Akira rode his bike on the wall of the transport vehicle while approaching his next target. He chose to do so since unlike on the rooftop, the walls of the vehicle had no large cannons. With nothing in the way, he could pace his bike even faster.
But there was something that blocked his way. It was a cannon warhead from one of the monsters. He nimbly evaded it and shot back toward the monster with his dual LEO multi-rifle.
He was shooting horizontally as if the gravity was working at a 90-degree angle just for him. He was able to accomplish it skilfully thanks to the quality of the bike, Alpha’s support, and his own skill. It also helped that he became very familiar with that technique. The barrage flew toward the large multi-legged insects and the walking cannons with multiple legs. They pierced through both the metallic armour and biological carapace to destroy the internal organs of those monsters.
Even after killing those monsters, the swarm behind them would just take their place right away. Akira frowned after noticing what was going on.
“There’s just no end to them!! Why are there so many of them when the others are also in the front line, fighting them!? I bet those guys that easily fought off that huge bug swarm are taking it easy right now!!”
“Well, those guys are focused on fighting off those white powered suits. So, they don’t have the leeway to fend off the monsters.”
“But those white powered suits are not that strong, even I was able to shoot a couple of them down, no? Those guys had no problem against that huge horde of gigantic flying bugs, you know? Are they really having that much trouble?”
“Not all of them are the same. It’s not like they are equally damaged. The ones that you destroyed are those that were sticking on the transport vehicles, right? They probably did that because they couldn’t fly on their own to catch up with the convoy with the energy reserve that they had left.”
Alpha then pointed toward the direction of the wasteland. Akira glanced over and saw the white powered suits fighting multiple unmanned drones while flying around freely in the sky. They were flying around way more agilely than the ones sticking on the transport vehicles.
“I see. So that’s why.”
Akira was still on his bike when he pulled out his AF anti-material cannon. The bike’s extra arm was connected to the backside of the AF cannon. This way, the AF anti-material cannon could source energy from the bike’s energy tank.
Akira was aiming at the irregularly moving target from a fast-moving bike. In order to accomplish such a feat, he increased his focus to its utmost limit to the point that the world seemed to be close to a standstill from his point of view. To top it off, Alpha helped the aiming algorithm of the cannon even before it could finish its calculation and added that information in Akira’s vision. As Akira pulled the trigger, the cannon shot out a highly focused ray of light with staggering accuracy. This shot was focused more on a high intensity instead of spread.
The cannon drew a strand of intense light through multiple things. Monsters, the force field armour of the white powered suit and its control device. None of them stopped it as it flew straight into the wasteland.
But even so, that was not enough to destroy the white powered suit. The hole drilled by the light ray was so small that it did not seem to leave any damage from afar. But with the force field armour pierced and the control device destroyed, the white powered suit was only able to move sluggishly. It did not show much resistance as the cannons of the unmanned drones as well as the black disks ripped it apart. It only took a few seconds to turn it into scrap metal.
“Alpha, how many more?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Good grief, there are still that many of them?!”
“If I may add something, those that were badly damaged have already been destroyed, so only those that were relatively intact are still up.”
Alpha was smiling mischievously toward Akira, who was even more worried than before.
In reality, the situation was favourable to the convoy’s side. Thanks to the energy allocation, which was mostly focused on their force field armour. The transport vehicles were well defended. Meanwhile, the escort team was working hard. Likewise, the pillars of light from the sky were actively hunting down white powered suits, whittling down their number.
It was only a matter of time before the rest of the white powered suits got shot down. If their original aim was to attack the transport convoy, they have already failed. Nonetheless, there was no sign of them retreating.
In the middle of the chaos, Akira was fighting another white powered suit. It was standing on top of one of the transport vehicles as it swung around its claw.
Akira charged the C bullets in all of his 4 LEO multi-rifles, two on his hands while the other two were on the extended arms of the bike. He pumped the bullets full of energy to raise their firepower to their limit before releasing them toward the white powered suit. Flashes of blinding light shot out as if it was a firework.
Normally, the rooftop was not big enough for Akira’s bike to keep evading the claw, but he was able to forcibly avoid the attacks thanks to his bike. He used the force field armour of the bike as well as the force field projected by the transport vehicle as footings in the middle of the air. Thus, he was able to move around as if there were invisible tiles extending out from the rooftop.
Akira kept evading the incoming attacks using those invisible platforms. Every time he made a quick turn, inertia assaulted his body. He was fighting that back with the bike’s safety feature, his augmented suit, and the medicine that he took beforehand. He kept making sharp turns to stay on white powered suit’s blind spot.
Akira evaded the huge bullets coming from the white powered suit’s rifle as well as the hot rays shot out from other places. He evaded while shooting back at it with relatively small bullets compared to what was speeding towards him. Eventually, he emptied the magazine of his 4 LEO rifles, and even after that, it was not enough to destroy the opponent.
Akira reloaded new magazines to his rifles with a stern face.
“That thing is just too tough… It’s not only taking bullets from me but also taking damage from the black discs, right? Alpha, can’t we just leave them to the vanguards? They’re too much for me to handle, you know?”
“They’re not that dangerous, so to be honest, even if they can take on that much damage, we can just take our time shooting them down one by one.”
“No no no. The fact that I’m only maintaining this with medicine already says that this isn’t good.”
“Is that so? Well, if you say so, let’s change our target then.”
Alpha smiled and yielded to Akira’s wish. His stern face relaxed for a bit. They then drove away from that battle just like that.
At that time, a huge pillar of light engulfed the battlefield. The light blinded everything in the area. The convoy could feel the heatwave coming from that beam. Akira, who also noticed that, stopped the bike and looked behind.
“…In the end, that thing still takes all of them out, huh? There’s no need for us to fight them, right… Wha-!?”
The unexpected turn of events shocked Akira. Although the white pillar of light was able to evaporate all the white powered suits that it devoured, that was not the case this time. The white powered suits looked completely unharmed.
“Wait for a sec, they’re just way too durable, aren’t they? Alpha, there’s no way we can win against that thing, let’s get away from this place before that thing can catch up with us.”
Akira tried to accelerate the bike away from that place, but Alpha prevented that from happening. The bike suddenly made a sharp U-turn and the wheel turned so fast to the point that it was bursting fire sparks as it accelerated as fast as it could right back toward the white powered suit.
Akira was so surprised by what Alpha did there and activated his time perception compression by pure reflex.
“Alpha!? What are you doing!?”
“Akira, we have a change of plans! We need to destroy that as soon as possible!!”
“What? Why!?”
Although he said that, Akira’s mind and body were already in full battle-mode. He already knew that it would be too late to do that if he waited for Alpha to tell him the reason before acting. The dual LEO multi-rifles on his hands were aimed toward the different target indicators in his augmented visual.
“To simply put it, it’s because that thing survived that beam of light.”
“Wait, didn’t we decide not to fight that thing exactly because it’s simply too durable?”
“The objective of the monster up there is to destroy that powered suit. So, if it knows that its earlier attack was not enough, I’m sure it will increase its firepower the next time. Judging from its size, that monster must have originated from somewhere up really high. Even a small increase in firepower by the standard of the monsters living high up there means a huge increase by our standard here, you see. Furthermore, its target doesn’t seem damaged at all, so I’m sure that it won’t just attack with a small increase.”
“So, basically, the next shot will be way more powerful, huh? In that case, wouldn’t it be better if we get away so that we won’t get hit as well?”
“Akira, what if the next shot is big enough to take out the whole convoy? And what if it only takes 10 seconds to recharge its next shot? Do you think you’ll be able to get away from that?”
Akira seemed to be doubtful of that, so Alpha explained to him the reason for her guess.
“By analysing the forcefield armour of the transport vehicles, the white powered suit was able to integrate that system into its own force field system. That gave it enough power to withstand that attack. It is a similar form of defensive system to that snail monster that you fought back in the old-world ruin, so as long as it is connected to the system, it cannot move too far away from the convoy.”
“If the flying monster also notices that, there was a chance that it would adjust its firepower to overwhelm the force field armour of the transport vehicles. If it further increases its firepower to make sure its next attack will be enough to destroy its target, it will not be strange for it to have enough firepower to destroy the transport vehicle as well. In the worst-case scenario, it might even consider the transport convoy as a nuisance and decide to destroy the whole convoy as well.”
“That is why it is better to destroy its target first to let it know that there is no need to go that far before it can release its next attack. It might very well be already charging at this very moment.”
After hearing that explanation, Akira tensed up.
“…Alpha, what’s the chance that it’s just you overthinking this?”
“It’s true that it might be a rather pessimistic guess in this situation, and you might not even need to do that at all. But do you think that you’re that lucky to not need to do anything and leave it up to fate?”
Akira thought about how true her statement was and could not help but to make a bitter smile. But his smile then slightly changed as if he had made his resolve for the upcoming battle.
“…You’re right. In that case, let’s get that thing destroyed and change this really bad luck of mine to something that I can handle if I put in my best effort! I’m sure I at least have enough luck to do that, right!? Yeah, maybe! Well, even if I don’t, you’ll do something about that, right?”
Alpha replied with a confident smile.
“Of course! Just leave it to me! It’s my responsibility after all! This will be pretty reckless, so get yourself ready!”
“I know. That part is my responsibility after all!!”
Akira made his resolve and accelerated his bike even more straight toward his target.
Ever since he heard the reason why he was going to fight instead of run, he already had his mind working on what would be his next move. He used all the charged bullets of his 4 LEO multi-rifles to release a barrage of bullets. However, he was not aiming at the powered suit. It was the black discs flying around the powered suit. Due to the fine adjustment from Alpha, they were not enough to destroy their targets, but at least they were enough to disrupt their mobility. It was an attack just to bait the discs’ attention.
The discs reacted accordingly and immediately went for Akira. A couple of dozens of flying discs with sharp blades poking out from their chassis ripped through everything in their way, including the monsters as well as the unmanned powered suits. Although some of them changed targets to the other white powered suits closer to them, the rest were still going for Akira.
Akira increases the intensity of his time perception compression. Everything around him immediately slowed down and proceeded in slow motion. In the middle of that, Akira looked at his radar, confirmed the direction, position, and movement of all the black discs. Although he knew he had nowhere to run and only death was awaiting him, he did not show a single ounce of fear.
“Akira, this will be dangerous, are you ready?”
Toward Alpha, who said that as if she was challenging or maybe teasing him, Akira firmly replied.
“Ready when you are!”
A stinging pain assaulted Akira’s head, but at the same time, the resolution of his vision suddenly went up to the point that Akira could clearly trace the tip of the spinning blades of the black discs. It was as if the world was completely rewritten with unbelievable clarity. It was thanks to the full real-world resolution support from Alpha as well as the drug that Akira received from Tsubaki.
Akira started shooting around him in that state. Although he was spinning as if he was shooting indiscriminately, each of his shots was properly aimed. Due to his sharpened world perception, he skipped the steps where he had to adjust his aim at his target before pulling the trigger. He was simply moving his rifle to the position where he knew that its shot would hit before releasing the shot, this allowed him to maintain high-speed consecutive shooting.
Although he still left the decision on which monster he had to shoot first to Alpha. In terms of aiming, it was mostly all Akira.
Akira used the consecutive shooting ability of his LEO multi rifle to its maximum ability, shooting the black discs that were surrounding him. Each and every one of his shots was extremely accurate thanks to Alpha’s advanced calculation ability. But even so, it was not enough to destroy even a single disk. After the disks changed their target to Akira, who was deemed to be getting in the way of destroying the white powered suit, they managed to maintain their momentum and velocity.
Akira did not shoot them in order to destroy them. His main aim was to throw them slightly off course and away from hitting his body. The direction he pushed them towards was also not random. He adjusted the power of the bullets and their angle so that the black discs that were thrown off course would hit the white powered suits.
But even so, it was an easy thing for Akira to keep up. He could see a black disk flash past his eyes even in his slowed-down time perception as he shot the other black discs. Even the slightest hesitation or fear would slow him down for a split second, and that split second would have been more than enough to turn him into shredded meat.
Thanks to that, many of the white powered suits were destroyed due to the black discs. Although some of the black discs only ricocheted off their armour, most of the white powered suits were destroyed by thousands of slices over their whole bodies. But even so, that was enough to destroy the ones that had integrated its force field armour with the transport vehicle. Although, it was enough to keep it from moving around. With all the high speed rotating blades of the black discs, they were not able to make any careless move.
Right at that moment, Akira switched to his bladeless handle and pulled out a liquid metal blade just like last time. The blade was so thin that it was almost see-through. It was so long and seemed so fragile that it might break anytime. Due to the force field armour that bound the liquid metal together, it was far more durable than steel and with that thickness, it would be able to easily cut through steel. To top it off, it was also enveloped with a layer of anti-forcefield.
But even that blade was not enough to break through the powered suit’s defence. If that was enough to cut it down, it would have been dead after being hit by the white pillar of light from the monster above or the black discs’ rotating blades. Even Akira’s LEO and AF anti-material cannon would not be enough to damage it as well. At the moment, Akira had no means to destroy it.
But even so, Akira still went and charged at it. After he got as close as possible, he made a sharp U-turn with his bike, and at the same time, he increased his augmented suit output to the max and swung his blade.
With the help of Alpha’s support, the blade was swung with utmost precision. It went almost perfectly parallel with the transport vehicle’s rooftop and cleanly sliced its target, or more like, released its contact point.
Akira’s main aim was not the powered suit, but the contact point between it and the transport vehicle. By passing his blade in between them, Akira got the powered suit off the transport vehicle and prevented it from leeching the forcefield armour of the transport vehicle, thus weakening the powered suit’s forcefield armour. The moment the powered suit was off the transport vehicle, it was immediately ripped to pieces by the black discs.
After making that U-turn, Akira quickly accelerated away from that place. The black discs that just destroyed the white powered suits tried to chase for him as well. But in the next moment, both the black discs and Akira were blown away by an explosion.
The source of that explosion was another laser strike from the monster above. Since its original target was destroyed, that laser strike was aimed at another white powered suit. Thankfully, that powered suit was away from the convoy. It was engulfed in that melting ray and was annihilated. The moment that beam of light touched the ground, it released a powerful shockwave that blew away the surrounding monsters and wreckages. It even pushed the transport vehicles to the point that they almost turned over.
Thanks to Alpha’s help, Akira was fine. Although the explosion did throw his bike into the sky, Alpha increased the projected force field armour that was originally only for protecting Akira from wind past its limit to protect Akira from the explosion. Akira then landed safely on top of the transport vehicle.
Akira glanced at the source of the explosion and could not help but knit his eyebrows. It completely annihilated everything near where it touched the ground.
“…Yikes, that was dangerous. I was so close to taking that up close, huh?”
Alpha smiled bitterly.
“It seems that it turned out as I had explained to you. Though, according to my calculation, the possibility was rather small.”
“Is that so?”
“Yep, as I thought, your luck is as bad as ever. I’m glad that my support is still enough to handle it.”
Akira chuckled.
“You have a point. Thanks!”
“You are welcome!”
Alpha smiled confidently.
“It seems that it’s finally over. Akira, look up.”
Akira looked up and saw the flying monster return back to above the cloud and slowly vanish from his views. While the black discs that were surrounding the convoy suddenly stopped and just fell to the ground.
“It’s retreating… Is it because we destroyed all the white powered suits? And, why did all the black discs suddenly just stop moving ?”
“The white powered suits have all been destroyed together with everything around them with that laser. Those black discs are all just expendable weapons.”
“They’re expendable? All of them? Though they are that strong?”
Akira heaved a huge sigh.
“The sky monsters, huh… They’re simply way out of what I can handle. I see now. No wonder why no one ever thinks of flying around with those things roaming the sky.”
“But it’s not like they roam over every inch of the sky above the eastern district, you know? Those white powered suits might be just that strong or they brought that monster here from further to the east.”
“…Why would they do that?”
“No idea. Well, either way, it’s done now, good work out there.”
The monsters that were swarming the convoy were already mostly gone. The unmanned powered suits went to take care of the remaining smaller monsters.
Seeing Alpha smile at him to appreciate his hard work, Akira finally lowered his shoulder and sighed in relief.
“…Man, I’m beat. Hikaru. The battle is over now. Can I return back to the transport vehicle and check on my equipment?… Hikaru?”
There was no answer from Hikaru. Akira found that weird. But Alpha then told him that the strengthened forcefield armour of the transport vehicle also jammed his communication. Since he needed Hikaru to open the gate so that he could return back inside the transport vehicle, he had no other choice but to take a break there.
After Akira took some medicine and replenished his magazine and energy pack, the convoy started to slowly accelerate as well, that was when Alpha tilted her head and said.
“This is strange, the forcefield armour already returned back to normal, but I can’t still reach Hikaru.”
“Haaah, Alpha, can you do something?”
Akira asked so with a tired look, Alpha smiled teasingly and replied.
“I don’t mind, but are you sure?”
“…Let me ask this first then, is it a bad idea to do that?”
“Most of this kind of connection line is utilizing a certain spectrum so that it’ll still be usable even when there are others using it. After all, it’s a reserved line for the HQ to distribute information, you see. There are traces that someone has infiltrated into that line, basically, someone used it for unauthorized access. We can basically use that route. Ah, but don’t worry, it won’t leave a single trace that you used that route as well.”
Although Akira did wonder how in the world Alpha could infiltrate such a secured line, on second thought, it now seemed normal. After all, it was Alpha. It would be way too late for him to question that right now, so he just pushed aside that question in his mind. He then thought that she was basically saying that it was possible for her but it would be unethical. Or it was her way to avoid saying that she could not do that.
“Well, there’s no need to go that far… I guess I’ll just wait for a bit more then.”
“If I may add something, I can find traces that Hikaru is trying to connect to any device that she could reach, she might be in some kind of hurry.”
After hearing that, Akira was not so sure if he could just sit here and wait. He then finally thought that it should be fine to go that far if it was to connect to Hikaru, who was basically his employer at the moment.
“Come on, connect to her.”
“Ah! It finally got connected!! Akira!! Help me!!”
Akira was taken aback. The moment it connected, he could hear Hikaru desperately asking for help.
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