の中を走っている。途中で遭遇した敵には両手に持ったAAH突撃銃とA2D突撃銃で対処している。アルファの指示で持ち替えたのだ。威力の低い銃に変えた所為で、敵の対処に少し手間取っていた。
『なあアルファ。強化服が使えるようになったのに、何でこっちを使うんだ?』
『派手な銃を使うと発砲音とかで敵を引き寄せやすくなるからよ。更に敵もアキラを非常に
カツヤは追い込まれていた。表情は険しく
歪
「もう良いって、何がだ?」
「私を助けに来てくれて、本当に
「だから、何の話......」
「私を置いて逃げて。足手
衝撃を受けているカツヤを見て、アルナは悲痛な、複雑な笑みを浮かべた。
アルナは親身になって自分を助けようとしてくれるカツヤに罪悪感を覚えていた。しかし本当のことを話せば必ず見捨てられる。そう考えてずっと打ち明けられなかった。後ろめたく思いながらも、カツヤに助けてもらえる喜びを捨てられなかった。
しかしアルナはより深くカツヤを愛したことでその考えを改めた。自分の命よりカツヤの命を優先させた。自分の所為でカツヤが死んでしまう。もうアルナにはそれが耐えられなかった。
見捨てられるために、切り捨てられるために、アルナは全てを打ち明けた。それでもカツヤに嫌われて平気なわけではない。打ち明けた後は全てを失ったように
カツヤがそのアルナを見て、強い決意を込めて宣言する。
「言っただろう? 助けるって約束したって。理由はそれで十分だって。その程度のことでその約束を取り消したりはしない」
アルナは僅かに震えていた。込み上げる思いに打ち震えていた。
「あと、確かにスリは悪いことだけど、それで殺されるほどとは思わない。あいつとは俺が何とか話を付けてやる。だからアルナも
「ガキが! いやがったな! 死にやがれ!」
ロゲルトが憎悪を込めて機体を操作する。巨大な発砲音とともに戦車砲に匹敵する弾丸が
の内側の方からアキラが飛び込んできたのだ。突然の事態の連続がカツヤに生み出した僅かな硬直。それが場の結果を決定づけた。
アキラが左手の銃を乱射してカツヤを見もせずに
き声だった。それが耳に届いた瞬間、カツヤはアルナに駆け寄った。そしてほぼ無意識にアルナの負傷を確認する。致命傷だが即死はしない。被弾箇所は意図的にそうなるように散らされていた。カツヤにはそこまでは分からなかったが、辺りに飛び散り、今も床に広がっている鮮血を見れば、あと僅かな命であることぐらいは理解できた。
「......か、回復薬を!」
カツヤが手持ちの回復薬を取り出そうとする。だが壁の穴の向こうから敵の気配を察知すると、反射的にそちらに銃口を向けて引き金を引いた。穴の
カツヤがアルナの死を悟る。たとえまだ手遅れではなかったとしても、敵と戦いながらでは治療など不可能だと理解する。カツヤは悲痛な表情でアルナを床に静かに降ろした。
カツヤの絶叫が
『アルファ。一応確認するけど、あのスリ、助からないんだよな? 手遅れなんだよな?』
アキラはアルファの指示通りにアルナを銃撃した。アキラもあれなら普通は助からないと思っている。だが下半身を失っても死なずにすむような治療方法や、非常に高価な回復薬など、その普通を覆す手段に心当たりがあるため、少し不安が残っていた。
『心配性ね。大丈夫よ。確かに高価な回復薬を全身の負傷箇所に適切に迅速に投与して治療すれば助かる可能性は高いわ。でも彼があの状況でそれを実行するのは不可能よ』
『でもわざわざ致命傷にする必要はあったのか? 頭でも撃って即死させた方が確実なんじゃ......』
まらずにアキラを殺しに来る可能性が高まるわ。その防止よ。たとえ手遅れでも、まだ生きていれば、そっちを優先する可能性が高いからね』
『それならあいつも殺すなり負傷させるなりすれば良かったんじゃないか? あのタイミングなら殺せないまでも負傷させるぐらいはできたはずだ』
『そう言われれば、そうだな』
アキラはそれで納得して、アルナに確実な止めを刺せなかった不安と不満を解消した。
『彼女が死んだ後に彼がアキラを追おうとしても、周囲の敵を無視はできないわ。彼にはあの場で頑張って時間稼ぎをしてもらって、私達はその間に逃げれば良いのよ』
する時間で十分逃げられる。そう思って安心していたのだが、視線の先にはそれを覆す光景があった。黒い機体が
『そういう問題か!?』
「ガキが! 逃がすとでも思ってるのかよ!」
黒い機体が高速移動しながら巨大なチェーンソー型の近接装備を構える。無数の巨大な刃が
アキラが身体への負荷など知ったことかと強化服の出力を上げながら、負荷による両脚の激痛を黙殺しながら全力で必死の形相で走る。だが高速移動機能を備えた人型兵器の移動速度と張り合うのは無理があった。アキラと黒い機体の距離がどんどん狭まっていく。
『アルファ! 何とかならないか!?』
アルファはアキラの必死の形相とは対照的に少し険しい表情を浮かべるだけに
『分かったよ! 覚悟を決めれば何とかなる程度のことなら、幾らでも覚悟を決めてやる! そっちは俺の役目だからな!』
勢いよく走っていたアキラが慣性で地面を滑りながら強引に急停止する。同時にCWH対物突撃銃の弾倉を別のものに取り替えると、邪魔になるCWH対物突撃銃、A4WM自動擲弾銃、DVTSミニガンを地面に投げ捨てた。
で手に入れた折り畳み式のブレードを両手で握る。折り畳まれていたブレードが展開されると、刃が青白く輝き始めた。
アキラの視線の先では、黒い機体が高速で移動しながら巨大なチェーンソー型の近接装備を振り上げている。アキラはそれを見ながら、大きく呼吸して構えを取り、覚悟を決めた。
黒い機体が移動の勢いを乗せて巨大な刃を振り下ろす。アキラは限界まで圧縮した体感時間の中で、構えた刃を全身全霊で
き飛ばされながらCWH対物突撃銃とDVTSミニガンを拾う。そして黒い機体をDVTSミニガンで銃撃する。大量の弾丸が機体に満遍なく着弾するが、表面に細かな傷を付けるのが限界で、全く損傷を与えられない。
ロゲルトは余りに予想外な事態に動転していたが、それもごく僅かな時間だった。機体の状況を素早く把握すると、数秒で機体の体勢を立て直し、すぐに反撃を試みる。ブレードそのものを失ったアキラとは異なり、機体の近接装備は少々破損した程度で問題なく使用できる。アキラ程度を粉砕するのには十分すぎる威力を全く失っていない。
アキラに次の一撃を食らわせようと機体を操作するロゲルトが外部カメラの映像を見る。そこにはこちらにCWH対物突撃銃を向けているアキラの姿が映っていた。
アキラが引き金を引く。至近距離から放たれた弾丸が
機体の動きが止まった瞬間、アキラは地面に置いた残りの装備を素早く拾いながら、再び全速力でその場から逃げ出した。
『アルファ! あれで倒せたんだよな!?』
『厳密には機体のジェネレーターを損傷させて一時的に機能を停止させただけよ。予備動力があれば、そちらに切り替えればまだ十分動けるから、倒したと言って良いかどうかは微妙なところね』
『おい!? あれでも駄目なのか!?』
『人が強化服を着た程度で戦車に勝てるかどうか。人が人型兵器と戦うのはその程度には無謀なことなのよ。予備動力があっても機体の再起動には時間が掛かるわ。アキラが逃げ切る時間稼ぎには十分よ。疲れて止まったりしなければね』
ロゲルトは自分の勘が導き出した答えを否定した。軽く首を横に振り、想像もできない何か運の悪いことが起きた結果だと考え直して、それ以上そのことについて考えるのを止めた。
ロゲルトが気を切り替えて改めて機体を見る。すると自慢の機体を破損させた相手への怒りが湧いてきた。
ネリアとロゲルトの視線が合う。次の瞬間、ネリアがロゲルトとの距離を詰めようと一気に動き出した。
そのネリアの動き、そして先ほどの銃撃を防いだ実力から、ロゲルトが相手の力量を試算する。銃だと負けると判断し、即座に銃を捨て、腰に装着していた2本のナイフを両手でそれぞれ
ネリアとロゲルトが互いに刃を振って交差する。一瞬の交差の間に、その才を十全に発揮した後に、背を向け合った。
ネリアが笑ってそう言った背後で、首を中心に十字に斬られたロゲルトの体がずれていく。頭と体を分断された上に、その両方を縦に両断された体が崩れ、転がって、地面を鮮血で染めていった。
っていないのに、人型兵器を個人装備で倒すほどに強くなるなんてね。残念だわ。彼をあの時に口説き落とせなかったのが、本当に残念」
「また口説く機会でもあれば良いのだけど、今の立場だと難しいのよね。本当に、どうしようかしら?」
5秒後に殺す相手を口説き恋人にすることに何ら矛盾を感じない。その
エゾントファミリーと対立している組織であるハーリアスの拠点、そのボスの部屋では部下からの報告が響いていた。
「ボス! あいつら予想以上に強い! このままだとこっちが全滅だ! 指示をくれ! ボス! 聞こえてないのか! 体勢を立て直すにしろ、撤退するにしろ、とにかく指示をくれ! ......くそっ! 通信が届いていないのか!? どうなってんだよ!」
どをエゾントファミリーの拠点に向かわせていた。ハーリアス側の拠点にはボスと最低限の護衛要員ぐらいしか残っていなかった。そして彼らも全員殺されて拠点のあちこちに散らばっていた。
エゾントファミリーとハーリアスには共通点がある。どちらも巨大な組織で多数の構成員を抱えており、ボスの権力が非常に強い。そのため組織の構成員はボスからの指示に非常に逆らい
Akira was running through the mansion, going after Katsuya and Alna. He used the A2D and AAH assault rifles on both of his hands to repel any enemies he encountered. The reason why he swapped to those rifles was because Alpha told him to do so. Since he was using rifles with low firepower, he took more time to fight each and every enemy he encountered.
"Say Alpha, my augmented suit is already functioning, right? So why am I using these rifles?"
"If you use the other rifles, the firing sound would draw in more enemies. Not to mention, they think you're a strong opponent. So there's a good chance that they would give up on killing you, and instead, leaving the rest to that black powered suit. Although it is hard on you, it might be better to let them think that they would have their chance if they keep buying time."
The rear side of the black powered suit opened, Rogelt came out from it. His face was deep red, he looked absolutely furious. He kept looking at the direction where Akira ran away and mumbled.
"...That brat... He got away, huh!"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm really happy that you came here for me. I think that you've already saved me enough. It's fine now."
"What are you talking about...?"
"Just leave me behind and get away from here. Without me slowing you down, you can at least escape from this place alone, right?"
Seeing how shocked Katsuya was, Alna smiled bitterly at him.
Alna felt really guilty towards Katsuya who was trying to rescue her. But she always thought that if she told him the truth, he would abandon her to her fate. And with Akira ordering a search for her, she would lose her life if she didn't have Katsuya's protection. That was why she could not bring herself to tell him. Although she felt guilty about it, she could not deny that she was also happy that he came for her.
But now that she was in love with him, she prioritized his life more than her own. If Katsuya died because of her wrongdoing, she would not be able to forgive herself.
Alna tried her best to make Katsuya abandon her. She did not even care if that would make him hate her. After she confessed everything, she looked down. She had nothing left. She only smiled mockingly at herself, she was only getting what she had sown.
Katsuya, who saw her miserable state, made his resolve and clearly stated.
"As I said, I've promised you, so I don't need any other reason. I won't take back my promise just because of something like that."
Alna shuddered, emotion flooded her heart.
"And also, well, it's true that stealing is bad, but I don't think that's enough of a reason to kill you. I'll try to talk it out with that guy. So don't worry, it'll be fine. You have my promise, so just believe me."
"Damn brat!! Running your mouth like that!! Now die!!!"
Fuelled with anger, Rogelt operated his powered suit. A huge bang echoed, his rifle that rivalled the firepower of a tank shot released a warhead straight into the mansion. It easily broke through multiple walls and left one big continuous hole through the mansion.
Katsuya's expression relaxed slightly. He was relieved to know that Alna was fine, but what happened next left him aghast. Akira suddenly jumped into the room through the hole left by that warhead. That sudden change of event caused Katsuya to freeze, and that was enough to dictate the end result.
Akira kept Katsuya suppressed with the rifle on his left hand without even looking at him. While Akira's gaze, as well as the rifle on his right hand, were fixed on Alna. Inside that compressed time perception world where everything was running in slow motion, Akira and Alna locked gazes at each other. Akira pulled down the trigger, showered Alna with bullets and Katsuya had no means to stop him.
The one that pulled Katsuya back to reality was Alna's weak voice. The moment he heard it, Katsuya immediately ran toward Alna and confirmed that she had been wounded. Although she was fatally wounded, she was not dead yet. Judging from the locations where she was shot, it seemed that Akira intentionally did that. Katsuya did not notice that far, but judging from the blood on the ground, he knew that Alna did not have much time left.
"...M-medicine!!"
Katsuya pulled out medicine from his pocket. But he immediately detected enemies coming from the direction of the hole and started shooting at them. He then shouted at those people who were taking cover behind the wall around the hole.
Katsuya realized that Alna was gone. He understood that trying to treat her wounds while shooting at the guys attacking them would not help at all. He was extremely frustrated as he softly placed Alna's body down.
Katsuya's scream echoed through the mansion. Once it died down, he was filled with rage and disappointment for not being able to save her. And in order to remove the main source of the reason why he could not save Alna, he pushed his rare talent to full bloom.
"Alpha, I just want to confirm something though, that girl is dead, right? There's no way she might be saved, right?"
Akira had shot Alna following Alpha's instruction. He thought that it should be enough to kill her. But he also knew that there was a treatment that could save someone even after that person lost half of his body, or expensive medicines that could save someone from certain death, or many other ways to survive that level of injury. That was why he was not so sure.
"You're such a worrywart. Don't worry, it's true she might be able to survive using expensive medicine and proper treatment. But I'm sure he wouldn't have the leeway to do it in that situation."
"But like, is there any reason why I can't kill her right away there? A shot on her head would guarantee her death, you know..."
"If you blow her head or kill her with any means that make it obvious that she's dead, I'm sure that boy will immediately leave Alna behind and chase after you, to kill you. That's why we did that. If we let her alive although only for a few seconds, it's obvious which one that boy would prioritize."
"If that's the problem, isn't it easier to just kill that boy or at least wound him too? In that situation back there, although I might not have been able to kill him, I should have been able to at least injure him, right?"
"Now that you mention it, that does make sense."
Akira agreed with that argument too, so his displeasure and doubt were gone.
"Even if that boy tries to chase after you once the girl is dead, he would have to face Ezont family's men first. So let's get him to buy some time for us while we escape from this place."
Akira immediately frowned. In order for the black powered suit to chase after him from the other side of the mansion, that black powered suit would need to go all the way around the mansion, that was why he thought that there was no way that black powered suit would come for him. And even if it did, it would take some time for it to go around the mansion. But his feeling of safety was immediately betrayed, he could see the black powered suit standing right on the top of the mansion.
"Are you serious?!"
"You damn brat!! Do you think I'll let you get away?!!"
The black powered suit moved around while reading its chainsaw, the countless teeth of its chainsaw raised a deafening sound as it started spinning.
Akira's augmented suit increased its output to its limit as if it did not care how much burden it would put on Akira's body. Akira just ignored the stinging pain from both of his legs as he kept on running as fast as he could. But of course, it was no match against the high-speed powered suit. The distance between him and the powered suit was slowly shrinking.
"Alpha! Can we do something about that thing?!"
Unlike Akira who obviously looked very worried, Alpha only looked slightly concerned. She then casually said to him.
"Alright, I get it! If resolving myself is enough to do something about it, I'll resolve myself as much as you want!! That's my responsibility, after all!!"
Akira was running at high speed when he used his augmented suit to immediately stop himself. Right at the same time, he reloaded a new magazine to his CWH anti-material rifle, and then threw it down on the ground together with his A4WM automatic grenade launcher, and DVTS minigun.
He then took out the foldable blade that he had obtained from the mansion, grabbed it with both his hands and expanded it. Once it was fully unfolded, its bladed started to give a faint bluish glow.
Right in front of Akira, the black powered suit raised its chainsaw while blazing straight at him. Seeing that, Akira took a deep breath and readied himself.
The black powered suit swung its powerful chainsaw down with a huge force. Akira, who was inside the slow-motion world, swung his foldable blade as vigorously as he could.
While his body was blown backwards, Akira quickly grabbed his DVTS minigun and CWH anti-material rifle and immediately started to shoot using his DVTS minigun. Although most of his bullets hit the powered suit, it barely caused any damage at all.
Rogelt was surprised by what happened but immediately regained his composure. After reassessing his situation, he readied himself and quickly went for another attack. Unlike Akira who had lost his blade, the black powered suit still had its weapon just fine, and it was powerful enough to easily crush Akira.
From the external camera of his powered suit, Rogelt could see Akira aiming another shot at him. This time, Akira was using his CWH anti-material rifle.
Akira pulled the trigger, the bullet that was shot in a point-blank range hit the black powered suit and released a loud bang. Right at the next moment, Rogelt immediately lost the power output of his powered suit. Akira's shot had destroyed his powered suit's energy generator.
When the powered suit stopped moving, Akira nimbly manoeuvred away while picking up the rest of his weapons before running away from that place.
"Alpha! That should be enough to stop that thing, right?!"
"To be more precise, you just sniped its generator and temporarily stopped it. If it has a spare generator, it can immediately swap its generator and start moving again. So I don't think stopping it is the right word to use in this situation."
"Wha-!? Even that wasn't enough?!"
"It's a matter of fighting a tank only with an augmented suit, or like fighting a powered suit only with a human body. The power gap is simply too big. But even if it has a spare generator, it'll take some time to replace the destroyed generator. So you should have enough time to run away, that is, as long as you don't stop because you're tired or something."
Rogelt rejected the solution to his question that came up in his mind. He then lightly shook his head, just to blame that on his bad luck, and decided to stop thinking about it.
Rogelt shook off his thoughts from what just happened and looked at his powered suit one more time. Seeing how his prided black powered suit was rendered to that state, anger started to well up again.
Neria and Rogelt made eye contact. Right at the next moment, Neria suddenly dashed and closed the distance between them.
Rogelt made a rough approximation of how strong his opponent was by judging from how she moved just now and how she blocked his shots. He quickly decided that his rifle would not do him any good and threw it away, instead, he grabbed 2 knives behind his hip and readied himself. When he unsheathed his knives, blades extended out and they turned into swords.
Nelia and Rogelt exchanged blows for just a split second, by the end of that exchange, they were standing past each other with their backs facing each other.
Nelia smiled and said so, behind her, Rogelt was sliced into 4 pieces with a cross centered on his throat. Not only did he get beheaded, but his head and body were also split cleanly into two halves. His body parts fell down and painted the ground red in blood.
"But still, although it hasn't been that long since the last time, to think that he has become strong enough to defeat a powered suit with only an augmented suit. It was really unfortunate that I wasn't able to seduce him back then."
"It would be great if I can get another chance to try to seduce him, although, it would be hard to do that in my current situation. Seriously though, what should I do with you?"
She did not feel anything wrong with seducing someone that she would try to kill 5 seconds later. Nelia, who had such a distorted way of thinking, had a regretful expression on her beautiful face. But that face also quickly vanished from the views, leaving behind the nonfunctional powered suit and the dismembered corpse of its user.
Haurias, the gang that was at war against the Ezont family. Inside its base, in its boss' room. The report from Haurias' soldiers echoed through the room.
"Boss! These guys are too strong!! We'll be wiped out at this rate!! Tell us what to do!! Boss!! Are you there?! Whether we group up or retreat, just give us something!! Dammit!! Is it not connected!? What the heck is going on here?!!"
Haurias already sent most of its men to attack the Ezont family. Its boss was left only with a handful of bodyguards in the base. And those bodyguards, like their boss, were already dead.
Both Haurias and Ezont family had some similarities. First of all, both of them were huge gangs with a lot of members, the boss of the respective gang held a ton of influence. Because of that, it was extremely difficult for the members of those gangs to rise up against their boss. So right now, with both sides left with no boss, their men had no other choice but to fight to the death, save for some who ran away at the very last second.
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