ハンター達が必死に小型タンクランチュラと交戦している。通信機からシカラベの指示が飛んでいる。
「逃げる個体は無視しろ! そいつらを倒しても賞金が出るわけじゃねえ! 親の防衛をしているのなら、親を撃破すれば周囲に散る可能性もある! 親の撃破を主目的に考えろ! 2番! マーキングはどうなってる!」
「こちら2番! 親個体に誘導機を設置しても、子がそれを破壊している! ......ちょっと待て!? 親から誘導機を剥がして離脱していく個体がいた! 誘導機を付けたまま、1番の車両の方に向かっている! 誘導設定を変えないと、ロケット弾がそっちに飛んでいくぞ!」
通信機から機械音声が繰り返される。
「59、58、57......」
全員の通信機から同一の音声が流れている。ハンター達の耳にその指示は届いていたが、大半の者はそれどころではなかった。
アキラが非常に険しい表情で、舌を
激しい揺れの中でも問題なく会話ができる念話の利点を活かして、アキラが戦いながら理不尽な疑問をアルファに尋ねる。
『アルファ! 何で俺だけこんなに囲まれているんだ!?』
『アキラだけではないわ。シカラベの車両も囲まれているわ』
『あれは指令車だからだろう!? 車体も大きくて目立って頑丈そうで脅威になるからだ! 目立つ機銃だって付いているからだ! 俺の車は他の車と大して差はないじゃないか! 何で俺だけ狙われるんだ!?』
『俺の運が悪いからか!? そう言われたらもうどうしようもないな!』
アキラも自分の運の悪さは自覚している。そう言われてしまったら、後はその不運がアルファのサポートで対処可能なものであることを祈るしかない。
不規則に蛇行している揺れる車両の上で、車両の慣性を強化服の操作で受け流しながら、車体の壁に足を付けてCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾の反動を押さえつけて、車両の一番近くにいる機械の
既に周囲には破壊された小型のタンクランチュラの残骸が幾つも散らばっている。しかし敵の砲撃が弱まる気配は全くない。
『アルファ! 幾ら何でも多くないか!? もう結構倒してるよな!? 他のハンターも戦っているし、シカラベの車両搭載の機銃でだってかなり倒しているはずだ! これだけ倒しているのに、何で一向に数が減らないんだ!?』
アキラも、シカラベ達も、他のハンター達も、既に相当数の子
アルファが言いにくそうな表情で話す。
『その件に関しては、残念なお知らせがあるわ』
『何だよ!? やっぱり分裂とかしているのか!?』
『ぜ、全部倒さないといけないのか? もしそうなら、後どれだけ残っているんだ?』
減る気配すら見えない敵の数が、アキラの体力と精神と弾薬を削り取っていく。じわじわと殺されているような錯覚を、CWH対物突撃銃の専用弾を食らってばらばらに吹き飛ぶ敵の光景を見て
を倒せば逃げていくかもしれない。でも全滅させる覚悟で戦いましょう。シカラベの予想が間違っていたとしても、全滅させれば関係ないわ』
通信機からロケットランチャーでの攻撃タイミングを合わせる
「......6、5、4......」
アキラが慌ててロケットランチャーを準備する。狙う必要はない。引き金を引きさえすれば自動誘導で飛んでいく。タイミングを合わせて引き金を引く。
アキラが撃った分も合わせて、計10発のロケット弾が上空に飛んでいく。そして空中で大きく軌道を変えて親機のタンクランチュラへ飛び込んでいく。
親機の周辺にいる子機が次々に砲弾を放ってロケット弾を迎撃する。親機まで届いたロケット弾は6発。初回の攻撃のように親機の巨体に接着した誘導装置による誘導ではないので、多少着弾位置がずれている。それでも無数の爆発が親機を呑み込んだ。
巨大なタンクランチュラは健在だ。少なくとも子機は逃げようとせず、親機の護衛を続けている。
の数を減らすしかないのか』
『そういうことよ。私もサポートするから頑張りなさい』
他に手段などないのだ。その手段が状況を改善させると信じて、アキラは必死に戦い続けた。
アキラが必死に戦って多くの敵を倒すほど、敵はアキラを強力な個体と評価して優先的に撃破しようとする。アキラの周りに更に多くの敵が集まり、それらを倒すことで更にアキラの優先度が上昇していく。その繰り返しだった。アキラはそのことに気付いていなかった。
アルファは気付いていたが、黙っていた。教えても意味がないからだ。
なお、アキラが初めに他のハンターより優先的に襲われた理由は、移動中のアキラの狙撃が原因だ。パルガの指示が出る前に遠方のモンスターを一撃で倒したあの狙撃を、偶然近くにいたタンクランチュラの子機が見ていたのだ。それにより、ほんの僅かだがアキラの優先度が他のハンター達より上がっていたのだ。
あの狙撃がなければ、アキラは他のハンター達と同程度の脅威としか認識されなかった。これはアルファも知らないことだ。
アキラは運が悪かった。それだけは、アルファの言葉通りだった。
トガミは必死だった。アルファの非常に荒っぽい運転の所為で激しく揺れる車体から投げ出されないように、必死に車体にしがみつきながら、周囲の機械
(......くそっ! 俺が! この俺が!)
近くの敵を銃撃しながら、トガミは
ここでアキラは撃破する個体の優先順位を誤った。車両との距離を基準に優先順位を決めていたのだが、個体の体長も考慮に入れるべきだった。
体長1メートルほどの個体を撃破している間に、体長2メートルほどの大きめの個体が距離を詰めてくる。それでもその大きめの個体が車両に体当たりをする前に、アキラはその個体の胴体部分を銃撃して撃破した。
次の瞬間、大きめの個体の腹部がはじけ飛んだ。その腹部から孫
『何だこれ! また増えるのか!?』
アルファが素早く指示を出す。
『アキラ! 車両に取り付いた個体をすぐに除去して! 車が食われているわ!』
に大口径の銃を向けていた。
アキラは思わずそう叫んで、トガミが狙っていた個体を素早く蹴り上げて、殴り飛ばして車外に吹き飛ばした。
「何やってるんだ!? そんな銃で車両を銃撃するな! 車が壊れるだろう!」
トガミが慌てながら反論する。
「こんな時に何を言ってるんだ! 荒野仕様の車両がそれぐらいで壊れるか!」
どちらかといえば、正論を言っているのはトガミの方だ。だがアキラはトガミも自分と同じようにCWH対物突撃銃の専用弾のような強力な弾丸を使用していると思っており、その銃弾で自分の車両を吹き飛ばそうとしているように見えて大声で言い返した。
「ふ、ふざけ......!」
ふざけるな、と言い切る前にトガミの表情が凍り付く。体長2メートルほどの小型タンクランチュラがトガミに襲いかかろうとしていた。生体砲弾が切れているのか、
死の認識がトガミの意識を加速させ、世界の歩みを遅くする。トガミの視界にゆっくりと近付いてくる敵の姿が映っている。その濃密な時間の中で、トガミが絶叫をあげようとする。
次の瞬間、トガミを襲おうとしていた子
『アキラ。ちょっと危なかったわよ?』
アキラが少し険しい表情で答える。
アキラが軽く笑って話す。
『シカラベの要望通り、シカラベの車へ投げ込もう』
シカラベの車両もアキラと同じようにタンクランチュラの孫
制御装置に表示されている車の耐久値が徐々に減っていく。シカラベがそれを見て舌打ちする。
「仕方ねえ。自力で何とかするか」
シカラベは車を自動運転に切り替えると、移動中の車両から外に出て車体に貼り付いている孫
シカラベが笑いながら話す。
「あいつ、本当に俺の車に投げ込みやがった。有言実行なやつだな」
とし続けている。シカラベがトガミを軽く蹴って正気に戻す。
トガミは状況をいろいろと把握できずにあたふたしている。シカラベがトガミの頭を強く振って意識を自分に向けさせる。
「トガミ! 運転できるのか! できねえのか! どうなんだ!」
「俺の代わりに運転しろ。自動運転だと限度があるからな。何かあれば連絡しろ」
『彼を振り落とす心配がなくなったから、車の速度をもっと上げるわ。気を付けてね』
『ちょっと待て。あれでも手加減していたのか?』
アルファからその説明を聞いたアキラが心底嫌そうな表情を浮かべる。
『このままならね。恐らく本来は初めの一斉攻撃をもう一度繰り返せば勝ちだったのよ。現在の状況はシカラベ達にとってもかなり予想外の状況のはずよ』
『じゃあ何ですぐに撤退しなかったんだ? 勝ち目がないなら、戦っても弾薬費が無駄に掛かるだけだろう』
『勝ち目がなくなったわけではないからね。それに周辺の荒野から追加の増援さえ来なければ、増援が来てもその量が少数なら、とっくに勝っていたわ。もう少しで勝てるって状況が続いて、撤退の判断を先延ばしにしたのね。恐らくもう次の賞金首用の弾薬も
『でもこのままだと勝てないんだろう? どうするんだ?』
『多分その辺の指示がそろそろシカラベから来ると思うわ』
アルファの予想は正しく、通信機からシカラベの指示が出る。
「全員に通達! 次の一斉攻撃で最後だ。それで倒せなければ撤退だ。ロケット弾の誘導設定を変更して、空中待機時間を限界まで上げて攻撃する。次の合図で配布したロケットランチャーを撃ち尽くすつもりで攻撃しろ。ロケットランチャーを撃ち尽くした後は、ロケット弾を迎撃しようとしている個体を優先的に撃破しろ。次で最後だ! 死ぬ気でやれよ! 賞金が手に入らなければ、お前らへの報酬も出ねえぞ!」
アキラが軽く笑った後で大きく息を吐き、真剣な表情に変えて気を引き締める。
『よし。何があろうと次で最後だ。できれば勝って終わらせる。頑張ろう』
『大分余裕も出てきたようね。良いことだわ』
『まあな。大分慣れてきた。後はその慣れに、大金を手に入れる慣れを付け加えるだけだ。大赤字に慣れるのは御免だ』
に車を着けるとアキラに話しかけてくる。
「やあ。私はネルゴという。そちらに御一緒しても良いかな? 私に支給されたロケットランチャーはもう
「まあ、それはこっちも助かるから構わないけど」
ネルゴはそう答えると、アキラの車に飛び乗ってきた。移動中の車両にも
アキラがネルゴの動きを見て少し驚く。ネルゴがそのアキラに話す。
「どうかしたかな?」
い自然な動きだったから少し驚いたんだ」
「それなりに金をかけている機体なのでね。おっと、戦闘中だったな」
ネルゴが周囲の敵を攻撃する。アキラも少し慌てて別の個体を銃撃する。
「ところで、君の名前はアキラ、だったかな?」
「先ほどの戦闘を見せてもらっていた。素晴らしい動きだ。私は見ての通りサイボーグだが、君も実は義体だったりするのかな?」
「ふむ。君は強化服使いか」
ネルゴは周囲の敵を問題なく対処しながらアキラをじっと見ている。アキラが何となく
『な、何だこいつ。アルファ。何か分かるか?』
『見た目通りのサイボーグで、先ほどの動きを見る限り機体の性能を十全に発揮できる実力者。分かるのはそれぐらいね。アキラに興味があるのは、まあ、アキラが子供にしては大活躍しているから、それなりに興味が湧いたってだけだと思うけど』
アキラは妙な居心地の悪さを覚えながらも、それ以上は気にせずに敵の対応を続けていく。今は戦闘中だ。そして最後の攻撃の前段階なのだ。余計なことに意識を割く余裕はない。
ネルゴもそれ以上は特に話さずに的確に敵を撃破していった。
通信機からの機械音声のカウントと一緒にシカラベの声が聞こえる。
「そろそろだ! 俺が撤退を指示するまで、ひたすら撃ち続けろ! この最後の攻撃に参加できなかったやつは、役立たずだと判断する! 生き残っても
「5、4、3......」
アキラ達がロケットランチャーを構える。アキラは両手で構えているので1発分だ。そしてネルゴは4本の腕それぞれで構えているので4発分だった。アキラがそのネルゴを見て少し引いていた。
「2、1、0」
機械音声のカウントに合わせて、アキラ達が一斉にロケット弾を放つ。同じ車両から計5発のロケット弾が飛んでいく。他のハンター達もシカラベの脅しで可能な限りロケット弾の発射を試みていた。無数のロケット弾が次々に空中に飛んでいく。
次のロケット弾を発射しようとするアキラをネルゴが止める。
「ロケット弾の発射は私が請け負おう。腕は私の方が多いからな。君は敵の迎撃の阻止に回ってくれ」
『恐らく親機の制御下にあった状態で親機が破壊されたから、子機の方も同時に制御装置ごと停止したようね。もう大丈夫よ』
『勝ったんだな?』
『結局、あいつは何だったんだ?』
『それもそうだな。......ああ、疲れた』
『お疲れ様。アキラ』
8億オーラムの賞金首は、こうしてシカラベが率いるハンターチームに討伐された。
まっていた。通常のモンスターの討伐とは異なり、討伐後もいろいろやることがあるのだ。
シカラベがすぐにハンターオフィスにタンクランチュラの討伐に成功したことを連絡する。装甲兵員輸送車に積んでいる高出力の通信機を使用し、荒野に配置しておいたドランカムの中継器を介して都市まで連絡できるように、事前に
賞金首の死体や残骸はハンターオフィスに所有権があることになっている。賞金首に認定されるほどのモンスターは倒された後でも価値があるのだ。生物系モンスターならば特異な変異を起こしていることが多い。機械系モンスターならば希少な金属や部品、装置を保持していることがある。それらは企業の研究室に運ばれていろいろ調べられるのだ。
賞金首の死体が残っていないと賞金が支払われない、などということはない。木っ端
だ。賞金首はタンクランチュラだけではない。後3体いるのだ。もう終わったような気分の者が多い中で、シカラベはまだまだこれからだと考えていた。
アルファがアキラの前に座って
『そういう嫌がらせは止めようじゃないか』
視覚から味覚を刺激するそのサンドイッチは実在していないのだ。アキラが手を伸ばしても触れることはできないのだ。口に含もうとしても舌に触れ味わうことは不可能なのだ。
アルファは楽しそうに笑ってそう答えた。アキラは黙って手元のサンドイッチを食べきった。
シカラベ達は装甲兵員輸送車の近くで休憩を取っていた。トガミも同じ場所にいた。ハンターオフィスに報告する賞金首討伐チームの人員を集めているのだ。それはシカラベ、ヤマノベ、パルガ、トガミの4人だ。
仲間達の話を聞いてシカラベも機嫌を戻した。
賞金首を倒したことで気分が高揚しすぎているのかもしれない。シカラベはそう判断して落ち着こうと軽く息を吐いた。
「しかしタンクランチュラは強かったな。あれで8億は軽い詐欺だ。12億は欲しいところだ」
「いや、14億は欲しい。久々に大変だった。それなりに死人も出てるんだ。何人死んだんだっけ?」
「5人だ。借金持ちの連中に死者が出た。内1名は逃げだそうとして監視役に撃たれたやつだけどな」
「実質4人か。まあ、賞金首戦の被害と考えれば上出来だろう」
ヤマノベとパルガは上機嫌だ。だがシカラベは僅かに浮かない顔をしている。ヤマノベがそれに気付いて尋ねる。
「そうだ。確かにあの強さで賞金が8億ってのは残念だが、別に赤字ってわけじゃねえだろう。俺達に
While the Hunters were having a hard time fighting the Tank Tarantulas, Shikarabe barked his order through the communication device.
"Just leave the monsters that are running away alone!! It's not like you get any bounty money from destroying them! If they're protecting the big Tank Tarantula, they might scatter off if we defeat the big Tank Tarantula!! So just focus your firepower on the big Tank Tarantula!! Number 2! How's the marking going?!"
"This is number 2!! I was able to stick some guiding devices on its body, but the smaller Tank Tarantulas are destroying the guiding devices... Wait for a sec?! I spot one of the smaller Tank Tarantula carrying the guiding device away!! And it's going in your direction with the guiding device!! If we shoot the rocket launcher without changing the target setting, some rockets will go in your direction!!"
The countdown started again from the communication device.
"59, 58, 57..."
The same count down was broadcasted to all the Hunters through the communication device. Although all the Hunters heard that, they were too preoccupied with something else to prepare their rocket launchers.
Akira's face turned grim while shooting at the monsters around him. He gritted his teeth hard so that he would not inadvertently say something and bite his own tongue. He was in a situation where it would not help no matter how he cursed or screamed as a swarm of small Tank Tarantulas were trying to board his rocking vehicle controlled by Alpha.
Using the advantage of the telepathy that allowed him to talk even in the middle of such a fierce fight, Akira questioned Alpha about the current situation that he thought to be so unfair.
"Alpha!! Why are they aiming for me?!"
"It's not only you, they're also swarming Shikarabe's vehicle too."
"That's because Shikarabe is the commander in this operation, right?!! He's also riding a big and strong vehicle that looks intimidating, so no wonder why it's sticking out in this situation! It even has that machine-gun equipped too!! While my vehicle is not that different from the others! So why is it only me?!"
"Is it because of my bad luck?! Well, if you say so, then we can't do anything about it, right?!"
Akira himself knew that he had bad luck. So if Alpha said that it was because of his bad luck, he could not do anything else except hoping that her support would be able to handle his bad luck.
On top of that rocking and swaying vehicle, Akira used his augmented suit to absorb the swaying and placed his leg against the vehicle's frame to reduce the kickback from the CWH anti-material rifle as he kept on shooting at the smaller Tank Tarantulas closest to him. In that extremely dangerous situation where a slight shift of his centre of gravity would easily throw him off the vehicle, Akira kept on shooting as if he was possessed by a berserker.
Although the area around that place was already filled with Tank Tarantulas that was turned into scraps, their attacks did not slow down at all.
"Alpha!! No matter how you slice it, there are just too many of them?!! I already killed a whole lot of them, you know?!! The other Hunters are also fighting back and Shikarabe's machine gun should've killed a whole lot of them too!! Why aren't they slowing down at all although we've killed so many of them?!!"
Akira, Shikarabe and the other Hunters had killed a lot of small Tank Tarantulas. But it did not seem that the pressure from the small Tank Tarantulas was dying down at all.
Alpha seemed to be hesitating as she said.
"About that though, I have bad news."
"What is it?! Are they really replicating themselves?!!"
"S-so, we have no other choice but to take out all of them? If that's the case, how many of them are left?"
The seemingly endless swarm shaved on Akira's physical and psychical stamina. He could feel the creeping death coming closer, but he tried to brush that off by shredding the Tank Tarantulas to pieces using the CWH special ammo.
"I have no answer for that. If Shikarabe's guess is correct, they'll scatter once we defeat the big Tank Tarantula. But let's keep fighting assuming that you need to kill all of them. After all, even if Shikarabe's guess is wrong, everything will be fine if you just kill them all."
The countdown for the rocket launcher could be heard from the communication device.
"...6, 5, 4..."
Akira prepared his rocket launcher in panic. There was no need to take an aim, he just needed to pull the trigger and the targeting setting would take care of the rest. He then waited for the signal from the timer and pulled the trigger.
Including the rockets launched from Akira's rocket launcher, about 10 rockets soared to the sky before they changed their direction and flew toward the big Tank Tarantula.
All the small Tank Tarantulas focused their cannons at the rockets, in the end, only 6 rockets reached the big Tank Tarantula. Unlike the first barrage where they used guiding devices, this time they were not using any guiding device, thus the rockets hit the big Tank Tarantula not at the same time and in different places. But even so, the big Tank Tarantula once again was swallowed in explosions.
Unfortunately, the big Tank Tarantula survived that too. Or at least, the small Tank Tarantulas still stayed there to protect the big Tank Tarantula.
"So basically, we need to clean up the small Tank Tarantulas, huh?"
"Yep, that's right. I'll give you my support, so you should give your best too."
There was no other way. Akira decided to believe that was the only way to get out of that situation as he continued fighting desperately.
The more monsters Akira took out, the more they would set him as a dangerous target and the more they focused on him. As more and more Tank Tarantulas swarmed him, Akira would defeat them which caused more monsters to focus on him. Though, Akira himself did not realize that cycle.
Although Alpha knew about that cycle, she decided not to tell Akira since she thought that there was no meaning in telling him.
Now, the reason as to why the monsters focused more on Akira was because of how good his aim was while he was moving on his vehicle. He would snipe a monster far away from him even before Varga told him to do so, and that attracted the attention of the small Tank Tarantulas which saw that. Because of that, albeit only slightly, the monsters in that area focused more on Akira compared to the other Hunters.
If Akira did not do that, his threat level would be evaluated as the same compared to the other Hunters; a fact that even Alpha did not know about.
It was all Akira's bad luck. That was all there was to it just like what Alpha declared.
Togami was clinging for his life, due to the violent driving. He desperately grabbed on anything that he could find to make sure that he would not get thrown off-board from that violently swaying vehicle while trying to shoot at the small Tank Tarantulas around him.
[...Dammit!! This is pathetic!! So pathetic!!]
Togami kept on cursing on his own patheticness while shooting at the small Tank Tarantulas.
Then here Akira made a mistake in his priority. Up until now, he prioritized the monsters nearest to him based only on their distances, but he should have considered the length of their bodies too.
While he was focused on a 1-metre long spider, a 2-metre long spider suddenly rushed toward him. But before it could crash its body onto Akira's vehicle, Akira quickly shot and destroyed its legs.
In the next moment, it detached its stomach from which thousands of smaller Tank Tarantulas poured out.
"What the heck are they?! There are even more of them?!"
Alpha quickly gave Akira an order.
"Akira! Get the Tank Tarantulas off the vehicle, quickly!! Otherwise, they're going to eat your vehicle!!"
Akira was taken aback when he caught Togami aiming a high calibre rifle at the Tank Tarantula on his vehicle.
Akira inadvertently shouted at him and quickly kicked the Tank Tarantula that Togami was aiming at off his vehicle.
"What the hell are you doing?! Don't shoot the vehicle with that rifle!! You'll destroy my vehicle!!"
Togami fl.u.s.teredly replied back.
"We don't have the time for that now!! Like hell a wasteland vehicle is going to get destroyed because of that!!"
In reality, Togami was correct there. But Akira thought that Togami was using the same powerful ammo as his CWH anti-material special ammo, that was why he shouted at Togami when he saw Togami aiming at his own vehicle.
"What the fu...!!"
Even before he could finish his sentence, his face froze. A 2-metre long Tank Tarantula suddenly leapt at him. It was not clear whether it was because that Tank Tarantula ran out of ammo or because it needed food, but that Tank Tarantula was trying to eat him.
The thought of death accelerated Togami's mind as time seemed to be running slowly around him. The scene of a Tank Tarantula approaching him in slow motion was reflected into Togami's eyes. In that slow-motion world, Togami was trying to scream.
But at the next moment, Akira suddenly appeared in his field of view, he drove a diving kick with both of his legs straight at the small Tank Tarantula that was approaching Togami. That powerful dive slammed that Tank Tarantula to the ground and drove its huge body into the ground.
"Akira, that was dangerous, you know?"
Akira's face looked grim as he answered back.
Akira lightly smiled.
"I'll contact Shikarabe and throw him to Shikarabe's APC."
Just like Akira, Shikarabe's APC was also getting swarmed by the Tank Tarantulas. And when he shot those Tank Tarantulas, even smaller Tank Tarantulas would pour out from the dead Tank Tarantula. Not to mention, the machine gun fixed on his APC could not shoot the Tank Tarantulas beside the APC.
Shikarabe noticed that the vehicle's durability shown in the control device was slowly falling down, he then clicked his tongue and said.
"It can't be helped, huh. I guess I have no other choice but to take care of it myself."
Shikarabe turned on the autopilot and left the steering wheel. He opened the back door of that APC to shoot down the Tank Tarantulas that attached themselves on the APC, but he then noticed Akira's vehicle heading his way.
Shikarabe laughed.
"That boy literally threw Togami to my vehicle. He really meant what he said, huh?"
Togami was still dumbfounded since Akira threw him, so Shikarabe lightly kicked him to get him back into reality.
But Togami still could not process what just happened. Shikarabe grabbed him and shook his head to force him back.
"Togami!! Can you drive? Or not? Give me an answer!"
"Take the wheel now. The auto-drive function is not that smart after all, call me if you find any troubles."
"Since there's no need to worry about that boy anymore, I'll go even faster than before. Make sure to be careful, okay?"
"Wait for a sec, we're going to go even faster?"
After hearing that explanation, Akira sounded doubtful as he asked Alpha.
"Yep, we'll lose at this rate. If we can do another barrage just like the first one, I believe we can end the fight though. I'm sure Shikarabe also did not see this coming at all."
"Then why are we not pulling back at all? If we don't have any chance to win, we'll only spend more ammo the longer we drag this fight."
"That's because it's not like we have no chance to win. Moreover, if only the other Tank Tarantulas did not come, or if only there were not as many Tank Tarantulas, we would have won by now. That sense of so close from winning must have caused them to delay the withdrawal. I'm sure they've also used the ammo reserved for the next bounty monster in this fight, that must be also what prevented them from calling the hunt off. Assuming that we'll win this fight in the end, I think it's the correct choice to continue the fight."
"But we'll lose at this rate, right? So what's the big plan?"
"I think Shikarabe will tell you the next plan soon."
Alpha's guess was correct, Shikarabe quickly gave a new order through the communication device.
"Everyone, listen!! The next barrage will be the last barrage. If we can't defeat the bounty monster with the next barrage, we'll pull back from here! Change the setting on the rocket launcher, set the air-time to max before you shoot the rockets. Use all the rockets that you have for the next barrage. Once you shoot the rockets, focus on destroying the spiders that are trying to shoot down the rockets. Next one is the last one!! So put your back on it! If we can't kill the bounty monster here, you guys won't get any money!!"
Akira lightly laughed and let out a big sigh, his face turned serious.
"Alright then, whatever happens, the next one is the last barrage. If it's possible, I want to win this. I'll give my best shot."
"It seems that you have calmed down now. That's a good thing."
"Well, I'm more or less used to this kind of thing already. The only problem is whether I can get money in the end or not. After all, I don't want to get used to achieving losses."
Nergo drove to Akira's side and said to him.
"Yo, I'm Nergo. Is it okay if we go together? I've already used most of the rockets that were given to me, you see."
"Well, that would help me a lot. So sure, I don't really mind."
Nergo then jumped over to Akira's vehicle. Nergo's vehicle was barely disturbed when he jumped off and he also barely made any sounds when he landed on Akira's vehicle with his leftover rocket launcher.
Akira was surprised when he saw that. Nergo then said to Akira.
"What's wrong?"
"Ah, no, it's just that you did that so casually that it surprised me for a bit."
"I spent quite a lot of money on this body, you see. Ah, right, we're in the middle of a battle here, I need to get back to my job."
Nergo then started shooting at the monsters around him, Akira fl.u.s.teredly followed suit.
"By the way, you're Akira, right?"
"I saw you fight. You're really skilled. As you can see, I'm a cyborg. So like, by any chance, are you a cyborg too?"
"I see, so you're an augmented suit user, huh?"
Nergo took a good look at Akira while still shooting the monsters around the area without having much trouble. In contrast to that, Akira was having a hard time answering his question in that situation.
"W-what's with this guy? Alpha, do you know anything about him?"
"Just like you can see, he's a cyborg. And judging from his move just now, it seems that it's a pretty high-quality cyborg body. I guess that's all. While as for why he's interested in you, well, you're doing pretty well although you're just a boy. So it's normal if he's a bit interested in you."
Akira still felt a bit weirded out there, but he decided to just drop it and focus more on the enemies in front of him. He was in the middle of the battlefield and right before they would launch the last coordinated attack, so it was not like he had a lot of leeways there.
Nergo did not say anything in particular after that and continued shooting accurately at the monsters around them.
Suddenly, Shiakarabe's voice could be heard from the communication device together with the countdown.
"Get ready, it's the time!! Keep shooting until I give an order to pull back!! If you don't participate until the very end, I'll judge that you didn't contribute at all in this battle!! So don't expect to get any money even if you can return back alive!!"
"5, 4, 3..."
Akira and Nergo readied their rocket launchers. Akira used both of his hands to carry one rocket launcher, while Nergo used each of his 4 arms to carry 4 rocket launchers. Akira was a bit intimidated when he saw Nergo like that.
"...2, 1, 0!"
Together with the countdown, Akira and Nergo released a barrage of rockets. There were basically 5 rocket launchers spewing rockets on top of that one vehicle. The other Hunters also tried their best to participate in that barrage after Shikarabe threatened them. In the next moment, the rockets crowded the sky in that area.
Akira put down his rocket launcher and was about to reload but Nergo suddenly stopped him.
"I'll do the rockets, I have more arms after all. You should focus on the small Tank Tarantulas."
"It seems that the control device on the big Tank Tarantula is destroyed, so the smaller Tank Tarantulas have stopped working. It's alright now."
"We won, right?"
"So, in the end, just who exactly is that guy?"
"Well, that's kind of true... Ahhh, I'm so tired."
"You did great there, Akira."
With this, the 800,000,000 Aurum bounty monster was defeated by Shikarabe's team.
The other Hunters also stayed there after they defeated the bounty monster. Unlike when you killed a normal monster, there were a lot of things to take care of after you defeated a bounty monster.
Shikarabe contacted the Hunter Office to inform them that he killed the bounty monster. He had made some arrangements beforehand so that he could use the powerful communication device in his APC to hook up with Drankam's communication line to reach the Hunter Office.
The ownership of the dead body or the leftover wreckage of the bounty monster would be transferred to the Hunter Office. It was in order to dissect the monsters that were set as bounty monsters. If it was a biological monster, it might be the result of some kind of mutation. And if it was a mechanical monster, it might have some rare materials or metals or machines. All of them would be carried to the lab for more inspections and research.
Of course, it was not like they would not pay anything if there was no corpse or leftover wreckage. Hunter Office knew well that telling the Hunters to gather the leftover after they turned the monster into small pieces would only cause a needless fight.
But even so, Shikarabe still told them to do that. It was for the sake of speeding up the administration process in the Hunter Office. With the Tank Tarantula down, there were still 3 bounty monsters. Most of the Hunters there thought that it was the end, but Shikarabe thought that he was just getting started.
Alpha was sitting in front of Akira while also enjoying her food. Of course, it was all just images. It was only to fit the mood.
"Can you stop teasing me like this?"
That extremely delicious-looking sandwich was not real. Even if Akira extended his hand, he would not be able to even touch that sandwich, and of course, it was impossible for him to taste it.
Alpha seemed to be having so much fun there. Akira just went back to eating his sandwich without saying anything back.
Shikarabe and his friends were also taking a break near Shikarabe's APC. Togami was also with them. The Hunter Office was collecting the names of who defeated the bounty monster, and it was 4 names-Shikarabe, Yamanobe, Varga and Togami.
After hearing the other's opinion, Shikarabe finally calmed down.
Shikarabe might have gotten too excited after killing a bounty monster, that was what he thought as he took a breath to calm himself down.
"But still, that Tank Tarantula was really strong. The 800,000,000 Aurum prize is a scam. That one should have at least 1,200,000,000 Aurum prize money."
"No no no, I want at least 1,400,000,000 Aurum. It has been quite a while since I had such a difficult fight. Not to mention that we got some dead Hunters too. How many got killed in that fight?"
"5 Hunters. All are debt-ridden Hunters and I heard one of them was killed since his observer shot him when he tried to run away."
"So it's basically 4 Hunters, huh. Well, considering that we fought a bounty monster, I think we did well."
Yamanobe and Varga were in a good mood. But that was not the case for Shikarabe. Yamanobe, who noticed that decided to ask him.
"Yep. It's true that it's rather unfortunate we can only get that much money after defeating such a powerful monster. But it's not like we don't get any profits either, right? Not to mention that none of us got injured too. Result-wise, I think it's not that bad, you know?"
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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