180 旧世界の備品達
アキラはビルの4階まで探索を終えた。今の所遺物収集の成果は全く上がっていない。比較的状態の良さそうな物をリュックサックに詰め込んでみたが、別の物を入れようとしてリュックサックを再び開いた時、先に入れていた物が中で細かく砕けていたのを見て、無理に収集するのは諦めていた。
アキラが軽く落胆したように
微笑
みを浮かべている。
『大規模な部隊を派遣して構築している後方連絡線の周囲だからね。軽く見て回った程度で簡単に手に入る遺物は既に持って行かれたのよ』
『でもさ、ほら、アルファに初めて案内された廃ビルには遺物が結構残っていたじゃないか。方向は違うけど、都市からの距離はここと同じぐらいだろう? それならここにだってもう少しいろいろ残っていても良いんじゃないか?』
『距離と到達難度は別よ。ここは舗装済みの大通りのおかげで部隊も派遣しやすいし、あの場所と一緒にはできないわ。あの時には途中に大型機械系モンスターの巡回ルートも残っていたしね。以前に訪れていたハンターの量と質が違うわ』
『そういうものか』
『遺物をたっぷり見付けたいのなら、まだ他のハンターが立ち入っていない場所に近付く必要があるわ。探す場所を大通り前線より先に変えれば、遺物がまだまだたっぷり残っている可能性が高くなるわよ? 今から変える?』
アキラもそうだろうとは思う。しかし多数の人型兵器を配備して維持している前線より先に進めば、それだけ危険度も跳ね上がる。採算度外視という潤沢な弾薬を頼りにして強引に進んでみるという手段が頭を
『まあ、当面はこの辺りで遺物収集や汎用討伐をしておくよ』
無理はしない。シズカともそう約束したのだ。アキラは自身に再度そう言い聞かせた。
そのまま遺物収集を続けていく。7階まで進んだが成果は全く上がっていない。階段をバイクの機動性を
アキラはバイクから降りて通路の影からSSB複合銃を構えると、しっかり狙って引き金を引いた。命中した弾丸がカタツムリの殻に穴を開けた。
するとカタツムリが軟体部を殻に引っ込めて床にへばりついた状態になる。そして殻に付いている小型砲塔の砲をアキラに向けて砲撃で反撃してきた。アキラは素早く身を戻して砲弾を回避する。小さな砲弾が壁に命中して小さな爆発を起こした。
『大した威力じゃないな』
『だからって被弾を前提にして戦っては駄目よ?』
『そのようね』
『気付かれていない間に素早く倒さないと、敵の装甲の強度に雲泥の差が出てしまうのか。面倒臭い敵だな』
アキラは呼吸を整えると、再び素早く身を乗り出した。意識を集中して体感時間を圧縮しながらSSB複合銃の引き金を引き続け、同時に着弾地点を可能な限り同じ箇所にするようにしっかりと狙いを付け続けながら連射する。
強化服の身体能力。SSB複合銃の反動制御。圧縮された体感時間。研ぎ澄まされた意識での照準合わせ。それらが組み合わさり、十分な精度の精密射撃により発射された弾丸は、ほぼ狂いなく同一箇所に短時間に連続で着弾した。
それほど強い敵を自力で倒せたのだ。アキラはそう思って少し上機嫌になっていた。だがアルファがその根拠をあっさり打ち砕く。
『残念だけれど、多分違うわ。このカタツムリはそんなに強いモンスターではないしね。単純な強さなら、前に遭遇した
を長時間維持できるほど強いってことじゃないのか?』
『恐らくそのためのエネルギーをこのビルから得ているのよ。そしてエネルギーを得ている間はその場から動けないのだと思うわ。ビルの外では
『......それは推測か?』
『そうよ。でもCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾並みに強力な弾丸を
んでいるアルファに気付くと、少し開き直って顔を上げた。
『良いんだよ。勝ちは勝ちだ。それに前にここに来たハンターも、面倒臭いモンスターと戦うのを嫌がってここで帰ったかもしれない。高値の遺物が見付かる可能性が上がったってことだ』
『確かにそうね。一応言っておくわ。同種のモンスターがビル内にまだたくさんいるけれど、そっちの方は楽に倒してちょうだいね』
『了解だ。行くぞ』
あれだけ苦労して倒したカタツムリがあっさり倒されていく。アキラはその違いに少し苦笑していた。
探索は順調だが遺物収集の方は全く駄目な状態が続いていた。既に12階に
な物がない。ボロボロの状態の物すら減っていくってどういうことだよ』
見切りを付けて引き返す。その判断能力もハンターには重要だ。アキラもそれは分かっているのだが、もう少し進めば何かあるかもしれないという誘惑を振り切れずに、ずるずると判断を先延ばしにして先に進んでいく。遭遇するカタツムリの数が徐々に増えていくことに少しうんざりしながらも、ここまで来たのだからという理由に背中を押されて進んでいく。そして成果無しのまま最上階の手前、19階までの探索を終えてしまった。
『いいえ。私の索敵を兼ねた探知でもそれらしい物は見つからなかったわ』
『本当に何にもなかったのか......。この階でも何も見付からなかったら、結構大きなビルだったってのに大外れってことだな。俺には稼げる場所を見抜く感覚が全くないのか?』
戦闘でも遺物収集でもアルファのサポートを外した途端に凡庸なハンターに成り下がる。アキラはそれを当然だと思う一方で、もう少し自力で何とかできるのではないかと無意識に思っていた部分を刺激されて、少し気落ちしていた。
『それにまだ最上階が残っているのだから判断には少し早いわ。諦めずにもう少し頑張りなさい』
『......。そうだな』
『すると、最上階にはカタツムリはいないのか? まあ、入ってみれば分かるけど......』
アキラは強化服のエネルギー消費を無視して一時的に出力を上げた状態で再度扉を開けようと奮闘した。しかしそれでも扉は開かなかった。
するとアルファが苦笑を浮かべて口を出す。
アキラが驚きの表情を浮かべてから苦笑する。そしてその存在が意識から漏れていたブレードを取り出した。ツバキハラビルから持ち帰ったものの残りだ。
アキラの体が勝手に動いて構えを取る。アルファによる強化服の操作だ。更に柄だけの状態だったブレードから青白い光刃が伸びていく。
『アルファ?』
アルファが急にサポートを始めたことに、アキラが少し驚いて顔を向ける。アルファは気にせずに軽く笑って返す。
『これぐらいは良いでしょう? 手早く中に入りましょう。ブレードの残存エネルギーを無駄に消費するのも避けたいしね』
アキラは軽く苦笑すると、体の動きをアルファの強化服の操作に合わせた。
アルファのサポートを得たアキラがブレードを達人の技量で振るう。光刃が頑丈な扉の存在そのものを無視したかのように、分厚い金属の間を僅かな減速もなく一瞬で駆けていく。
残心の体勢を取っているアキラが、一呼吸置いてブレードの刃を消して構えを解く。少し遅れて扉が音を立てて後ろへ倒れた。扉の切断面を見たアキラが軽い感嘆を表す。
い切れ味だ。こういう装備を手に入れたやつが、それを存分に振るってみたいと考えるようになって、モンスターに接近戦を挑むようになるのかな。ちょっと分かる気がする』
アルファが珍しく少し顔を
アキラはどこを見ても真っ白な世界が続いているようにしか見えない。足下を見れば宙に浮いているような錯覚を覚える。何らかの誤作動なのか、情報収集機器の反応もアキラの感覚と同じ内容を示していた。
アキラはその情報収集機器の反応で我に返った。色無しの霧など、情報収集機器が誤作動を起こす環境の危険性は身に染みているのだ。
『アルファ。今更かもしれないけど、自力で何とかする訓練はここで切り上げてくれ。この部屋の中を
アキラの視界が拡張されて真っ白な部屋に線が引かれる。その線が部屋に無数の正方形を等間隔に表示すると、アキラの視界に遠近感が戻ってくる。先ほどまで無限の広さに思えた部屋が消えて、現実的な広さの部屋に戻った。
アキラは現実味の戻った部屋を見て少し落ち着きを取り戻す。そして部屋の中央辺りまで進んでから改めて部屋中を見渡した。そして大きく
「......えっと、ツバキさん......でしたっけ?」
「はい。敵対する意思はありませんので、銃を下げていただきたい。この姿は立体映像ですので発砲しても意味はありませんが、礼儀として」
「す、すみません」
アキラは少し慌てながら銃を下ろした。するとアルファが僅かに不満げな表情を出しながら、どことなく
『私よ。勝手な干渉を許すとでも思っているの?』
アルファが表情に占める不快感の割合を少しずつ増やしていく。しかしツバキにそれを気にする様子はなかった。アキラはこの状況にただ戸惑っていた。
ツバキがアルファに向けていた視線を再びアキラに戻す。
えていた。選べ。その視線がそう告げていることぐらいは理解していたが、困惑の方が強く即答できないでいた。だが軽い迷いを見せた後で、少し気後れしながら何とか答える。
「今はアルファの依頼を進めている途中だから、別の依頼の誘いとかは受けられない。一緒に進められる依頼かもしれないけど、俺にはその判断もできない。だから、何の話か知らないけど、先にアルファと話してくれ」
しましょう。縁があれば次の機会にでもまた」
ツバキが立体映像にも
「ああ、話をしないのなら、そちらに協力する義理もありません。このビルの機能に割り込んでこの場にお邪魔する都合で止めていたシステムへの対処は、そちらでお願いします」
ツバキはそれだけ言い残して姿を完全に消した。アキラが困惑していると体が突然勝手に動き出す。アルファが強化服を操作して部屋の出入口へ全力で駆け出させたのだ。
『アルファ!? 一体何だ!?』
『全力で脱出するわ! 急いで!』
アキラは驚きながらも体の動きを指示に合わせる。そして視線の先に、部屋の出入口から飛び込んでくる自分のバイクを見た。
次の瞬間、そのバイクが真っ白な人型の何かに蹴り飛ばされた。バイクが蹴りの衝撃で横転して床を滑っていく。人型には目も口も髪もない。白い全身義体の素体のような外観で服も一切着ていない。
アキラがその人型を銃撃する。人型は回避行動を取らずに、その場に
『アルファ! あれは何なんだ!?』
部屋の壁の一部が開き、そこに格納されていた他の人型が複数出現する。同じ白い素体もあれば、メイド服や執事服のような旧世界製の衣服を着用した男女の機体もある。その人形達が口々に告げる。
「個人識別情報の提示を確認できませんでした。悪質な身元隠蔽処理と解釈。鎮圧基準を引き上げます。鎮圧処理中に生じた負傷等の治療費は自己負担となります。速やかな投降をお勧めいたします」
『ビルに寄生しているだけのモンスターとビルの正式な備品では性能も段違いというだけよ。そんなことよりも......』
人形達がアキラの周囲に集まり始めている。出入口方向からも数体迫ってきている。強行突破は不可能だ。
アルファのサポートを得た強化服が精密かつ高速かつ高出力で動作する。アキラは限界まで圧縮された体感時間の中で、その動作に自身の動きを追いつかせようと全力を出した。
右手が銃の弾倉の排出操作を行ってから銃を放して空中に置く。銃が滞空している間に
左手が500万オーラムの回復薬を素早く取り出し、強化服の握力を活用して強引に封を開ける。そして中身が飛び散らないように注意しながら少し強引にアキラの口元まで動かして服用させる。更に素早くブレードを取り出すと柄から長い刀身を出現させた。
アキラはその右手と左手の動作を同時に行った。そして右側の敵に銃口を向け、左側の敵にブレードを振るいながら、前方の敵に全力の蹴りを放った。
弾を至近距離で被弾した敵が、胴体部分を吹き飛ばされて失い、手足や頭部の根元に胴体の一部を付けたまま吹き飛んでいく。
高速高出力で振るわれたブレードが左側にいる防御姿勢を取っていた敵を構わず両断する。胴体を横に両断された個体の上半身が支えを失って空中に飛んでいき、下半身が勢いよく床に転がっていく。刃はそのまま2体目に襲いかかったが、次の機体の
アキラは銃撃を続けながら次にブレードを取り出すと、下にいた時と同じように応戦する。敵を銃撃し、両断し、蹴り飛ばす。だが発砲の反動を足場の確保に利用している所為で移動に制限が出ていることと、敵が床側である頭上からも襲いかかってくることで、アキラの対応が一手遅れた。
人形達がアキラを立体的に包囲しながら一斉に襲いかかってくる。アキラは非常に遅く流れる世界の中で、倒した敵の部品が空中にゆっくりと飛び散っていく光景を見ながら、次の対処は間に合わないと理解しながら、それでも全力で
そしてアキラは極限まで圧縮して時間が止まったような世界の中で、殺到する人形達の隙間に余り見たくない物を見た。人形達の背後から自分に向けて殺到する小型ミサイルの群れだ。
バイクは蹴り飛ばされて床を転がった後、アルファの操縦で体勢を立て直していた。そして積んでいた小型ミサイルをA4WM自動擲弾銃から一斉に発射していた。室内で使用された小型ミサイルの爆発が人形達をアキラごと吹き飛ばした。
アキラが床に
アキラがよろよろと立ち上がる。床に転がっていた人形達の中でまだ稼動可能な個体達も立ち上がる。腕どころか頭を失っても立ち上がっている機体までいた。それを見てアキラが苦笑する。
『頑丈すぎるだろう。頭を吹っ飛ばされたら大人しく倒れてろよ』
『恐らく近くの機体が遠隔操作しているのよ。遠隔操作も可能な半自律式なのでしょうね』
アキラが最後の1体を撃破する。頭と体を吹き飛ばされた人形が床に散らばっている仲間の残骸に加わった。弾切れになった弾倉がSSB複合銃から排出される。アキラはそれを拾うと、費やした弾薬費を思い浮かべて苦笑した。そして空になった弾倉を投げ捨てた。
アルファが満面の笑みでアキラを
そうにしていると、アルファが人形達の残骸を指差した。
『破壊したとはいえこれも旧世界の遺物よ。戦闘用ではないにしてもなかなかの性能だったから、技術解析や部品取り用としてそれなりの値段は付くと思うわ』
『恐らくただの接客用よ。何らかの理由で暴れた客をなるべく穏便に取り押さえるとか、そういうことも業務の内だと思うけれどね』
『俺、それでも死にかけたんだけど。それに殺傷権とか物騒なことを言っていたぞ? それでも戦闘用じゃないのか?』
『それは酔っ払った客を取り押さえようとして不手際で死なせてしまったとしても、自分達に責任はない。そう告げているだけよ。あの性能も旧世界での身体能力や治療技術を前提にすると、あれぐらいは必要な場合もあるってだけでしょうね。それに戦闘用ならもっと武装しているはずよ。素手で取り押さえようとしている時点で、十分穏便な対処だと思うわ』
アキラは納得しながらも旧世界の異常さを改めて思い知り、旧世界に対する誤解を深めていた。
その後アキラは人形達の残骸をリュックサックに限界まで詰め込んで仮設基地まで帰還した。仮設基地の買取所でばらばら死体のような人形達の残骸を買取に出すと、応対した職員がいろいろな意味で引きつった表情を浮かべた。
Ch 180
Akira finished searching the fourth floor, but he still could not find anything valuable yet. Though he tried taking some relics which were in relatively better condition, all of them were turned into sand when he opened up his rucksack again to put in more relics later. So he decided that it was meaningless to keep doing that.
Akira sighed, slightly bummed out.
Alpha smiled and lightly cheered up the discouraged Akira.
"Sharpening your sense for such a thing is not easy. I believe that piling up experience is the only way to do that."
"Well, we're still around the main road made by dispatching a big army. I'm sure that they already collected all the easy-to-spot expensive relics."
"But still, that building you showed me the first time we met still had quite a lot of relics, right? Although the direction is not the same, that place was more or less of the same distance from the city, you know? So I thought I should be able to at least find some expensive relics here too."
"The distance and the danger are different. Thanks to the properly maintained road, it's an easy thing to send people to this place, you can't afford to compare that place to here. Not to mention, that place was still patrolled by huge monsters, so only a limited number of Hunters managed to reach it."
"Is that so?"
"If you want to find a lot of relics, you should look for buildings that other Hunters haven't searched. I'm pretty sure you can find a lot of relics if you go past the front line, you know? Want to try to do that instead?"
Akira did think so too, but the front line was already guarded with powered suits. There was no doubt the area beyond it was highly dangerous. Of course, since he was free to use as many bullets as he wanted, he could just force his way there. But he also thought that there was no need to be that reckless, at least not for now.
"Well, for the time being, I'll hunt for relics and monsters around this area."
As he said so, Akira also kept reminding himself that he promised Shizuka not to do anything reckless.
Akira continued looking for relics in that building. Although he had reached the seventh floor, he still got no meaningful result. He forced his bike to go up the stairs and finally reached the eighth floor and noticed that it was different compared to the other floors downstairs.
Akira stepped off from his bike and aimed his SSB multi-weapon rifle from under the shadow in that hallway. He aimed his rifle carefully and pulled the trigger, the bullet flew and pierced a hole in that snail's shell.
The moment that happened, the snail pulled back its soft body as if to hug the floor while its small-sized cannon immediately targeted Akira. Akira quickly pulled back his body, the warhead flew past him, struck the wall and created a small explosion.
"Its cannon is not that powerful either."
"With that being said, it does not mean you can afford to take that shot, okay?"
"That seems to be the case."
"So I have to kill it quickly before it can notice me, otherwise its shell will harden, huh? What a pain!"
Akira calmed his breathing and immediately jumped out from behind the cover. He compressed his time perception to its limit, aimed his SSB multi-type rifle at that monster, and pulled the trigger, aiming for the same spot as accurately as possible with each shot.
The combination of his compressed time perception, the recoil compensator of his SSB multi-type rifle, augmented physical capability from his augmented suit, and all the hard work that he had done from his training, allowed him to release rapid-fire with surgical accuracy. Thanks to that, all the bullets that he shot hit mostly the same location.
Akira felt happy that he was able to defeat a relatively strong monster on his own. But Alpha immediately shot it down.
"Unfortunately, that might not be the case. This snail is not a strong monster. Judging from its strength, the spiders that you fought the other day is stronger."
"Even if that's true, it's not like I can keep up that level of force field armour for so long, right?"
"I bet that snail is taking the energy from the building. It might be harvesting that energy so it can't move in the meantime. If that's the case, then it won't be able to use its force field armour outside the building, that might be the reason why you don't see them outside."
"...Is that a guess?"
"Yep. But again, if that snail can use such a powerful force field armour that is even able to block a bullet that's as power powerful as CWH anti-material rifle special bullet anywhere, it would have been roaming outside the building and the City Management would have put some effort in eradicating them."
He then realized that Alpha was smiling at him amusedly and raised his head.
"It doesn't really matter, a win is a win. Moreover, I bet other Hunters who came here before me thought that it was too much of a hassle to defeat that monster and left without searching this floor. So there's a good chance I might find some expensive relics here."
"You have a point there. But I'll at least let you know this. There are still multiple similar monsters in this building, so make sure to get them without getting noticed, okay?"
"Roger that, let's go!"
Thanks to that, he was able to quickly defeat all of the snails although he had a hard time fighting the first snail that he had met. Akira himself realized that fact as he smiled wryly.
Although the exploration went well, he still could not find any valuable relics. He had already reached the twelfth floor but still ended up with nothing. Akira stopped for a bit as he heaved a big sigh and said.
"Still nothing, huh? Although, it's also weird that there are fewer of those bad relics too."
Knowing when to give up was also an important skill for a Hunter. Akira knew that too, but he could not shake off the feeling that he might be able to find something if he continued searching that building, thus preventing him from making that decision. Furthermore, he had to fight those troublesome snails to be able to reach that place, so it would be such a waste to give up here. As he continued searching the building, he eventually finished the second last floor of that building, the 19th floor.
"Nope. Based on my sensor, I didn't find any good relics either."
"So, this place really has no expensive relics, huh... If I still can't find anything on this floor, then it would mean this building is a dud although it's such a big building. I wonder if I have no talent in this."
Although Akira understood very well that his ability to hunt both relics and monsters was significantly lowered without Alpha's support, he thought that he should be able to at least manage something. But it seemed that the reality was not that kind.
"Moreover, we still have the last floor left, it might be too quick to decide that this place is a dud right now. Don't give up and do your best to the very end."
"...You're right."
"Which means that there should be no snails on this floor then. Well, I guess we'll know soon enough once we get in..."
Akira turned up his augmented suit's performance to max, ignoring its energy consumption, and tried to open the door. But again, the door did not budge at all.
That was when Alpha smiled bitterly at him and said.
Akira looked surprised and smiled wryly. He then took out the blade that he had forgotten until now. It was the blade he brought back from the Tsubakihara building.
Akira's body suddenly started moving on its own. Of course, it was Alpha controlling his augmented suit. He then took a stance as a blade extended out from the handle in his hand.
"Alpha?"
Alpha suddenly started providing support to him again. Akira looked at Alpha in surprise, but she ignored it.
"This much is fine, right? Let's hurry up and open that door. After all, it would be a bad idea to waste the energy left in that blade."
Akira smiled bitterly and matched his body movement with his augmented suit's movement.
With the help of Alpha's support, Akira swung the blade with the skill of a swordmaster. The blade sliced through the thick metallic door as if it was not there in the first place.
After he executed that slice, Akira took a breath before retracting the shape part of the blade. A few seconds later the pieces of the door fell back and made banging sounds. Seeing how the door was cut clean, Akira could not hide his amazement.
"This blade is as sharp as usual. I somehow can understand why those Hunters, who are able to get their hands on this blade and are able to use it freely, choose to fight monsters in close range."
Alpha frowned, which was very rare for her.
Akira's vision was filled with the colour white no matter where he looked. When he looked down at his feet, it gave an impression that he was floating. The same conclusion could be seen from the data gathered by his information-gathering device as if it was malfunctioning.
The moment Akira noticed the reading of his information-gathering device, he tensed up since he understood that he was in a situation where he could not rely on his information-gathering device. It was as if he was in the middle of a thick colourless mist.
"Alpha, though I should have done this sooner, let's end the training here. Help me get a better reading of this room."
Alpha then enhanced Akira's vision, he could see lines drawn on the white spaces in front of him. Those lines formed squares in regular intervals, helping him regain his sense of space. The room no longer seemed to be limitless and he could recognize the real width of that room.
Now that Akira had regained his bearing, he also regained his calm. He then walked to the middle of the room and looked around the room before heaving a big sigh.
"...Uhhh, Tsubaki-san... Right?"
"Yes. I have no wish to be hostile to you, so please lower your rifle. Although this body is just an image that can't be hurt with bullets, it's still rude to have that rifle pointed at me."
"I-I'm sorry."
Akira flusteredly lowered his rifle. When he did that, Alpha immediately interjected. She was obviously not happy.
"It doesn't matter, do you really think I would let you step over me?"
Alpha's expression turned even more hostile with each sentence she said. But Tsubaki just ignored it. Akira was really troubled about what to do there.
Tsubaki once again shifted her gaze back to Akira.
Akira was overwhelmed by the sharp gaze from Alpha and the cold but meaningful gaze from Tsubaki. He understood that both of them were pressuring him to choose between them. But the confusion prevented him from deciding. But after a short confusion, although it did not seem that he was fully okay with it, Akira finally said.
"I'm in the middle of doing a request from Alpha, so I can't accept another request right now. Although it might be something that I can do while doing the request from Alpha, I can't really tell right now. I don't know what you want to discuss with me, but whatever it is, please say that to Alpha first."
"I see, in that case, I'll excuse myself here. We shall meet again when the chance presents itself."
Although her body was nothing more than an image, Tsubaki turned around and was about to leave the room when she suddenly turned back again as if she just remembered something.
"By the way, since you won't talk with me, I have no obligation to help you. I hope you would do something about the security drones posted in this place in order to prevent people from intruding into this building yourself."
Tsubaki only said so before vanishing. Akira was still not fully recovered from the confusion when his augmented suit suddenly started moving on its own. Alpha controlled Akira's augmented suit to run toward the door as fast as it could.
"Alpha!? What's wrong?!"
"We need to get out of this place as fast as we can!! So hurry up!!"
Akira managed to match his movements although he was caught off guard. But the next moment, he saw his bike flying in his direction from the door into that room.
A white humanoid robot had kicked Akira's bike and left it tumbling on the ground. The white humanoid robot did not have a mouth, or eyes, or hair. It looked like a naked cyborg body covered in white.
Akira immediately shot at that robot, but that robot planted itself on the ground instead of evading it.
"Alpha! What the heck is that!?"
One of the wall partitions inside that room opened and exposed the robots behind it. Some of them were white robots, while some of them were donning old-world design maid and butler outfits. They were giving Akira a warning.
"Unable to confirm the identity. Interpreting this action as an effort to hide identity. Increasing the severity of the action in order to secure the situation. We will not be responsible for any injuries during the suppression, surrender is advised."
"I'm sure that difference comes from the fact that those snails are sapping energy from this building while that robot is one of the building's equipment right from the start. But putting that aside for now..."
The robots started to swarm Akira. Some of them were coming at him from the direction of the door, it was already impossible for him to break through them.
Now that Alpha had control of his augmented suit again, Akira movements improved. He was more precise, faster, and much more powerful. Akira himself desperately matched the movement of his body with his augmented suit in the middle of the slow-moving world of his compressed time perception.
Akira ejected the magazine from his rifle in his right hand and threw it into the air. While it was still in the air, he quickly pulled back his right hand and pulled out a magazine filled with a mix of anti-forcefield armour rounds and high powered armour piercing ammo and threw it into the air too. With both his rifle and the new magazine in the air, Akira grabbed his rifle again and reloaded that new magazine in one smooth swipe.
While at the same time, his left hand reached back to his 5 million Aurum per box medicine, opened its lid with the gripping power of his augmented suit. He quickly brought some pills to his mouth while making sure not to let the pills fall off his hand. Then he reached for his blade's handle and detracted its blade.
Akira's left and right hands moved together at the same time. After that, he kicked the robot in front of him and started shooting with his right hand and slashing with his left hand to carve a way towards the door.
The anti-forcefield armour bullets that were shot from close range had enough firepower to blow the robot's torso clean off its limbs.
While the blade on his left hand that he swung with such power and speed was able to cleanly cut off the robots even after they braced themselves for the incoming blade. Akira cut them in half, throwing its upper half up in the air while its lower body rolled over on the ground. But his blade did not stop there as it sought for its second target. But unfortunately, it was not able to break through the second robot's force field armour, it was only enough to throw it off-balance. After that single strike, the blade could not handle the burden and crumbled into dust.
Akira kept shooting as he quickly pulled out another blade and started fighting the robots up close just like when he was on the floor- shooting, cutting, and kicking them. But since he was only able to maintain that posture because of the kickback from his rifle, he was not able to move freely, and with the robots coming at him from his head, Akira was having trouble fighting them.
The robots had Akira surrounded as they came at him from all directions. Akira was still compressing his time perception, in that world that was running in slow motion, he could see clearly the robot parts that were scattered in the air and every single attack that was coming at him. He understood that he would not be able to block all the incoming attacks, but even so, he did not give up and still desperately fought with his best.
Inside that world where everything almost stood still, Akira could see the killing blow coming for him, but he also noticed something else behind that robot. A swarm of missiles coming in his direction from behind the robots.
After Akira's bike was kicked down, Alpha controlled it to get it back up and emptied the missile in the missile launcher fixed on his A4WM automatic grenade launcher. The explosion from those missiles blew the robots away together with Akira since they were in an enclosed space.
Akira smacked down to the floor and coughed out blood, dyeing the white floor red. His body was assaulted with pain and the medicine that he took beforehand had run out of its effect.
Akira swayed left and right as he pushed himself back up. The robots that were still functional also did the same. Even some of the robots that had lost their head could still stand back up. Akira who saw that smiled wryly and said.
"Good grief, just how robust can these guys be? You guys should just stay on the ground after losing your head, you know."
"I believe that they're controlled remotely from somewhere close by. I bet they're partially autonomous and remotely controllable."
Akira shot down the last robot. Its head and body were pierced with the bullet as it got blown back into the pile of its dead comrades. The empty magazine was automatically ejected from his SSB multi-weapon rifle. Akira crouched and picked that empty magazine up, imagining how much money he had used in that fight and smiled bitterly. He then threw that empty magazine up to the air.
Alpha had a big smile on her face and praised Akira.
Akira tilted his head and frowned, Alpha was pointing at the pile of dead robots.
"Although they're already destroyed, it doesn't change the fact that they're old-world relics. They're pretty strong although they're not battle robots, so I'm sure they can at least get you some money."
"If my guess is correct, they're just for serving guests. Although, I believe being able to peacefully secure a rampaging guest is also an important functionality for such robots."
"You do know that I almost got killed fighting those robots, right? I think they also said something along the line 'permitted to kill me' or something? And you say they're not battle robots?"
"They basically said that to let you know that even if they get you killed in the process of securing you, they won't be held responsible for it. So it's just to warn the guests that even with the technology of the old-world, such cases are not impossible. Moreover, if they're really designed for battle, they would have carried more weapons. Since they came at you unarmed, it basically means that they're not made for combat."
Akira was reminded of how abnormal the old-world things were, thus deepening his misunderstanding about the old-world.
After that, Akira stuffed the dead robots into his rucksack and returned to the forward base. When he emptied his rucksack in the forward base, the receptionist winced back and was wide-eyed.
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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