277 危機
交戦を続けていたアキラが相手の行動の変化に気付いて首を
そのタイミングでの砲撃中止にアキラは軽く困惑していた。
『アルファ。あれ、撤退しようとしてる訳じゃないよな?』
『恐らく違うわ。でも相手が守勢に回るのなら、アキラもここで切り上げるのも良いと思うわよ。相手に有利な布陣に付き合う必要はないわ』
『うーん。まあ、それなりに被害は与えたか』
元より文字通りの全滅は狙っていない。生き残りが再度部隊を調えて襲ってくるにしても時間は掛かる。その間に坂下重工から新装備が届けば、次は格段に優位に戦える。アキラはそう考えて、そろそろ引き時かと判断した。
だがその判断を許さない者が現れる。赤い人型兵器がアキラに高速で迫っていた。
『残念だけれど、向こうもまだアキラを逃がすつもりは無いようね』
『そうみたいだな。何か一機だけで突っ込んできてるけど』
しながらキャロルと一緒に砲火を浴びせた。それを何度か繰り返し、何度もしっかりと命中させたが、機体は落ちずに更に距離を詰めてくる。
『......硬いな! まあ、一機だけで突っ込んでくるぐらいだから、防御には自信のある機体なんだろうけど』
『アキラ。敵が広範囲の砲撃を再開する動きを見せたわ。気を付けて』
『分かった。......えっ? でもこの状態で砲撃を再開したらあの機体を巻き込むんじゃ......』
『撃ちやがった! アルファ! あの赤い機体はどうなった?』
赤い機体の表面からは僅かに煙が上がっている。しかしその煙の発生源は機体表面に付いた砲弾の破片であり、機体そのものは無傷だ。その健在振りを示すように更にアキラに近付いてくる。
『あのデータ連係ってやつで味方の砲撃のタイミングが分かるからか!』
『そういうことよ。気を付けなさい。あの機体、味方に撃たれる前提でアキラを殺しにきているわ。あの行動パターンから判断すると、強引に近距離戦を仕掛けることでこちらの動きを阻害して、後方からの砲撃を一緒に
アキラを有効射程内に収めた赤い機体がより正確に銃撃してくる。その撃ち方はアルファの説明を肯定するかのように、目標の撃破よりも移動の阻害を目的としたものだった。
『そういうことか! 体を張ってるな! アルファ! しっかりサポートしてくれよ!』
『任せなさい。でもその分だけアキラの負荷も高くなるわ。アキラもしっかり覚悟を決めておきなさい』
挑発的に笑うアルファに、アキラも意気を高めて笑って返す。
『ああ! それは俺の担当だからな!』
その返事と共に、バイクが赤い機体へ向けて加速する。相手との距離が近いほど誤射の確率も上がる。苛烈に降り注ぐ砲撃をアキラ達は回避で、赤い機体は防御で対応しての、どちらが先に潰れるかの耐久戦が始まった。
人型兵器とバイクで撃ち合い斬り合うという、自身の感覚では常軌を逸した戦いをアキラの背から間近で見て、キャロルは恐怖よりも興奮を強く覚えていた。
(強いとは思っていたけど......、ここまで強いなんて......!)
砲撃により吹き飛ばされた大量の土砂が荒れ狂う爆風によって更に巻き上げられ、拳大の石すら滞空し続ける激しい砲火の中、赤い機体が人型兵器用の巨大な銃を連射する。特大の弾丸が舞い上がる
一進一退の攻防が続く。絶え間無い砲撃の中で行われるその激戦は、500億オーラムの賞金首とそれを狩ろうとするハンターの実力を確かに示すものだった。
ゲルグスはアキラの強さに改めて驚きながらも違和感を覚えていた。
(ここまで強いのか! リオンズテイル社の連中、本当に見せしめ代の増額無しで賞金懸けたのかよ! いや、これ、500億じゃ足りてねえんじゃねえか? それにこいつの回避力はどうなってる? 俺がこの至近距離からこいつの位置データを送った上でデータ連係をやってるんだぞ? 砲撃の精度は飛躍的に上がってるはずだ。なぜそれをここまで避けられる?)
自分と至近距離で戦って移動を阻害されながら、絶え間無く続く砲撃を完全に回避するなど、幾ら何でも無理がある。何か裏があるのでは。無意識にそう思い続けていたゲルグスの中で違和感は疑念に変わり、気付きを生んだ。
それは有り得ないと思いながらも、懸念が拭えずに確認を取る。機体の情報収集機器が取得したデータを、部隊のデータ連係システムを通して再取得し差分を取った。その結果は、懸念が正しいことを示していた。照準補正用データに差異が出たのだ。
余りの驚きにゲルグスは一瞬だけ硬直した。だがすぐに我に返り、部隊全体に通信を
部隊に裏切り者がいるとは思いたくない。別の経路で漏れたのかもしれない。犯人捜しをする時間は無い。様々な考えが止めどなく浮かんで混乱しそうな思考を、ゲルグスは一度切り捨てた。そして思考の方向性を絞る。
システムに侵入されている以上、データ連係はもう使用できない。だが使用しないと砲撃の精度が著しく落ちる。データは適当に
に気付かれた! 狙われてる! 何とかしてくれ!』
『とにかく逃げろ! 赤い機体はこっちで何とかする!』
『砲撃は!?』
『死ぬ気で避けろ!』
ゲルグスがキャンピングカーの破壊を優先したことで、アキラとゲルグスの攻守は逆転した。
赤い機体はアキラへの攻撃を控えてキャンピングカーへの接近を優先し、それを阻止しようとアキラがキャロルと一緒に攻撃を加えている。攻勢なのはアキラ達だが、劣勢なのもアキラ達だった。キャンピングカーを破壊される前に機体を撃破しなければならないという制限時間が生まれたからだ。
くは保つ。しかしその強固な装甲でも機体に至近距離まで近付かれればどうしようもない。人型兵器の近接武装は銃のような攻撃範囲を持たない分だけ強力だ。一撃で大破する。
そしてキャンピングカーとの距離を縮め続けた赤い機体とアキラ達は、キャンピングカーを狙う砲撃に巻き込まれる距離まで車両に近付いた。アキラに残された制限時間は残り僅かだ。それを示すように赤い機体が銃ではなくブレードで車両を攻撃する。勢い良く振るわれた巨大な刃が光刃を飛ばし、斬撃の波動が地を裂いた。その亀裂は車両のすぐ
その返事を聞いたアキラは驚き、思わず不満そうな顔を浮かべた。
『何とかなる方法があったのなら、もっと早く言ってくれ!』
『それだけ危険なのよ。それでも良いの?』
今までの激戦、砲弾の雨も人型兵器との至近距離での撃ち合い斬り合いも、アルファの感覚では安全の
『やる』
アキラがそう決めたのであれば、アルファもそれに応える。激励するように不敵に
『それ、意味あるのか?』
『良いからやれ。やらないと次は車両ごと真っ二つになるぞ。さっきは何とかしたけど、次も何とか出来る保証は無いぞ?』
車両のカメラで光刃とその痕を見ていたシロウも腹を
『分かった。タイミングは?』
『こっちで合わせるから出来る限り急げ』
『これも貸しだぞ?』
アキラはそれで話を終えると、こんな状況でも貸しを持ち出すシロウの態度にある意味で感心した。そして意識を切り替えて今度はキャロルに作戦を伝える。するとキャロルは軽く笑った。
アキラは気を引き締めて息と意気を整えた。
ゲルグスはキャンピングカーを狙い始めてからのアキラの行動から、自身の推察が正しかったことを確信した。それは部分的には間違っているのだが、シロウを殺せばデータ連係システムの
味方の砲撃に再び巻き込まれるが、それは元々覚悟の上だと車両に近付いていく。その間も車両を銃撃したが、相手もかなり頑丈な荒野仕様車両で耐えられてしまう。ならばと、ブレードでの攻撃が届く距離まで接近し、攻撃する。だが邪魔をされた所為で外してしまう。次は当てる。そう意気込みながらブレードにエネルギーを込めていく。
その時、前方の車両の後部扉が僅かに開いた。そしてそこから大量の発煙弾が捨てられる。それらはすぐに爆発し、車両後方に一気に煙を
いだと思ったゲルグスが笑いながらバイクに銃を向ける。銃口の先ではキャロルだけがバイクに乗ってレーザー砲を構えていた。
それを見たゲルグスの顔が驚きに染まる。バイクにアキラの姿は無かった。
(いない! どこにいった!? 落ちたのか!? 反応は!?)
すぐに情報収集機器でアキラを探したが、それらしい反応はどこにも無かった。その困惑がゲルグスの動きを僅かに乱す。
の出力を背面に偏らせることは出来た。
『アキラ! 急いで!』
機体が大破する直前、敗北を悟ったゲルグスは苦笑を浮かべていた。高ランクハンターだけあってゲルグスの意識は高速戦闘に追い付いており、訳も分からずに倒されたのではなく、何をされたのかしっかりと理解していた。
(あそこから俺の機体に貼り付くか......! 何て野郎だ......!)
機体のジェネレーターを破壊されて動力源を失い、操作不能になった機体が慣性のままに高速で地面に激突する。
「何度もやったの!? 本当に頭おかしいわね!」
「......褒められてるって解釈しとくよ」
「......撃ってこないってことは、向こうも諦めたか。疲れた......」
「それなら中でゆっくり休みましょう。その
『アキラ! 警戒して!』
『右よ!』
アキラはバイクから外しておいたLEO複合銃を反射的に右へ向けながら敵を視認しようとした。しかしそこには代わり映えのない荒野の風景が広がるだけだった。視認できないほどに遠い位置にいるのか、
するとほんの僅かな違和感を覚えた場所に襲撃者の姿が映し出された。アルファがアキラの情報収集機器のデータから相手の迷彩を突破し拡張視界に描写したのだ。
しかし既に手遅れだった。アキラが照準を相手に合わせ直す前に、襲撃者はアキラとの距離を詰め終えていた。そして胸に掌底を打ち込むようにしてアキラを車両の屋根から押し出し、そのままアキラを荒野の地面に
「初めまして。私はクガマヤマ都市の職員をしているヤナギサワという者だ。少し、お話を聞かせてもらえるかな?」
眉間に銃を突き付けられ厳しい表情を浮かべるアキラに向けて、ヤナギサワは、調子良く、楽しげに笑っていた。
Ch 277
During the battle, Akira noticed the sudden change in the enemy movement. He was a bit bewildered by it. The bombardment momentarily stopped and the enemies around him rapidly retreated.
Therefore, Akira was confused as to why they suddenly stopped their bombardment.
"Alpha. It's not like they're retreating, right?"
"Probably not. But if they're changing to form a defensive formation, it might be a good idea for us to leave. There's no need to continue fighting them when they have the advantages."
"Hmmm, well, I think we've already done some damage to them anyway. Huh?"
In the first place, Akira was not planning to fight them until the last man. Even if the survivors regrouped and once again went after him, they would need some time before they could do so. If Akira could get his new equipment from Sakashita during that time, he could fight the next battle in a much better state. Therefore, he thought that it was a good idea to call it a day.
However, someone prevented Akira from doing so. A red powered suit suddenly came chasing after him.
"Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they're planning to let you get away just yet."
"Yeah. That does seem to be the case. Though, it seems like it's coming alone."
Akira found that to be strange. However, it did not stop him from shooting at the powered suit. Carol and Akira were both shooting back at it while evading its shots. Even with most of their shots hitting their marks, the powered suit did not seem to slow down at all. It kept closing in on them.
"...This guy is just too tough! Well, since it's charging at me, alone, I guess that's just how much faith it has in its defences, huh?"
"Akira, it seems like the others are going to resume the bombardment. So, be careful."
"Sure... Wait... If they do that, won't they hit that unit too...?"
"They really opened fire! Alpha! What about that red powered suit?"
The red powered suit was covered in smoke. However, the smoke was not produced by it. They came from the shells and warheads that hit it. The powered suit was unscathed as it still charged toward Akira. It was as if it wanted to show how the bombardment had no effect on it.
"I see. So, it's exchanging information with the rest of the group, huh!?"
"Yup. So, be careful. This means that the powered suit has resolved itself to take some shots if it is to kill you. Judging from how it is moving, I bet it's trying to keep you in place. Pin you down with a close-range fight and then take you down using the bombardment from the rest of the team."
The red powered suit that kept Akira inside its effective shooting range started shooting more accurately at him. As if to confirm Alpha's guess, those shots were obviously meant to stop him from maneuvering around instead of killing him.
"I see! So, he's prepared to take some damage himself, huh!? Alpha! Give me your full support!"
"Leave it to me! But, this will place your body under immense stress. So, make sure that you're ready."
Against Alpha's smile of challenge, Akira smiled in excitement, firing up his spirit.
"But of course! That part is my responsibility, after all!"
At the same time he gave his reply, the bikes suddenly made a sharp turn. It charged right toward the red powered suit. The closer they got, the more hits the red powered suit would have to take. It was between Akira and Carol evading the bombardment and the red powered suit taking it with its superb defence. It was a battle of attrition between them. Just which one of them would be crushed under the storm of warhead first?
Carol was watching closely from his back. It was an abnormal scene where a full-sized powered suit was duking out intensely with someone on a bike. They were exchanging bullets and slashes, pushing and pulling. But instead of feeling fear, all she felt was exhilaration.
[I always thought that he was extremely strong... But I never thought he was this strong...!!]
The area that was enveloped in smoke was muddled further with the dust particles that were thrown around during their intense exchange. The red powered suit kept shooting as the continuous explosions that enveloped the area kept even the rocks and rubbles from reaching the ground. The powered suit's gun was spewing out large bullets that tore the air as they sought after their target.
As the battle continued, locked in an impasse, they still managed to throw attacks at one another even when under the intense bombardment. This demonstrated their skill as a 50 billion bounty Hunter and a Hunter who was after him.
Gelgus once again found himself surprised by how powerful Akira was. He quickly felt that something was not right.
[To think that he's this powerful! That 50 billion Aurum bounty from Lion Steel is really based on his real strength, huh!? No, this is already way past the 50 billion bounty mark. What the heck is with those moves? I'm fighting this guy with information support sent from the other units around here, you know? I should be able to hit him with my weapons easily. How the heck is he managing to avoid everything I throw at him?]
Having been locked in a melee fight with him while avoiding the non-ceasing bombardment. It seemed impossible to survive no matter how much Gelgus thought about it. He could not help but get suspicious that there was something more going on behind the scene.
As he was thinking of the impossible, he tried to clear his doubt. He compared the data that his information-gathering device acquired with the information that he was receiving from the other units. His fear was proven to be true, there was a small difference in the data used to refine his aim.
Gelgus was frozen for a split second. However, he quickly returned to himself and opened a line toward the whole hunting party.
He did not want to think further. There might be someone who was betraying the group from the inside. Otherwise, it might have leaked from another route. Nonetheless, they could not afford to do a witch hunt right now. With his mind muddled with many thoughts, Gelgus decided to cleanse everything up and focus on one thing for now.
With the information-sharing system hacked, he could no longer use the data from the sharing system. Without it, his accuracy would greatly fall. It was not like the data got completely forged. It was only slightly changed to throw off his aim. Enough not to hit Akira. Gelgus then placed another assumption on top of his train of thought.
"Akira! They noticed the hacking and they're aiming for me right now! Do something!"
"Just try to get away! I will take care of the red powered suit!"
"How about the bombardment?!"
"Run like your life depends on it."
With Gelgus prioritizing the destruction of the camping vehicle, his situation with Akira had been reversed.
The red powered suit was trying to get to the camping vehicle while Akira and Carol were trying to stop him. Although they were now on the offensive, they were also the ones pushed into a corner. This time, they had to destroy the red powered suit before it could destroy the camping vehicle.
Fortunately, the camping vehicle was prepared by Carol. It was fitted to be proficient at escaping. It was protected by resilient armour tiles. Thus, was still able to withstand the assault. It was still fine even after getting hit by the bombardment and a few of the red powered suit's shots. Basically, it could maintain this situation for some time. However, the closer the red powered suit was, the more damaging its hit would be. The melee weapon that it had was way stronger than its gun. One hit was enough to destroy the camping vehicle.
As the pursuing red powered suit got close enough to the camping vehicle. It also started taking hits from the bombardment. It reached for its blade instead of its gun and attacked the camping vehicle. It was a clear indication that Akira was running out of time. It swung and the released energy wave sliced the ground apart, all the way past the camping vehicle. However, it did not manage to hit its target.
Akira was surprised by her reply, he then pouted and asked.
"If you knew of a way to take it down, couldn't we have done it sooner?"
"That's just how dangerous it is, are you sure you want to do this?"
All the intense exchange of close-range blows under continuous bombardment up until now was still on the safe side according to Alpha. By that standard, the next move would certainly be extremely dangerous. Akira understood this. Thus, he pulled himself together and firmly replied.
"Let's do this."
Now that he had decided on it, Alpha had no reason to refuse. She smugly smiled and said.
"Is there any reason why I should do something like that?"
"Just do it. If you don't, that camping vehicle will be sliced into two by the next attack. I somehow managed to make it miss the last time. But, I have no guarantee I can do it again for the next one."
As Shirou glanced at the energy blade through the camera, he decided to shut up and do as he was told to.
"Alright, when should I do it?"
"I can go anytime, just hurry up."
"You owe me one for this, you hear me?"
Akira shut off the telepathic connection and was honestly impressed by how Shirou still had the guts to bring that up in his current situation. Though, that thought deviated from the main task at hand so Akira quickly shook it off his mind. He informed Carol of what she should do next. In contrast to Shirou, Carol lightly smiled and asked.
Akira made his resolve and readied himself.
While chasing the camping vehicle, Gelgus noticed a change in Akria's movement. He was certain that his guess was correct. Although some parts of his guess were not wrong, it did not change the fact that the hacking would stop if he killed Shirou, who was inside that camping vehicle. In other words, Akira was in a hard-pressed situation.
Although the bombardment continued to hit the red powered suit, he continued to solely focus on catching up to the camping vehicle. He could opt for his rifle. However, the camping vehicle was well armoured, and his rifle would not be enough to destroy it. Thus, his choice was to come close. Enough to use his blade to cut it apart. Since his first swing got interrupted and was made to miss, he swore that the next one would land. He quickly gathered energy into his blade to prepare for the next strike.
Suddenly, the back door of the camping vehicle opened up and an enormous amount of explosives rolled out from it. Each one of them blew up, making a trail of black smog.
Believing that his powered suit was able to withstand Akira's attack, Gelgus aimed his rifle at the bike. But for some reason, there was only Carol on top of it, aiming back at the powered suit.
Gelgus raised his eyebrows. Akira was nowhere to be found.
[He's gone! Where is he!? Did he fall off?! The sensor!]
Gelgus quickly used his information-gathering device to scan the surrounding area. However, he could not find Akira. The unexpected turn of events shocked and greatly confused him.
Akira then crawled to the back of the powered suit and emptied the magazine in his rifle. It was to reduce the defence on the front as much as possible. Even with a barrage of fully charged C bullets, released point-blank, it was not enough to leave a scratch on its armour tiles. Rather, it did not even manage to break through its forcefield armour. Though, Akira's barrage at least managed to force all its energy to focus on its back.
"Akira! Hurry up!"
Before the unit broke down, Gelgus smiled wryly, accepting his defeat. As a high-ranking Hunter, he was able to keep up with everything that just happened. He knew well what Akira did that led to this conclusion.
[So... he was sticking on me when we were in the jamming smoke, huh!? What a crazy bastard...!]
With the generator completely destroyed, Gelgus was no longer able to control the powered suit. He was at the mercy of inertia as he flew straight and crashed. Without the forcefield armour to protect the suit, impact crushed the powered suit.
"Just how many times have you done this then!? Are you sure you're alright in the head?!"
"...I will take that as a compliment."
"...They've stopped. I guess they have given up on us, huh? Man, that was tiring..."
"Let's take a good rest inside. We protected the camping vehicle for that, right?"
"Akira! Watch out!"
"To your right!"
Akira quickly reached for the LEO multi-rifle that he did not fix on the bike's arm and looked to the right. He scanned around but there was nothing at all. It was either that the enemy was too far away to be seen with the naked eye or someone who was hiding using an extremely advanced camouflaging device.
Suddenly, someone appeared out of nowhere from where Akira felt a slight disturbance from. Alpha quickly focused Akira's information-gathering device to check that particular location and displayed the result in Akira's enhanced vision.
However, everything was already too late. Right before Akira was able to align the muzzle towards his target, the opponent quickly closed the distance between them. The enemy released a powerful punch, launching Akira off from the top of the vehicle like a rag doll. He landed hard on the ground, enough to create a crater. It was so powerful that Akira's augmented suit was not able to neutralize the impact.
"Nice to meet you. I am Yanagisawa from Kugamayama City Management. Can I have a bit of your time?"
Akira was on the ground with a rifle pointed toward his forehead. His stern gaze was directed at the person in front of him, Yanagisawa, a man who was smiling with his usual flippant attitude at Akira.
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