Kurosawa was aiming his huge rifle from outside the Seranthal building, his rifle was so huge as if it was ripped off straight from a tank. There was no need to question its power nor its price.
He was checking the enemy’s situation using his aiming device. He confirmed that his shot hit its target from the flash of the force field armour. But it was a whole different question whether it damaged its target or not.
Kurosawa’s face twitched, his target was doing fine. Although it must have at least significantly lowered the energy reserve of its force field armour, the special, expensive, bullet that he used there did not give him the result that he was expecting.
Kurosawa made an exasperated face as he mumbled.
“That didn’t work, huh. So, they want to secure that building with that huge monster there. I guess that explains why they dispatched those squads to surround this building.”
He then checked on his men.
“Anyone injured?”
“No. Everyone was able to escape from that monster unharmed. No one was left behind either, we’ve confirmed that. In the first place, no one here is weak enough to get injured fighting those smaller monsters that were flowing out from that building.”
“Alright then. Everyone, get behind the portable walls and keep suppressing the monsters. Safety is number one here, there’s no need to save your ammo. If the portable wall gets too weak, immediately pull back. Get about 10 Hunters for transporting equipment and focus more on materials that can be used on walls. We can retrieve the equipment for detecting monsters later, it seems that the sensitivity of our detection devices is doing well outside the building. Prioritize more on strengthening the barricade while suppressing the monsters coming out from that building. If we keep this up, even though we would fail to secure the first floor of that building, we should still be able to save some of our reputation. If the monsters are pushing back too hard, retreat and regroup with the squads surrounding this area. There’s no need to get too reckless.”
“Roger that!”
Kurosawa saw his men leave before aiming back at the huge monster in the front hall of the Seranthal building. Seeing that the monster was completely fine, Kurosawa’s face turned sterner.
[…I will try to shoot some more and if it still doesn’t work, I will have to give up on destroying that monster. It’s impossible to get into that building without killing that monster. If that’s the one taking command of the smaller monsters, it would mean that we’ll be able to deal a big blow on their force if we can kill it, but… Should I contact the squads surrounding the area and ask them to send the humanoid soldiers to kill that big monster?… I guess that would be a no… I don’t even have the rights to do that and I don’t think that they’ll help us anyway. Well, once the main squad is here to secure that building, someone from the upper echelon will give them the order to give us support if that is really needed. Although I don’t know when that would be, it’s not my place to be thinking about that.]
Kurosawa gathered himself together and pulled the trigger. The bullet that was shot from his rifle had the same firepower as a tank warhead, it flew straight at the humongous monster, destroying some B18 monsters on its way there.
Once again, Kurosawa confirmed that he hit his mark, but it did not seem to affect that monster at all. He checked again and lightly sighed because of a completely different reason.
“What is it? I’m busy right now, I have no time to take care of trivial stuff.”
Katsuya was standing not too far from Kurosawa with a stern face.
He looked seriously at Kurosawa and said.
“I have a request.”
“Nope!”
Kurosawa gave an instant reply without looking back at Katsuya. There was no space for negotiation. Katsuya was a bit surprised by that firm rejection.
Lilina, who was next to Katsuya, suddenly butted in. Although she was stunned too, she forced herself to say something there to help Katsuya.
“We haven’t even said anything yet!! At least listen to what we have to say!!”
Kurosawa looked obviously annoyed as he clicked his tongue, just like last time, he replied without looking at Katsuya and Lilina.
“I bet you want my help to retrieve your men that got left behind in that building, right? My answer is no. We have no reason nor obligation to help you. Why should I put my men in danger just in order to save your men? So no. I myself don’t want to do it, and I’m sure my men don’t want to do it too. We’re here putting our life at risk for a chance to get money, we’re basically here to exchange our life for money. We’re only here for that request because we judged that the reward that we might get this time is worth using the power that we have worked hard to attain, the expenses of our consumables, and the risk of death that we’ll face. We might be willing to do that for our comrades, but I don’t see any reason to do that for free for another group that is hostile to us.”
Unlike Kurosawa’s group that immediately left the Seranthal building without wasting a second. Katsuya’s group, who saw Kurosawa’s group leaving, thought that it was weird and did nothing else. After all, in their mind, Kurosawa’s group had just wasted their hard work to secure the first floor. So, they ended up withdrawing late from that building.
Because of that, some of Katsuya’s men did not make it and got left behind. It was unclear whether they were still alive or already dead. If they were to be optimistic, those Hunters might have barricaded themselves somewhere, waiting to be saved. But if they were to be pessimistic, those Hunters would be already annihilated by now. Katsuya prioritized more on the former, he could not bring himself to take the latter guess.
Katsuya, Yumina, and Lilina were about to try to negotiate with Kurosawa out of kindness, sense of virtue, and arrogance respectively. But Kurosawa who was still shooting there spoke first.
“Are you going to tell me that it’s exactly because we’re in this situation that we should be helping each other now? Don’t make me laugh. It’s true that helping each other is a good thing, but that is if we both have the capability and willingness to help each other. For the willingness side, well I can understand your feeling, so I’m not really against negotiating with you, but it’s a whole different story for the capability. I and my men think that you guys will only be dead weight to us. We don’t think that you have the ability to help us, so it won’t be helping out each other, it’ll be us one-sidedly helping you. And if we do that, then it’ll be out of our kindness. But I and my men don’t have the leeway to act out of kindness at the moment. As in matter of fact, we’re already helping you guys out by letting you guys use our portable walls. So you should be grateful for that.”
To be honest, Kurosawa only allowed Katsuya’s men use his group’s portable wall since otherwise, Katsuya would only have two choices: either fully pull back his men, or lead them to a suicidal charge into the building. Both choices would lower the overall fighting strength of the Hunters and that would be disadvantageous for Kurosawa.
Kurosawa was only letting Katsuya’s men use his portable wall for his own profit.
Katsuya tried to think of another solution out of his stubbornness, Yumina tried to think of another solution using logical calculation, and Lilina tried to think of another solution out of desperation because of the sense of defeat that she felt there, Kurosawa continued.
“Are you telling me that you’ll pay me then? But the answer is still no. When money is involved, it would be a formal request. I, as the commander of my men in this place, have no right to accept another request at the moment. If you insist, you should talk it out with those people in the Hunter Office who are negotiating on how they are going to form the main squad. It’s useless to talk to me about that.”
That shut all of them up. They tried to think of anything that they could say there, but nothing came up. Kurosawa then continued.
“We’re in no position and we have no reason to accept your request. If you get it now, then just shut up. You’ll disrupt my concentration if you keep making noise here. You’re basically bothering me by doing that, and if you keep bothering me, I’ll have you removed first. After all, bothering the command here will expose the whole group to more danger. Just so you know, I have no qualms injuring you so stop bothering me.”
Kurosawa did not even glance at Katsuya. But Katsuya and his friends obviously felt a sense of pressure and hostility emanating from Kurosawa.
Katsuya, Yumina, and Lilina could not think of anything to say in that situation. They just stood there in silence. Katsuya cursed his own weakness, Yumina seemed immensely worried for her comrades that got left behind, and Lilina gritted her teeth in anger.
Among them, Airi, who was silent and thinking up until now suddenly spoke.
“In that case, I want you to take command of this group too. You can get all the credits while we’re under your command. Then, I want you to finish our original goal of coming here, to secure the first floor of Seranthal building.”
Katsuya, Lilina, and Yumina immediately turned to Airi, they looked completely shocked. Airi kept staring at Kurosawa with a serious expression.
Kurosawa stopped shooting and looked at Airi. He looked both surprised and a little troubled while staring back at her, trying to read the meaning behind her words.
Airi locked her gaze with Kurosawa’s and continued.
“If you have the command of our group, it’ll reduce the damage to your men. Your commanding skill should also be able to compensate for our weakness to some extent. I believe that this is a good deal for you, with no money involved, so?”
Kurosawa thought for a bit before answering back.
“…So basically we can push the dangerous roles to you to safely achieve our goal, and if we can secure the first floor of the Seranthal building, then you’ll be able to rescue your friends, huh… That’s indeed a suggestion worth thinking about, but it’s not like we can accept it right away. Or more like, shouldn’t convincing your leader come first? If you leave all the achievements to us, then why are you here in the first place, the one who will take the responsibility for that will be your leader, right? Or is it that your leader gave the full right to you?”
When Kurosawa asked that question, Airi sounded rather disappointed as she replied.
“…No, I don’t have such a right.”
“I see. That wasn’t a bad suggestion, but keep those things that I asked you in mind first before you make such a suggestion next time.”
Kurosawa only said that and ended the negotiation there, that was when Katsuya made his resolve and suddenly said.
“Alright alright!! You can claim all the achievements!! I’ll take full responsibility…!! So please, save my men.”
It was as if Katsuya let out his real feeling there as he lowered his head. It was obvious that he was being really serious.
The way Kurosawa looked at Katsuya changed from a mocking gaze to a respectful gaze for someone that he was negotiating with. He then started to think about that suggestion seriously.
Katsuya waited with bated breath for Kurosawa’s answer. Kurosawa had not said anything yet, he was still thinking with a serious expression.
Kurosawa finally made his decision, he sounded as if he felt sorry about it as he said.
“As I thought, the answer is still no.”
Katsuya and the other Hunters there understood that it was the decision that Kurosawa made after thinking seriously about it. Katsuya had a pained expression as he asked a question.
“…Why is it still a no? Is it impossible to change your mind no matter what?”
“I won’t deny that it was a good offer. But it did not resolve the most important worry that I have, so as long as that worry is still there, I, as the one who will take the command of your men, can’t take that offer.”
Airi asked.
“…What worry?”
“Even if I take command of your men, there’s no guarantee that your men will listen to my orders. So, without that guarantee, that offer is basically off the table.”
Katsuya who heard that desperately begged.
“I’ll make sure that they’ll listen to your orders!! I promise you that!!”
Kurosawa shook his head and replied with an honest tone.
“It’s not like I’m doubting you here and I’m not saying that your men don’t trust you or anything. I’m sure that you will follow my orders and I’m sure that you’re on good terms with your men and they trust you. But that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll follow my orders. Their trust and faith in you might even be the very reason why they wouldn’t listen to my orders. I’m sure that some of them would not move on my orders and will only move on yours. In the first place, I doubt that they’ll all definitely listen to your orders as well. After all, at the moment, there is already someone from your team who entered an area that they should not. Am I right?”
Kurosawa glanced at Lilina, who immediately froze.
Kurosawa returned his gaze back to Katsuya and continued.
“I bet there are others who disregard your orders too, right…? I can see that I’m right, huh. I bet they won’t listen to my orders when they don’t even listen to yours. That will be the end of this negotiation. I refuse your suggestion. It’s nothing personal, I know you want to rescue your men, honestly speaking, I feel the same too. But as the leader of my team, I can’t afford to expose my men to needless danger. Well, we’ll at least provide you with support fire if you want to try to make a run to that building. So, just tell us if you decide to do that.”
After he said that, Kurosawa left that place to check the other location, he then gave some orders to his men before aiming at the entrance of the Seranthal building again.
Katsuya, Lilina, Yumina, and Airi who were left there looked down, dejected. Especially Lilina. She seemed to be the most dejected. She then asked with a voice that sounded as if she was about to cry.
“…Was it… My fault?”
“…It’s at least not your fault alone.”
Airi’s vague comforting words did not have much effect on her.
—*—*—*—
Elena told her team to stand by on guard while checking the current situation that they were in. It was so that none of them tried to shoot at the humongous monster which might cause all the other B18 monsters to shift their attention to Elena and her team.
Someone was still sniping that big monster, although it could not kill nor destroy it, it at least continued shaving the power of its forcefield armour. Elena was hoping that it would eventually destroy the monster.
But as if to cut that hope short, the sniping suddenly stopped. It might be just a temporary pause, or the person sniping had already completely given up, Elena hoped that it was the former. But after some time, her face turned grim as she made her guess.
[It seems that they judged that it was ineffective and decided to completely stop, huh. Or maybe the situation outside got worse and they don’t have the leeway to keep sniping… I hope that it’s the former.]
Elena then gave an order to her men.
“Unfortunately, it seems that we can’t rely on the squads outside to take care of this situation. That’s why we have to try to kill that monster and get out of this place ourselves. We’ll split the team into two, one to fight that monster and another one to cover the flank.”
Elena looked at Shiori and Kanae. Shiori had a blade dangling on her hip and Kanae had a fighting gauntlet on her fists. Both of them were equipped for close combat. If they specialized in close combat, it would be counter-effective to have them fight the big monster, they were also there as Reina’s bodyguard in the first place. So, Elena thought that it would be better to have them assigned to the flank team.
But Shiori suddenly spoke.
“I’ll join the vanguard then.”
Elena was a bit surprised by that.
“Are you sure? Or more like, are you okay with that?”
“Of course, no need to worry.”
Elena hesitated, but she decided to accept Shiori’s offer. It seemed that even Reina’s bodyguard would prioritize fighting that big monster even if it meant that they would be separated from their target for protection. After all, it would be way safer if they could defeat that monster as fast as they could. Elena also thought that it might be because Shiori had an idea of how to defeat that big monster.
Elena then said.
“Alright. The flank team will be Shikarabe, Kanae, Reina, and Togami. Shikarabe, I’ll leave it to you.”
Shikarabe understood what Elena meant. Although his team had 4 people, it actually only had 3 people who could fight decently, or maybe even only two–Shikarabe and Kanae. Elena was basically saying that in the middle of fighting the monsters, he would need to keep one person safe no matter what and he had to decide what to do about the other Hunter that he had brought into the team.
“Roger that, let’s go.”
Shikarabe then led his team to reposition themselves. Kanae was about to follow Shikarabe when she noticed Reina was just standing there with a conflicted face, so she grabbed Reina’s arm and took her along. Reina was looking worriedly at Shiori, who replied back with a smile that was saying that there was no need to worry.
Togami also had a conflicted face as he followed Shikarabe. He was assigned to the flank team because Elena saw him as someone who was under Shikarabe, and it was not because Elena thought that he would be useless even if he was in the vanguard team. Togami knew that but even so, it was hard for him to align his thoughts to that fact.
Akira, Elena, Sara, Shiori, and Carol took their positions to start shooting. They were hiding in a hallway, behind rubble, behind a wall with a hole, or behind anything that might protect them while they were waiting for Elena’s signal.
Akira was very nervous. He repeatedly took a deep breath to try and calm himself down.
[…Calm down. Don’t panic. Calm down your nerves. Just do what I should do the best that I can. That’s all there is to it. Back then, when that big snake ate me, I also lost connection to Alpha. The situation that I’m in right now is not as bad as when I was inside that snake’s stomach.]
He left anything that would slow down his movement on the floor, that included his rucksack, CWH anti-material rifle, and DVTS minigun. After all, he had no confidence to be able to move around quickly without Alpha’s support if he had those things on him.
If he carried everything with him, it would be even difficult for him to walk. Until now, he was able to maintain his balance in that situation with the help of Alpha’s support. But now that he did not have that support, it would be impossible for him to go on a battle while carrying all of those things.
Akira looked at the A4WM automatic grenade launcher in his hand and smiled bitterly.
[I have 2 rifles that don’t need strict aiming, I’m glad I bought them.]
The A4WM automatic grenade launcher and DVTS minigun were rifles that did not need strict aiming, while the CWH anti-material rifle needed proper aiming to hit its target.
The distance to the monster could be considered as a close distance for a fight in the middle of the wasteland. In that range, Akira should have no problem aiming with his CWH anti-material rifle.
But currently, Akira could not do something as dangerous as peeking out from the rubble and taking his time to get a proper aim. If he got unlucky and got the monster already aiming at him, there was basically zero chance that he would survive.
Even if that monster had a big body, Akira did not have the confidence to properly hit his shot even if he used the time compression too. After all, if he missed, it would immediately spell his doom.
So Akira decided to carry the rifle that he could shoot without too much aiming. He put some medicines in his mouth, ready to swallow it the moment Elena gave the order to start attacking. He had made his resolve as he was waiting for that signal.
Elena sent an order through the communication device before starting the battle.
“Although I’m sure there’s no need for me to spell this out, once we start shooting, I’m sure the other smaller monsters would focus their attack on us too. If it’s possible, I want to leave them be. So just ignore the smaller monsters as long as they don’t attack us, focus your firepower on our main target. But I don’t forbid you from attacking the smaller monsters here. And if you think that the situation is getting too dangerous, you can make your own decision.”
On the other side of where Elena and her team were, a stream of B18 monsters was still flowing out from the building to the outside, passing next to the big monster, and it did not seem that it would stop anytime soon.
“Well, let’s go then, in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Zero…”
Elena, Sara, Carol, Shiori, and Akira started shooting simultaneously with that signal.
—*—*—*—
In a big white space, Alpha and Seranthal were still talking to each other.
Seranthal looked mildly annoyed as she said.
“You asked me to let some visitors in, and this time, you want me to take that back? You’re always like that. Even the access to the information on the common floor is supposed to be a secret, you know. How far do you want to trample over my right before you’re satisfied?”
Alpha answered back with a rather neutral expression, but there was a strong pressure emanating from her neutral face.
“I ask nothing more than what I need. If you won’t accept this peaceful offer, then I have no other choice but to resort to the non-peaceful solution.”
Seranthal glared at Alpha, but Alpha’s expression did not change at all while she was waiting for Seranthal’s answer. After a short silence, Seranthal answered back with an obviously hostile tone.
“…I’ve removed the permission, you can go ahead and confirm it.”
Alpha smiled.
“Yep, I just confirmed it, thank you for your cooperation.”
“If that’s all, then leave, and never come back.”
“Personally speaking, I also hope I don’t ever need to come here again.”
Alpha then vanished from that space. After that, Seranthal showed an expression that she would never show to a visitor and released a deafening roar until she felt satisfied.
Akira was desperately shooting back at the monsters. He gathered his focus, compressed his time perception, peeked out from where he was hiding, aimed his rifle at the big monster, and basically just shot his A4WM rifle pretty much randomly. He then immediately returned back to hiding before the enemy fixed its aim on him.
He prepared himself to meet death every time he peeked out, and when he found the monster was already aiming at him, he would flusteredly return back to hiding. He moved from one hiding spot to another while listening to the sound of countless bullets ricocheting around him and the fear when he saw huge warheads mowing the location where he just hid not too long ago. Then from there he would start shooting again, rinse and repeat the cycle.
If Akira did not have his time compression, he would not be able to confirm where the monsters were aiming and evade them on time, he might even get killed the moment he peeked out. He would not be able to do anything in that situation if he did not have that time compression.
[Good grief, I’m so glad I learned to compress my time perception… How long can I keep this up? Will I last until we can kill that monster?]
Every time Akira peeked out and shot, he could feel stress that almost crushed his heart and body. Both his brain and his body were begging for a rest, but he just ignored it, clenched his teeth, kept his focus, and pushed his body to keep moving nimbly with the help of his augmented suit. Although he was somehow able to fight in that situation because he forced himself that hard, it was only a matter of time before his mind or body would give out. The pulsing pain in his body and head was telling him that he did not have much time before that would happen.
Akira crushed the growing fear inside him as he desperately continued fighting back the monsters.
In the battle, the Hunters actually had the upper hand. Not only was the main target stationary, it also had a huge body, an easy target. As long as there was no sudden change in the situation, the Hunters would not miss their shots. While on the other hand, the big monster had to divide its attention to multiple locations, so its firepower was significantly thinned out.
Moreover, the other B18 monsters just kept on moving outside the building even after the Hunters started shooting. Thanks to that, the Hunters could focus their firepower on the big monster alone.
As the Hunters there started to think that they would be able to win at this rate, they started to relax and lowered their guard, that was the moment when a sudden turn of events happened as if it was waiting for the Hunters to lower their guards.
Although Akira did not have as much leeway as the other Hunters, he also started to unconsciously lower his guard and looked down on that big monster. That caused him to start looking around his surroundings which would have been a dangerous thing normally.
When Akira looked around and saw the dead bodies scattered around him, he thought that he would join them if he was not careful, and that made him realize that he had lowered his guard. Akira smiled bitterly. As he was about to focus back on fighting the big monster, that was when, fortunately, he noticed the change as his gaze was still directed at the dead bodies.
The dead bodies that he was looking at suddenly moved slightly, one of them aimed his rifle at Akira.
Akira instantly predicted the trajectory line from its muzzle and evaded it by pure reaction. The dead Hunter pulled the trigger and Akira was barely able to evade that shot.
Akira was completely taken aback. He quickly aimed his A4WM at that dead body and was about to pull the trigger, but he immediately realized that it would also injure himself if he pulled the trigger there. So he stopped his finger from pulling the trigger. Instead, he quickly swapped his A4WM rifle with his A2D assault rifle and shot at that dead Hunter.
Bullets barraged that dead Hunter, destroyed its limbs, and blew its body away. But that short opening when Akira swapped his rifle gave enough time for that dead Hunter to also shoot at Akira. Although it did not hit Akira’s vitals, the impact and the pain from the hit threw Akira off-balance.
That short exchange with death caused Akira’s brain to accelerate, in that slow-moving world, Akira immediately swallowed all the medicines that were already inside his mouth and pushed his body back up. Right when he was back standing, he noticed that the other dead Hunters in the area already started moving on their own.
When Akira was about to aim his rifle at the dead Hunters that were carrying rifles, the dead Hunters that were not carrying weapons immediately started running in his direction. Akira forced his body to move with the help of his augmented suit to evade it while enduring the pain that was rushing throughout his body, he prioritized shooting the dead Hunters with rifles first.
He sent a kick towards the head of a dead Hunter that got too close to him and released a few shots at the other dead Hunters at the same time. Akira was fighting back desperately and was able to barely repel the attack of the dead Hunters. His fighting skill that he had polished through countless training allowed Akira to barely survive that fight.
Back then, Alpha helped Akira by indicating the dangerous locations with red marks. Akira was in a wide-open area, so he had no idea what made them dangerous. But right now, he was able to identify dangerous locations even if it was in a closed space. Although he no longer could see the trajectory prediction lines, he was able to quickly predict where the enemies were aiming.
They might be nothing more than his imagination, but Akira let that sensation take over his body as he continued fighting back.
But when he saw one of the dead Hunters kept attacking him although it had lost its head, Akira finally realized something.
[…I see, it’s the augmented suit, huh! So just like me, someone else is controlling their augmented suit!]
Akira thought that the dead Hunters would stop moving if he crushed their heads, but it seemed that he was too naive.
[Good grief, I guess everything is possible inside the old-world ruin, huh!? So basically, still-moving dead Hunters are normal over here?!]
Akira kept on fighting as he thought that the current situation really reminded him that the old-world ruin was an amalgamation of things that were out of common sense.
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