により何とか墜落を免れた。今までのような高速飛行は不可能だが飛行自体はまだ可能だ。
ザルモはアキラにその手の例外を引き起こす人間の何かを感じた。根拠はない。勘だ。だがその無意識、直感が、時に理詰めの推測を上回ると知っていた。
敵も味方も関係なく、当たり前の事象を存在するだけで覆し
(今ならまだ殺せるはずだ。こいつが更に強くなってみろ。東部を大義で満たす時に、こいつがその障害となれば、殺しきるのにどれだけの労力を必要とする? 今でもこれなんだ。今のうちに、弱小ハンターの内に殺しきる。手遅れになる前にだ)
ザルモは冷静に自身の殺意を再確認した。そして機体をアキラが逃げ込んだビルの屋上に移動させると、索敵機器の設定を調整してビルとその周囲の索敵を強化する。これでアキラがビルから脱出した場合にすぐに分かるようになった。その上で次の手を
ザルモがその反応の元を確認して少し難しい表情を浮かべる。
(あれは確かティオルだ。誰かを
そこに暴食ワニが現れる。ティオルに近付き、その肉塊を食おうと大口を開ける。そしてその口を閉じようとした時、上顎の一部が逆に食い千切られた。
肉塊の腕が肘の部分まで大きく開いている。そこは鋭利な歯が生えた口へ変わっていた。その口が暴食ワニに食い付き、食い千切り、飲み込み、旺盛な食欲を見せて食事を継続する。
暴食ワニが激しく暴れ続け、生やしていた機銃から銃弾を闇雲に乱射する。だが肉塊は全く動じずに生やした口で食事を続けていく。食うたびに口が大きくなり、一口で食らう量を増やしていく。そのまますぐに頭部を食い尽くして暴食ワニを絶命させた。
ティオルが倒れていた間も、体内を流れる緑色の回復液は身体の治療を続けていた。
「ああ、そうだ。あいつらを探さないと。どこだ?」
その場で周囲をきょろきょろと見渡す。その場にいるのはティオルだけで、周りにも廃ビルや
「いた」
そして目標に向けて走り出す。目指しているのは視線の先にいるカツヤだ。複数のビルや
ティオルは踏み込み過ぎた。もう戻れない。
カツヤ達はアキラを見失った後、部隊を近くの建物に集めて籠城するように防御陣形を敷いていた。交代で休憩を取りながら、何かが起こればすぐに対処できるように周囲の警戒を続けている。高度な連携を見せるカツヤ達に
カツヤはそこで今後の方針を悩んでいた。既に大規模遺跡探索の当初の計画など完全に破綻しているのは分かっている。しかしだからと言って成果無しで帰るのもどうかと思っていた。
ドランカムの名を背負った部隊として、不測の事態なのだからとすごすご引き返すのは
らずの内に死地に引きずり込んでいることにカツヤは気付けなかった。そのカツヤの様子に疑問を覚え、質問し、気付かせてくれる者達はいない。既にカツヤのローカルネットワークに組み込まれてしまっている。
周囲を警戒していた仲間が敵に気付いた。カツヤはそれを何の連絡も受けずに知ると、自分もすぐに援護に動く。建物の外に出て、既に攻撃を開始している仲間と連携し、高価で強力な火器を敵に遠慮無く浴びせていく。
敵は都市部隊の人型兵器に一部の形状が似通った機械系モンスターだ。数機の人型兵器の四肢と頭部をもぎ取った後、複数の胴体部分を溶接して大型化し、そこに手足を乱雑に強引に接着したような
ユミナが素早く反撃を試みる。しかし既に手遅れだった。ティオルは素早く間合いを詰めると、左腕をユミナの胴体に押し付ける。そして腕型の砲と化していた左腕で砲撃した。
着弾の衝撃でユミナが派手に吹き飛ばされる。ティオルは即座に素早くその後を追い、ユミナの腕を
状況を見もせずに知ったカツヤが思わず叫ぶ。
「ユミナ!」
ティオルが走りながら一度カツヤの方に軽く顔を向ける。だがそれだけでそのまま走り去っていく。
「追うぞ!」
カツヤがティオルを追う。仲間達もすぐに後に続いた。
ユミナは生きていた。致命傷でもない。しかし
「全く、弾薬費が自己負担だったらまた破産してたわね! エレナ! 間に合いそう?」
「やってるわ。あ、ちょっと聞くけど、狙撃には自信が有る方?」
ネリアが四肢で唯一残っている片腕で前方を指差す。エレナはその先に防衛地点の遠景を見付けて、ネリアの意図を理解して表情を険しくさせた。
どのような理由であっても、自軍に向けて意図的に発砲するなど大問題だ。だがそれだけの意味はあった。防衛地点の部隊はすぐにエレナ達の存在に気付き、エレナ達の様子から周囲の機械系モンスター達にも気付くと、直ちに応戦を開始した。戦車が砲撃を始め、人型兵器も狙撃を開始する。砲弾の群れがエレナ達の周囲に殺到し、周辺の機械系モンスターを撃ち落としていく。
戦況は一気に優位になった。だがエレナは大きな
は大丈夫なの? それで大丈夫って、どんな権限を持ってるのよ」
「その手の権限にいろいろ融通の利く上司がいるのよ。悪いけど、詳細は内緒」
エレナはかなりの疑念を顔に出していたが、余裕の表情を浮かべるネリアの様子から、浮かんでいた懸念を取り
り着いた。封鎖されていた部分を開けてもらって内側に入ると、すぐに隊長格の者が部下を引き連れてやってくる。
「大規模遺跡探索区域から戻ってきたハンターだな? 聞きたいことがある」
エレナが言葉を選んでいると、その前にネリアが口を出す。
「あれは緊急回線でもある。部外者は利用できない。事態調査に雇われたハンターでもだ。状況情報ならまずはこっちに出せ。必要ならこちらで送る」
「私はヤナギサワ主任直属の人員よ。疑うなら識別コードで照会して。悪いけど、急ぐの。通信権限を渡すか、道を開けるか、どっちでも良いから早く決めて」
しみながらも短距離通信でネリアの識別コードを確認した。そして少し顔を険しくすると、自身の端末を操作してネリアに仮設基地との通信権限を渡す。部下も下がらせた。
部下の一人が不満そうな顔で男に小声で尋ねる。
「拘束しなくとも良いのですか? 緊急時とはいえ、こちらを攻撃した可能性があります。拘束とまではいかなくとも、この場で問い
めておけ。俺達は状況を上に報告して終わりだ。更に上に文句や苦情を出すかどうかは、上がたっぷり悩んで決めればいい。俺達が下手な判断でヤナギサワ主任の仕事を妨害したとなったら、責任を取らされて切られるのはこっちだ。良いから手を出すな」
渋々であり、本意ではない。上司のその態度を見て部下も大人しく引き下がる。エレナ達はその様子を見て、かなり意外そうな顔を浮かべていた。
えずの情報を仮設基地に送信し終えると、エレナ達と一緒に再び仮設基地を目指した。
仮設基地の司令部はネリアから
「そ、そこまでの指示を出す権限はお前にはないはずだ! 逸脱しすぎだ!」
イナベが都市幹部の威圧を
「私の責任など後で幾らでも追及すれば良い! あれだけの敵が都市に向かったらどうする! 都市が戦場になるのだぞ! 私の権限が不満なら、権限を持つ者に状況情報と要請をすぐに送信しろ! とっとと動け!」
イナベが軽く息を吐くと、イナベの側近が軽く苦笑を浮かべていた。
「ああ、お前もな。......まあ、お前も身の振り方を考えておけ。私の地位もこれで終わりだ」
どこか満足そうな側近の様子に、イナベも軽く笑って返した。そして気を取り直すと疑問を顔に出す。
「そういえば、ヤナギサワはどうした。姿を見ていないが......」
「私も見ておりません。それどころか、今日は誰も姿を見ていないようです」
「あの男もここの指揮官だ。本来この場にいるべきだろう。全く、こんな時に何をやっているのだ?」
イナベはクガマヤマ都市の幹部として都市に愛着を持っている。より高い地位を望んで権力争いに力を
いは変更を済ませた。人型兵器部隊に参加していた時は、人型兵器に乗っているのだから過度な性能の義体は不要だろうという理由で、比較的性能の低い体を割り当てられていた。今の体は高性能な戦闘用義体だ。接続規格自体は同じなので交換作業はすぐに終わった。
「破損部分をお手軽に交換。規格調整済みの戦闘用義体の強みよね。問題ないわ」
ネリアが新しい体の調子を確かめるように手足を動かしていると、その体の交換作業を行った技術者が軽い驚きを見せている。
「大丈夫よ。私の方で調整したから」
規格調整済みの戦闘用義体とはいえ汎用品だ。首から下を別人の体と交換したようなもので、本来は個人に合わせた十分な調整が必要になる。慣れない者なら
「装備とかの手配も頼んだはずだけど、用意してある?」
「そっちの装備の管理権限を持つ人物がいなかったから、俺達では保管庫から動かせない。予備の人型兵器の用意とかも無理だ。ヤナギサワ主任の名前を出されても、正式な指示がないと勝手には渡せない。応援用の戦力に割り当てられているからな。上と交渉するなら自分でやってくれ」
「そう。じゃあ、向かうのはあっちで良いか」
アキラも先に戻っていろと言っていた。大人しく仮設基地で待つか、大規模な増援部隊に加わった方が良い。無謀を強行してもアキラの邪魔になるだけだ。エレナ達はそう判断し、互いの浮かない表情で相手の気持ちを察した上で、感情的な行動を慎むように互いを抑えていた。
そこにネリアから通話要求が届いた。エレナが
「アキラの応援に向かおうと思っているのだけど、暇なら付き合わない?」
予想外の内容に、エレナ達は思わず顔を見合わせた。
Ch 219
Zalmo's powered suit's control device was shot, so he was only able to spiral down into the ground. But Zalmo somehow managed not to crash by controlling the output of the engine. Although he now could not do any high-speed air maneuver, he was still able to fly.
Zalmo felt that Akira was someone who could pull off such miracles. Although he did not have any proof for that, it was all his pure intuition. But he understood that sometimes intuition could be sharper than pure logic.
An exception that could easily turn the impossible into possible. Regardless of hostiles or allies, an existence brimming with trouble. In terms of planning, it was best to erase him out of existence. So, Zalmo thought that it was important to remove a variable like him for the sake of turning the great cause into reality.
[I should still have plenty of opportunities to kill him. This guy will only grow stronger. When the great cause takes control of the eastern district, there's no doubt this guy will be an obstacle and it will be difficult to kill him at that point. He's already this strong right now. I have to kill him when he's still just small, otherwise, it would be too late!]
Zalmo coldly fueled his killing intent and moved his powered suit to the building where Akira ran into. He turned up his radar to scan the inside of the building. With this, he would quickly know if Akira was still inside or not. While he was doing so, he was also thinking of his next move, but his radar suddenly showed new signals approaching his location.
Zalmo focused his attention toward that signal and made a troubled expression.
[If I'm not mistaken, that one is Tiol. He's inside the building while carrying someone... And the signals chasing them would be Katsuya and his team... They told me not to hurt both Tiol and Katsuya, I guess this means that I can't just destroy the building...]
That was when a greedy crocodile appeared and approached him. When that monster was about to close its mouth to take a chomp at Tiol, its head was suddenly chomped off instead.
There was a line in Tiol's arm that reached until his shoulder. It opened up and turned into a vicious mouth filled with sharp teeth. That mouth then latched onto the greedy crocodile, took a bite off its head, and swallowed it. Tiol then continued his meal as if he was the greedy one.
The greedy crocodile flailed haphazardly, all of the guns growing out of its body were shooting out uncontrollably. But that did not faze Tiol at all, he just continued eating the greedy crocodile as if nothing happened. His mouth grew bigger with every bite, increasing its capacity with each bite. It would not take that long for Tiol to completely consume the crocodile's head and eventually kill it.
Even when Tiol was lying on the ground, the green liquid inside him was still continuously repairing his body. When more of his body had regenerated, a source of food arrived, just in time to help him regenerate his missing limbs. Thanks to that, Tiol was able to quickly heal his body.
"Ahh, that's right. I have to kill that guy! Where is that guy again?"
He then looked around as if he was still confused. There was no one else but him in the area, he could only see rubble and wreckage wherever he looked around. There was no sign of any other living being. But Tiol suddenly stopped looking around and focused his gaze in a particular direction.
"There he is."
Tiol immediately started running toward his target. His gaze was fixed on Katsuya. However, Katsuya was far away, behind numerous obstacles. It should have been impossible for Tiol to spot him from where he was. Even if he was using a powerful information-gathering device, it would still be difficult to spot Katsuya due to the distance between them. But even so, Tiol was still able to charge straight at Katsuya, without a shred of hesitation.
Tiol had stepped in too deep and there was no way back for him now.
When Katsuya lost Akira, his team regrouped inside one of the abandoned buildings and barricaded themselves there. They took shifts to rest while maintaining a certain level of readiness so they could react the moment something happened. The team was working in perfect sync with no opening at all.
At this moment, Katsuya was thinking about what to do next. He understood that the original plan for the large scale expedition was already completely ruined. But that did not mean he could just return back empty-handed.
As a squad under Drankam, they could not simply retreat just because something unexpected happened. Furthermore, he still had that promise to fulfill. He thought, [It might be impossible to fully understand what is going on, but we should at least bring back some valuable information with us.]
Katsuya did not notice that his low self-reflective valuing of his own life would drag the rest of his team into more danger. Moreover, there was no one around him who found it strange or questioned him. Everyone around Katsuya had been completely consumed by his local network.
Katsuya's team suddenly noticed an enemy. Katsuya who knew that without even needing anyone contacting him, immediately sprung into action. He quickly left the building and helped the rest of the team that was already engaging with that monster. They did not hold back anything as they kept spewing warheads and bullets toward that enemy.
The opponent was a monster that seemed to be a half-assimilated powered suit dispatched by city management. Its form was distorted beyond recognition. It was like an amalgamation of several powered suits with their heads and limbs torn off. A lump of multiple torsos stitched together with random arms and legs sticking out. Although it was obvious that it was made by assimilating powered suits, it did not even look close to a human. Its hand was gripping a huge cannon, which originally belonged to one of the powered suits.
Yumina immediately reacted to attack Tiol. But it was already too late, Tiol was already too close, He quickly aimed at Yumina with his left arm, which had turned into a cannon and released a shot.
The explosion and the momentum blew Yumina away. But Tiol then kept running toward Yumina and quickly grabbed him before withdrawing from the area.
Katsuya, who knew what just happened without even sparing a glance, immediately shouted.
"Yumina!!"
Tiol glanced at Katsuya while still running away. But, that was all that he did before vanishing into the distance.
"We're chasing after that monster!"
Katsuya went to chase after Tiol, and the rest of his team immediately followed suit.
When Tiol made that shot, he had adjusted his firepower to make sure that he would not kill Yumina. So, Yumina was still alive. But since she could not move, she was unable to fight back. She was only able to leave her fate to destiny. Tiol was running extremely fast thanks to his inhuman physical capability.  While he ran, he haphazardly flailed her around. It was only thanks to luck that Yumina was still alive. Though, it was unfortunately for her to be the one that Tiol picked to kidnap.
"Good grief. If not for them paying for all this ammo, we would have gone bankrupt again, you know!? Elena! How is it? Does it seem that we're going to make it?"
"I'm already going as fast as I can, ah! Just a question though, do you have confidence in your aim?"
Nelia used her only arm that she had left to point at something. Elena followed where her finger was pointing at and saw the defensive point a bit away from them. Elena immediately understood what Nelia was thinking and frowned.
No matter what the reason, deliberately shooting at an ally posed a huge problem. But still, it was worth it. The defensive point immediately noticed Elena's team and the monsters that they were fighting. The people in the defensive point immediately readied themselves to join the battle. Tanks flowed out from behind the fortification, followed by a barrage from powered suits. The storm of warheads and bullets washed around Elena's team, eradicating the swarm of monsters.
Elena's team immediately gained the upper hand. But even so, Elena heaved a huge sigh and scratched her head. Sara smiled wryly at him while Nelia gave an honest smile and said.
"That better be the truth, alright? Wait, will you be alright if I do that though? Just what kind of special rights do you have that would keep you safe?"
"I have a superior who is used to handling these kinds of things. Though, I really can't tell you the details."
Elena was sending Nelia a doubtful look, but judging from how Nelia reacted to her stare, Elena decided to push that worry aside for now.
With those from the defensive point pushing the monsters back, Elena's team could quickly reach the defensive point. The gate opened up and they went straight inside. The leader of the defensive point came together with a number of guards.
"You're Hunters who came back from the expedition, right? There are a few things that I want to ask."
Elena was still trying to pick her words when Nelia suddenly jumped in.
"That's an emergency line. We can't let an outsider use it. Even if it's a Hunter who was sent to investigate the situation. So tell me, what's going on and then we'll judge whether it's important enough to pass it along."
"I'm working under Yanagisawa. If you're worried about my identity, you can go ahead and check my ID number. Sorry but I'm in a hurry here. Either give us the line or open the road, and make it quick."
The guy then curiously checked Nelia's identification code. He immediately frowned as he used his information terminal. He soon gave Nelia the right to use the wired line and told his men to stand down.
But one of his men found it vexing as he whispered to the leader.
"Is it okay not to arrest them? Although it is an emergency, there's a chance that they would attack us instead, you know. Even if we don't go as far as to arrest them, it might be a good idea to at least interrogate them here first..."
"No. Our job is to just report the situation to the higher-ups. As to the decision to raise a complaint, we can just leave it to them. If we do something that might interrupt Yanagisawa's job, we'll be the ones to get burned. So just keep your hands off of them."
It was obvious that the leader was displeased, that was why his men decided not to pursue the subject any further. Seeing that, Elena and Sara found it rather surprising.
After Nelia finished sending the data over to the forward base, she then continued heading to the forward base together with Elena and Sara.
The higher-ups in the forward base were even more confused after they received data from Nelia. All the dispatched powered suits have been destroyed, there was an old-world automaton that was way stronger than anything that City Management could throw at it. The ensuing chaos between the Hunters due to the powerful jamming, the flying monsters with camouflaging capability that were surrounding the expedition area. All of these were outside of their expectation, creating confusion between the commanding officers.
"Y-You don't have the right to do that!! You're going way out of line!!"
Inabe gave out a thick intimidating aura that silenced any dissent from the officers.
"You can do that as much as you want later! With that many monsters heading here, we have to act now! Otherwise, the battle will reach the city! If you have any complaints about my rights and authorities, then you should send that piece of data to those who have said rights as soon as possible!! Now, get a move on!!"
Inabe lightly sighed, the person next to Inabe smiled bitterly and said to him.
"Thanks. You too... Well, you should also think carefully about how are you going to act here. This is how far my status can take me."
Seeing how the person next to him seemed to be content with his current situation, Inabe also smiled lightly at him. After that, another question came up in his mind.
"By the way, where is Yanagisawa? I don't see him anywhere."
"I don't see him either. Or more like, I'm pretty sure no one has seen him today."
"That guy is one of the commanders. He should be staying here. Good grief, just where the heck is he in this situation?"
As an officer from City Management, Inabe felt a level of loyalty toward the city. Although he did all kinds of things, both at the front and behind the scene in order to be victorious in the power struggle and reach a higher position, he did all of that for the sake of the city's development.
After she reached the forward base, Nelia immediately went to fix and replace some of her body parts. Since she was originally dispatched in a powered suit, some of her current body's specifications were lower than usual. So, this time, she went and exchanged for battle oriented body parts. Since the connectors were all standardized, it did not take long to finish the replacement.
"One good thing about using a standardized cyborg body is how easy it is to replace the broken parts. Everything works perfectly."
Nelia said as she moved her limbs to check the condition of her new body. The technician who heard her comment could not hide his surprise.
"It's fine, I'll do the adjustments myself."
Although they were battle oriented body parts, they were still generalized body parts. It was as if Nelia replaced everything under her neck with someone else's body. Normally, a complete adjustment was necessary to match her unique settings. Those who were not used to their new bodies often ended up being unable to move for some time. Thus, the technician could not help but feel amazed. Especially since Nelia was able to do all the adjustments by herself, to the point that she was already battle-ready.
"I'm pretty sure I had placed an order for more equipment though, are they here yet?"
"There's no one here who has enough privilege to transport those equipment here. Those guys in the warehouse won't just let us have them if it's only us. We also can't bring you the extra powered suit you requested. Even if you bring out Yanagisawa's name, we can't just dispatch it without a formal order. Each one of them has been preassigned for the reinforcements after all. Though, you can go ahead and negotiate with the higher-ups if you insist on having them."
"Is that so? I just need to go there then, right?"
Akira himself did tell them to head back ahead of him. They were still uncertain whether to just wait in the forward base or to join the reinforcement. But then again, forcing themselves to go might only serve to slow Akira down. Their conflicting emotions were in full view as they looked at each other. They somehow understood what the other was thinking just by looking at the other's expression and this prevented both of them from making a decision.
That was when a call from Nelia reached them. Elena frowned and picked it up.
"I'm thinking of going to help Akira, will you come with me? That is if you girls are free."
Elena and Sara looked at each other. They did not expect Nelia to make such a suggestion.
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