アキラを追跡していたケインとネリアは、アキラが隠れているビルをあっさり見つけ出した。
ケインとネリアの重装強化服には高性能な情報収集機器が搭載されている。そしてアキラにはケインの攻撃で爆煙等の物質が付着している。その情報収集機器でアキラの移動の痕跡を見つけ出すことは、たとえ色無しの霧の影響下であっても情報収集範囲を絞って精度を上げさえすれば、
ケインがビルの外観を見ながらネリアに話す。
『あそこか。外を走って逃げると俺達に追いつかれると考えて逃げ込んだのか?』
『多分ね。追いかける手間が省けたわ。パッパと片付けましょう』
『そうだな』
が着弾の衝撃で強い衝撃変換光を放った。アキラがビルの窓からケインを狙撃したのだ。
ネリアがケインの陰に隠れながら話す。
『向こうもやる気みたいね』
ケインの重装強化服の制御装置が着弾の衝撃から狙撃位置を割り出した。頭部のカメラがビルの窓からCWH対物突撃銃を構えているアキラの姿を捉える。
ケインが4本の腕の重火器を素早くアキラへ向けて反撃する。大口径の銃口から放たれた大量の銃弾が派手な音を立ててビルの側面に激突する。
大型の重装強化服や人型兵器でなければ扱えない大型の銃から放たれた弾丸は、並の鉄板など紙切れのように貫く威力を持っている。その威力にも
わらず、ビルの壁は多少削れた程度の損傷しか受けなかった。
旧世界の建築物といってもいろいろある。地域や場所や年代で、文化も技術も多種多様な違いを見せる。クズスハラ街遺跡を造った文明の時期も正確には分かっていない。ネリアはアキラが潜むビルの頑丈さからそれを少し推察してみた。
ケインがネリアの素朴な疑問を一蹴して話す。
『知るか! どうだ! やったか!?』
『駄目ね。制御装置のロックは解除されていないわ』
『またか!』
叫んでいるケインに再びCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾が着弾した。先ほどの攻撃を
『調子に乗りやがっ......!』
弾丸が再びケインに着弾して、ケインの愚痴を中断させた。相手の反撃が遅れると読んだアキラが素早く次弾を放ったのだ。
ケインが体勢を立て直して反撃に移る。ネリアもケインを盾にしながら反撃に加わる。並の戦車程度なら大破させる銃弾の嵐が、ビルの側面のアキラがいた辺りに
も残らないぞ!』
『CWH対物突撃銃の専用弾ほどではないけれど、近い価格帯の威力はありそうね』
『こっちは単発。向こうは連射可能。こっちは食らえば即死。向こうはまともに食らっても少し
アキラが苦笑する。ケイン達に立ち向かう覚悟を決めたとはいえ、それでケイン達が弱くなるわけではないのだ。
アキラが握っているCWH対物突撃銃を見る。地下街では場違いなほどに過剰な威力を誇っていたはずの銃だった。それが今では敵を少々
『CWH対物突撃銃の専用弾なら戦車でも狩れるって聞いていたのにな』
『どんな戦車でも倒せるとは言っていなかったでしょう?』
『そうだけどさ。撃って命中させても敵にダメージを与えた実感がないと、こっちの攻撃が通じているか不安になってくる。こっちの攻撃は相手にどの程度効果があるんだ? 一応通じてはいるんだよな?』
『大型の機体だからジェネレーターも大型なのよ。恐らくその出力の大半を
効果の程がどの程度であろうと、アキラにできることは限られているのだ。アキラは身を低くして廊下を滑るように移動しながら次の狙撃位置に向かった。
身を低くして通路を移動しているアキラの視界には、壁の外側にいる本来見えないはずのケイン達の姿がしっかりと映っている。アルファがアキラの視界を拡張して表示しているのだ。
そのおかげでアキラは窓から身を乗り出してケイン達に銃の照準を合わせる時間を極限まで短縮することができていた。アキラが銃を構えてから敵を狙うなどという悠長なことをしていれば、ケインの反撃を回避する時間など生まれない。一瞬の遅れがアキラの命を奪う。その一瞬の猶予を保ち続けるために、アキラは全神経を集中して、時間の
アルファはその索敵能力でケインの射撃体勢を読み取り、銃口の向きから精密な弾道予測を実施することで、ケインが選択した窓を完全に見切っていた。その上で最も安全な窓からアキラに銃撃させていたのだ。
ケインが何らかの方法で自分の選択を読まれていることに気づけなかったのは、そのアルファの助けがあってもアキラの回避がぎりぎりだったからだ。ケインの攻撃をアキラが余裕を持って回避していれば、ケインも
ちの声を上げた。ネリアが少し不満そうな声でケインに話す。
『ケイン。うるさいわ。
すとはね。ヤジマを殺した実力は本物ってことかしら。やっぱりクガマヤマ都市のエージェントかもしれないわね』
『そうすると、何らかの方法でこっちの動きを読んでいる? ケインのミサイルから生き残ったのも、今の攻撃を読まれているのもその所為?』
『クズスハラ街遺跡の設備の一部が今も稼働中ってことぐらいはケインも知っているでしょう? 遺跡奥部の立派な高層ビルを見れば一目瞭然だわ。旧世界時代のかなり重要な施設が存在していて、強力な警備機械が今も警備を続けている。クガマヤマ都市の最終目標はその施設の奪取とも言われているわ』
『それぐらいは俺も知ってる。それとこれと何の関係があるんだ?』
『都市の部隊がクズスハラ街遺跡から持ち帰った旧世界の遺物に、クズスハラ街遺跡の全体マップを詳細にリアルタイムで表示する装置があったそうよ。......その全体マップへの接続技術だったかもしれないわ。どっちだったっけ......』
可能性の話よ。余談だけど、その話が出回った時期に別の話も出回ったのよね。クズスハラ街遺跡の怪談の一つ、誘う亡霊よ。何らかの方法でその全体マップにアクセスすると亡霊を見るようになって取り殺されるってやつよ。案外、クズスハラ街遺跡の利権を独占したいクガマヤマ都市が外部に出回ってしまった接続手段を隠蔽するために、そういう怪談を意図的に流したのかもね。だから、もしかしたら都市のエージェントなら、秘匿されている接続手段を持っているかもしれない......』
ネリアは少し楽しげに自分の知識を語っていたが、ケインの奇妙な沈黙に気付いて
きの全ての穴を塞ぎに掛かった。
アキラは次の狙撃位置へ移動していた。そのアキラにアルファが険しい表情で指示を出す。
『アキラ! すぐにビルのもっと内側へ逃げて!』
アルファの指示と同時にアキラの強化服が操作される。ビルの外に接している通路から、アキラをより内側の部屋へ駆け込ませようとする。アキラはその動きに逆らわずに全力で通路から逃げ出した。
アキラはそのまま様々な物が散乱する部屋の中を駆け抜けて、先ほどまでいた通路からできる限り離れようとする。アキラもアルファの表情と声からその場に
ケインが大声で反論する。
『うるせえ! 都市のエージェントの装備なら、あれでも死体の原形ぐらい残ってるに決まってる! うだうだ銃撃し続けるより良いだろうが! 第一、あれで死亡判定が出ないなら、そもそも認証機能が狂ってるんじゃねえか? プログラムも解除キーの人物があの場にいることは認識していたはずだ。どうだ。認証は通ったか?』
『ちょっとまって。確認するわ。......駄目ね。外れてないわ』
『ふん! プログラムによる判定だと、死んでないって言いたい訳か? ヤジマのやつ、絶対に認証しないようにプログラムを
『ネリアだけで行くのか?』
『またケインに原形もなくなるほど派手に吹っ飛ばされても困るわ。私が刻めば確実よ』
ネリアの重装強化服の後部が開き、中からネリアが出てきた。
ネリアはヤジマと同じ義体者だ。外見は妙齢の美女である。人工物であることの利点を生かし、ネリアの体は
ネリアが体からコードを外すと、コードが重装強化服に巻き取られていく。ネリアがケインを見上げながら話す。
「何かあれば連絡するわ。ケインは一応ビルの周囲を警戒しておいて。あのビルだと私の強化服でも移動の邪魔になりそうだから置いていくけど、勝手に
ケインが外部音声で答える。
「分かったよ。いつも通り、銃は持っていかないのか? 使うなら俺のを貸してやるぞ? ちょっとデカいけどな」
ネリアはそう言って不敵に笑った。そして自分の重装強化服の中からベルトに固定されている自分の装備を取りだした。ネリアが取り出したベルトには、切れ味の悪そうなナイフや、刃物の柄のようなものが取り付けられていた。
アキラが床に
アキラが日に2度も爆煙に塗れたことを嘆く。それでも日に2度もモンスターの群れに襲われるよりはましだろう。
アキラが顔を上げると、しゃがんでアキラを見ているアルファの姿が見えた。
『アキラ。意識があるなら早く起きて』
アキラはアルファの表情から、取りあえず致命的な危機的状況からは脱したことを理解した。しかし危険な状況から脱していないことも理解した。
『起きたら回復薬を使って。移動はしなくて良いわ。この場から動かずに休んでいて』
『分かった。でも確か回復薬はもう使い切ったはずだ』
『安いやつはまだ残っているわ。使わないよりはましよ』
アキラは身を起こすとアルファの指示通りにリュックサックから安い回復薬を取り出した。
短時間での大量使用を避けること。回復薬の箱には使用上の注意がよく見えるように比較的大きな文字でそう記載されている。それを読んだアキラの手が一瞬止まったが、アキラは覚悟を決めてその注意書きを完全に無視した。
アキラが安い回復薬を飲みながら苦笑する。
『......絶対体に悪いんだろうな。あの時みたいにまたぶっ倒れそうだ』
アキラが空になった箱を握りつぶして投げ捨てる。安い回復薬もこれで使い切った。アキラの体内に残留している回復薬の効果は今もアキラの体を治療中だ。その効果も
『そもそも俺は何であいつらに襲われたんだ? アルファ。何か知らないか?』
『残念だけど私にも分からないわ。これは予想だけど、アキラが地下街で殺したやつの仲間かもしれないわね。自分が死んでも仲間が敵を取ってくれるって言っていたでしょう? 死ぬ前に何らかの方法で伝えていたのかもしれないわ』
『そうだとしたら、随分と仲間思いなんだな。もしそうなら、さっきの攻撃で俺を殺したって判断して帰ってくれないかな。普通なら死んでるだろう?』
『どうかしら。既にアキラは普通なら死んでいる攻撃を受けて生き残ったどころか反撃までしているわ』
『そうだった。......これなら地下街にいた方が良かった。ついてないな。やっぱりアレか? 人質を見捨てようとしたから運気が落ちてるのか? 結果的に助かったんだから良いじゃないか......』
既にビル内に入っていたネリアが通路の途中で立ち止まる。
ネリアの義体には情報収集機器が組み込まれている。それは重装強化服の情報収集機器より低性能で、このビルの内部を調査するには大分性能が足りていない。
ネリアが軽く笑う。内蔵の情報収集機器を停止させることで索敵の精度は更に低下する。それにも
(こんなに早く使う機会が来るとはね。ついてるわ)
ネリア達は集めた旧世界の遺物を輸送車両に積み込んだが、ネリアはその遺物の一部をこっそり懐に入れていた。その旧世界の遺物の中には、ネリアがケインに話したクズスハラ街遺跡のマップへの接続機器が含まれていたのだ。
(さて、こっちの性能の方はどうかしら?)
く行ったわ。表示情報をこのビルに限定して、その上で更にデータ量を間引いたから私の処理性能でも大丈夫そうね。それでもかなりのデータ量になったけど。このデータ量だとやっぱり情報収集機器と併用はできないか。まあ、良いでしょう。どうせ色無しの霧の所為で、ないよりはまし程度の精度しかない訳だしね。さて、あいつはどこにいる?)
ネリアがアキラを探す。今のネリアはこのビルに限定してだが壁の向こうまで見えるようになっている。アキラはすぐに見つかった。
アキラ達の姿を見たネリアが驚きの表情を浮かべる。ネリアがケインに連絡を取る。
『ケイン。そっちはどう?』
『ケイン。死後報復依頼プログラムの認証は正しかったわ。あいつ、まだ生きている』
『恐らくあいつは本当に都市のエージェントよ。少年型の高性能な義体でも使っているんでしょうね。その義体の出力でケインの攻撃を防ぐなり
『多分エージェントだとバレないように子供のハンターに紛れていたんじゃない? 地下街にはドランカムに所属している子供のハンターが大勢いたらしいわ』
『そういうことか。......ってことは、都市は少なくとも念のためにエージェントを紛れ込ませる程度の情報を
『さあね。ただ、あいつが一人で地下街を出たのは多分私達の襲撃を仮設基地に連絡するためよ。色無しの霧の影響で仮設基地との連絡ができないから直接伝えに向かったのよ』
『その途中を攻撃できたのはラッキーだったってことか。その分だけ仮設基地にいる防衛隊の到着が遅れるはずだ。で、どうするんだ? 都市のエージェントってことは、並の実力じゃないんだろう?』
『当然殺すわ。当たり前でしょう? この狭い空間で私が負けるとでも思ってるの? ケインはそのまま周囲を警戒しておいて。すぐに済ませるわ』
ネリアがケインとの通信を切る。ネリアはアキラ達を見て少し意外そうな表情を浮かべた後、余裕の笑みに戻した。
「それにしても、2人いるとはね。ここに逃げ込んだのは偶然じゃなかったってこと? 仲間と合流するために意図的にここに来たの?」
Nelia and Kain were easily able to find the building where Akira was hiding by following his tracks.
Nelia's and Kain's powered suits were equipped with advanced information-gathering devices. Not to mention, there were particular substances stuck on Akira's body such as dust from Kain's missile barrage. So, they only needed to increase the sensitivity of their own information-gathering device to find Akira's trace even inside the thick colourless mist.
Kain looked at the building and asked Nelia.
"That building, huh? Is he thinking that we'll just catch up with him if he runs away?"
"Yup, maybe he thinks so. It's a good thing that we don't have to chase him. Let's just quickly finish this."
"You're right."
The moment he said that, Kain's force field armour flashed brightly from the impact of a bullet. Away from them, Akira was aiming at Kain from the window of that building.
Nelia hid behind Kain.
"It seems that the boy is expecting a fight."
Kain's powered suit's control device quickly analyzed the impact angle and made a conjecture about where the shot came from. The camera on the head of his powered suit captured the image of Akira holding his CWH anti-material rifle on one of that building's windows.
Kain quickly aimed his 4 big guns toward Akira's direction. Those huge cannons then released a barrage of warheads at Akira, causing a loud bang.
Those big guns normally could only be used by humanoid mechanical soldiers, but Kain was able to handle them thanks to his powered suit. The warheads released by those big guns could tear metals as if they were sheets of paper. But even so, they were only able to cause slight damage to that building.
"That's one strong building. Although it might only be the outer wall that is durable, I wonder how long it has been standing there."
There were many types of old-world buildings. Their locations, positions and ages showed the different techniques and technologies used to construct those buildings. The people of the eastern district did not know for sure about the era and the culture when the Kuzusuhara ruin was constructed. But by seeing just how strong the building in which Akira was hiding, Nelia and Kain caught a glimpse of the culture and the era when Kuzusuhara was thriving.
But Kain just brushed Nelia's question.
"Like hell if I know! So how was that? Did that finish him off?"
"Nope, the control device is still locked."
"He survived that again?!!"
As Kain shouted, he took another shot from CWH special ammo. Akira had evaded that barrage as he ran through the hallway and shot Kain from another window.
"...Dammit!!!"
Another shot hit Kain, cutting his words midway. Akira judged that Kain would not shoot back at him, so he quickly took another shot at Kain.
Kain fixed his stance and readied his guns again. Nelia stood behind him and also helped him shoot back. They showered the window, where Akira was, with bullets that would easily turn a tank into papier-mache. Those bullets passed through that window and created holes on the wall inside that building.
"Yikes!! That's scary!! I won't even leave a trace if I get caught in that!!"
"Although it's not as strong as CWH special ammo, with a similar budget, that barrage has more or less the same amount of destructive power."
"I can only shoot one bullet at a time while he can go full auto. I'll be dead if I get shot even once, while on the other hand, he can take a direct hit from CWH special ammo just fine. This is just crazy."
Akira smiled bitterly. Although he had decided to stand up against Nelia and Kain, it did not make them any weaker.
Akira looked at the CWH anti-material rifle in his hand. It was indeed a rifle that carried overwhelming firepower when he was underground, but now, it was barely able to do any damage.
"Although I heard that this CWH special ammo can easily destroy a tank..."
"But they didn't say that it can easily destroy any tanks, right?"
"Well, that's true. It's just that I'm starting to doubt whether it can even do anything since it seems that my shots barely damage him at all. So how much do my shots affect him? Wait, it does affect him, right?"
"That big sized powered suit must have an equally big generator. I bet half of the generator output is routed to maintain his force field armour. Although it doesn't look like it had any effects, there's no doubt that each shot shaved its energy. So don't worry about it and keep shooting."
No matter how much it affected Kain, there was a limit on how much Akira could do. He crouched close to the ground while moving through the hallway to his next shooting position.
As Akira was crouching through the hallway, he could clearly see Nelia and Kain through the wall, it was thanks to the vision enhancement from Alpha.
Because of that, Akira was able to quickly line his aim at them the moment he peeked out through the window. If he took more time aiming, it would not give him enough time to evade the returning fire. Even the slightest delay would be fatal. He heightened his focus to the peak to maintain a high level of accuracy, he could even feel the time stretched out as he kept shooting.
With her superior detection ability, Alpha was able to ascertain Kain's stance and accurately calculate where he was aiming. She knew exactly where he was aiming and she placed Akira in the safest window when he sniped Kain.
Kain noticed that Akira was somehow able to read his guesses. He didn't notice it until now because Akira was only able to barely evade getting hit. If Akira was able to perfectly evade his aims without any trouble, he would have found out sooner. Akira's lack of skill made him notice it later.
Kain yelled in anger. Nelia looked annoyed as she said.
"Kain, you're too noisy. If you want to shout, cut the connection first."
"I'm doing that even without you telling me!! He's evading my shots too. Moreover, I never thought that he could evade this well. As expected of someone who killed Yajima, he might really be an agent from the city."
"This means that he's somehow able to accurately read our movements, huh? I guess that's also the reason why he could survive that missile barrage from you."
"I'm sure that you at least know some facilities in this Kuzusuhara ruin are still operating, right? It's rather obvious when you see those big buildings in the deeper part of the ruin. There are many important facilities in the ruin that are guarded by powerful securities even now. I heard that the city plans to eventually control those facilities."
"I at least know that much. So, what does it have to do with this?"
"I heard that among the relics that they brought back from the ruin, they found a device showing the full map of Kuzusuhara ruin in real-time... Or was it the technology to access the full map of the ruin anytime...?"
"Well, it's just a possibility. Although it's just silly talk, there's another rumour coming around the same time when the rumour about that relic spread. That ghost story of the Kuzusuhara ruin, the beguiling ghost. I heard that the people, who could access that full map by some kind of means, were able to see that ghost and always ended up dead. Well, it might be just some kind of rumour that the city spread to prevent people from trying to connect to that network which somehow leaked out. That's why, if he's really an agent from the city, he might be connected to that network..."
Nelia seemed to be enjoying boasting her knowledge, but she suddenly realized that Kain had gone silent.
Kain readied his gun to shoot all the windows in that building.
Akira was in the midst of moving to his next shooting position, but Alpha suddenly said to him with a grim face.
"Akira!! Go deeper into the building!!!"
Alpha moved his augmented suit the moment she said that. She moved him to the deeper part of the building through the hallway that connected the outer side of the building. Akira did not try to resist as he ran through the hallway.
Akira ran through rooms filled with wreckages as he tried to go as far away as possible from where he was. He understood from Alpha's voice and expression that it was extremely dangerous to stay there, but he did not know why.
Kain yelled back.
"Shut up!! If he's really an agent from the city, his corpse would at least get left behind!! And this is way better than wasting our time trying to hit him!! Or more like, if this doesn't confirm his death, the death confirmation feature of that thing might be broken in the first place. The program should be able to recognize that the key target to remove its lock was in that building!! So how was that? Did you get the kill confirmation?"
"Wait for a sec, I'll check... Nope, still locked."
"Hah!! Is it saying that the target is not dead yet according to the configuration of that program? That Yajima, it's not like he set the program so it would never get unlocked, right?"
"Are you going alone?"
"It would be bad if you try to blow him up again for no good reason. It'll be better if I go alone."
Nelia's powered suit opened up and she jumped out from it.
Just like Yajima, Nelia was a cyborg. She looked like a young girl from the outside, it was because she adjusted her cyborg body to look like a young attractive girl. If it was a fully all-natural organic body, she would not be able to get such a level of beauty unless she was born with that kind of blessing.
When Nelia pulled the cord off from a plug, it quickly retracted back to her powered suit. She then looked up to Kain.
"I'll contact you if anything bad happens. Keep your eyes on the area around the building. I'll leave my powered suit here since it'll only restrict my movement inside the building, just make sure to keep your hands away from it, okay?"
Kain replied back.
"Yeah yeah, you're not going to bring a rifle with you this time? If you want one, I'll lend you mine. It's a bit huge though."
Nelia smiled confidently. She then pulled a belt from her powered suit, that belt housed a rusty knife and so many other sharp objects.
Akira was lying on the ground. His hand twitched. Although he could feel pain all over his body, he was fully conscious.
This was the second time his body got thrown by explosions today. If he was given the option, he would prefer facing 2 swarms of monsters on the same day instead.
Akira looked up, he could see Alpha squatting near him while looking at him.
"Akira, if you're awake, then get up."
Looking at Alpha's expression, Akira knew that he just survived through some life-threatening situation, but at the same time, his life was still in grave danger even right now.
"Once you get up, take some medicines. There's no need to move from this place, you can take a rest here for now."
"Alright, but like, I already ran out of medicine, remember?"
"You still have some of the cheap ones. It's better than nothing."
Akira pushed his body up and reached for the cheap medicines inside his rucksack.
On the medicine box, a warning was printed in big letters saying not to take a large dosage in a short time. Akira's hand stopped when he saw that warning, but he then resolved himself and completely ignored that warning.
Akira swallowed the medicines and then smiled bitterly.
"...No doubt about it, this is bad for my body. I feel like I'm going to faint again, like back then."
Akira crushed the empty medicine box in his hand and threw it away. With this, he also ran out of the cheap medicine too. The old-world medicine that was still in effect was working hard to fix his body. But it was only a matter of time before the effect waned. The next time he got a fatal injury, he might really end up dead.
"Now that I think about it, why did they start attacking me out of the blue in the first place? Alpha, do you know anything?"
"Unfortunately, I have no idea at all. This is only a guess, but they might be the friends of that cyborg who you killed in the underground. That guy did say that his friends will take revenge for his death, remember? He might have informed them about you before you killed him for good."
"If that's true, they really care for their friend, huh. I wonder if they would think that I'm dead with that attack and just leave this place. Like, normally, no one would survive that, right?"
"I'm not sure about that. After all, even after facing that missile barrage, rather than dropping dead, you even shot back at them."
"Ahhh, you're right... If I knew this would happen, I would've stayed underground. My luck is really the worst, is it because of that? Is it some kind of karma because I was planning to abandon the hostage back then? But result wise, I saved the hostage too, right...?"
Nelia, who was already inside the building, stopped in the middle of a hallway.
Nelia's cyborg body was also equipped with an information-gathering device, although, it was not as strong as the one installed in her powered suit. Because of that, she was barely able to use that device to scan the area.
Nelia smiled. She then turned off the information-gathering device installed inside her body and lowered her ability to detect the enemy. But even so, she was still smiling, the reason for that was because of the other object that she was carrying.
[To think that I got a chance to test this thing so soon.]
Nelia and her friends had transported a huge amount of relics into their truck, but she secretly took some of those relics for herself. Among the relics that she took, there was a relic that would allow her to connect to the network where she could see the full map of the Kuzusuhara ruin real-time, it was the relic that she was talking about with Kain just now.
[Well now, let's see if this thing still works.]
[That went well. Since I limited the data only to the area around this building in order to reduce the amount of the incoming data, my data processing capacity should still be fine. But still, it's receiving a huge amount of data right now. I guess it really is impossible to process all of the data unless I use an information-gathering device too, huh. But well, in this thick colourless mist, I guess this is better than nothing. Now then, where's that boy?]
Nelia looked around searching for Akira. Although the data that she was receiving was only limited to the area around that building, it even allowed her to see past the walls. Thus, she was able to quickly find Akira.
Nelia was surprised the moment she saw Akira. She then contacted Kain.
"Kain, how's the situation over there?"
"Kain, the death confirmation program was correct, that boy is still alive."
"He might really be an agent from the city. Something like a child-sized cyborg. With his cyborg body, it's nothing weird that he could survive that barrage and evade our shots."
"Isn't that because the agent wanted to blend in with the other Hunters as a young Hunter? After all, it seems that there are many young Hunters under Drankam working in the underground."
"I see now... Wait, doesn't that mean that the city somehow had enough information to make them send an undercover agent? Where exactly did the information leak from?"
"No idea. But one thing for sure, he must be heading to the temporary HQ to report back after encountering Yajima. Since he can't contact the HQ through the colourless mist, he has no other choice but to go there and give his report in person."
"So it's lucky that we can ambush him on the surface, huh. It would at least slow the defense squad from reacting. So then, what should we do? If he's really an agent, then he's pretty dangerous, you know?"
"Of course, we'll kill him. It's kind of obvious, isn't it? Or do you think that I will lose in a fight in a narrow space like this? You just wait there and keep watch, I'll finish this in no time."
Nelia then disconnected the call. Although she looked surprised at first when she saw Akira, she already returned back to smiling.
"But still, to think that there are two of them. So it's not like he ran to this building purely by coincidence, huh? Did he come here to meet up with his comrades?"
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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