Chapter 80 - Traumatized Hunter (2/2)

“Let’s put that aside for later. You’ll have a lot of time to think about that question after you survive this swarm.”

“That’s true.”

Akira quickly took his aim at the next monster and pulled the trigger. The piercing bullet pierced through the trunk of an 8 legged horse as it fell down to the ground, the other monsters behind it then just trampled over its body and killed it.

Akira and the other Hunters had the upper hand there. Akira had the support from Alpha. While Dale and Colbert had brought with themselves pretty powerful equipment since they were planning to go to an unexplored ruin that day. Thus it was to be expected for them to have the upper hand against the monsters in Higaraka Residence ruin which had a relatively low danger level.

They were able to clean up the monsters without any problem including those monsters that normally should not be roaming around Higaraka Residence ruin. Every time they spotted a strong looking monster, they would focus their firepower and quickly take it out, and if the relatively weak monsters got close to them, Akira would quickly scatter them using his DVTS minigun.

As his minigun spewed countless bullets at those monsters, due to Alpha’s support, all of those bullets were able to find their targets. Of course, it was impossible for all of them to hit the monsters’ weak points. But it was enough to deal severe damage to them. The minigun quickly turned those monsters into a mixed mess of flesh and mechanical parts.

Dale saw that and was honestly amazed.

[So strong!! Although we’re facing this many monsters, he doesn’t panic at all and calmly takes them out. His shooting skill is also amazing. It seems that he even knows the weak points of these monsters too. He only used one bullet to kill the tochka turtles. It’s obvious that he’s not shooting these monsters randomly, he’s carefully picking out which monster he has to kill first. He’s really good.]

Since Colbert was screaming on top of his lungs while shooting at those monsters, from Dale’s point of view, Akira looked ever so calm as he was shooting at those monsters without saying anything.

Akira’s shooting performance was due to Alpha’s support. The reason why he looked so calm was simply because he had fought a bigger swarm in the past, it also showed Akira’s trust in Alpha’s support. He was silent because he was actually talking with Alpha through telepathy, so Dale could not hear it.

But Dale did not know about that at all, thus he could only see Akira as a really skilled Hunter. That difference between Dale’s evaluation and Akira’s real ability would cause Akira some troubles down the road.

Sheryl was silently watching Akira from behind him. Even in such a situation, she still looked completely calm with her usual smile. Gunshots echoed through the room, the sounds of cannons from outside the window could be heard even inside that room, Colbert was still screaming on top of his lungs, the monsters could be easily spotted from inside that room, but even so, Sheryl’s reaction was completely different compared to the other children that were panicking in that chaotic situation.

Erio, who saw Sheryl’s calm expression, approached her and asked her as if he was looking for rea.s.surance.

“A-are we going to be okay?”

“Don’t worry, just calm down.”

Sheryl smiled as she said that to Erio. There was not even a shred of fear in Sheryl’s smile.

Erio calmed down a bit seeing how relaxed Sheryl was, although it was unnaturally so. He then mumbled to himself.

“T-that’s right!! Akira is strong after all!!”

“Yep, that’s why you should calm down too. Don’t worry.”

Sheryl looked at the other children and smiled. The children who saw that calmed down a bit.

They then started talking to each other as if to avert their attention away from the fear.

“T-that’s right. Boss is so calm there, so I’m sure it’s going to be okay.”

“Is that Akira guy really that strong? Well, I guess he really is, huh.”

“But still, it’s amazing how the boss is so calm even in this situation. I guess you have to be that good to be a boss, huh?”

“Boss is amazing on her own, but Akira is extraordinary.”

A bullet flew into the room from the window from time to time. Every time that happened, all the children would scream and scatter to look for a place to hide, but even in that situation, Sheryl did not move at all.

The children who were looking down on Sheryl realized their mistake when they saw the current her. They started to recognize her as not only a proxy of Akira but as the boss of the gang.

The reason why Sheryl was unnaturally calm was because of her trust in Akira and also because a part of her had actually already given up. Ever since that day when she asked for Akira’s help and he decided to give her a helping hand, Sheryl was always under the mercy of Akira’s support.

Even right now, Akira was protecting her from the swarm of monsters heading to that mansion. This fact alone made her calm. Even if that level of calmness was like a tranquillizer, even if it had a similar effect to drugs, even if Sheryl knew that herself, she did not mind it at all.

That blind faith and full reliance were what built up Sheryl right now. As long as she did not lose Akira, she might stay like that forever.

The battle continued with Akira and the other Hunters having the upper hand. They first prioritized taking out monsters with long-range weapons. So they started with killing the Tochka Turtles and other monsters carrying big cannons or at least rendering them unable to use their cannons. When they shot the head of the two-legged lizard that had its arms turned into guns, the lizard that had lost its control unit would lose control and shoot the other monsters around it.

Their next priority was the monsters with weapons and other monsters that looked dangerous. These monsters mechanically, or more like instinctively, ignored the difference between their fighting power as they rushed toward Akira and the other Hunters. The overwhelming number of monsters in that swarm was crushed under the rain of bullets. The already dead monsters in the front were being pushed and trampled from behind by the other monsters, thus turning them into unrecognizable minced meat.

After they finished most of those monsters, the rest of the mechanical monsters that recognized the difference in their fighting ability started to retreat while the biological monsters that started to feel fear also left the place.

The rain had stopped by then and there were no longer monsters detected around the mansion. Akira’s battle eventually came to an end.

The Hunters did not suffer any fatal injuries. It was the best outcome, that was of course if they did not account for the expense of the bullets that they exhausted in that battle.

After Akira finished that fight, Alpha smiled and showed her appreciation to him.

“You did well. You were able to keep calm when facing such a level of a swarm, that was well executed.”

“It’s smaller than the swarm that I’ve faced in the past after all. Not to mention, I have better equipment compared to back then. So I guess this is to be expected.”

“Since you can say that out normally now, it shows that you’ve grown. And I’m glad to hear that.”

Akira looked pretty happy since Alpha praised him. Alpha made sure to note that reaction from him.

Dale sighed, slowly sensing that the battle had ended. As he started to calm down, he also started to get angry at the same time.

He then turned to the source of his anger.

“Colbert!! This is your fault!! If you hadn’t taken that shot, we would have been able to avoid the fight just now, you know!!”

“Haah!? What’s so bad for a Hunter to kill monsters!?”

Colbert, who had not calmed down from that fight, shouted back at Dale. Although it felt like a fight would start there, the mood suddenly changed.

Colbert suddenly calmed down and took a deep breath. He then looked down apologetically and said.

“Sorry… I caused you trouble there.”

Seeing how Colbert suddenly calmed down and honestly apologized as if he was a completely different person, Dale was so surprised that his anger immediately faded away.

“…I was scared… Really scared… That’s why I took that shot before I even realized it.”

Colbert told the others the reason why he suddenly shot at that monster. Akira found something weird as he asked Colbert.

“Scared? Of that monster? Well, it did look like a big monster, but at that range and with your shooting skill, I don’t think there was anything for you to be scared about.”

Unlike Akira who was relying on Alpha’s support, Colbert was able to shoot at that monster accurately with his own skill. Even after that, he was able to perform in that fight without slowing the others down. So Akira thought that as long as he had that skill, there should be nothing to worry about.

Colbert glanced at Akira and started telling him the reason.

“…I almost got killed by a monster in the past, you see. Although I was able to survive it, I lost both of my arms. I sometimes still get nightmares from that time.”

Colbert looked at both of his arms with a distorted expression, Akira sounded sorry as he asked him.

“Those arms… are they prosthetics?”

“My left arm is prosthetic, but for my right arm, I took a regeneration treatment to regrow it. To be honest, I want to regrow both my arms, but I don’t have enough money. And with the maintenance that I should pay for the prosthetic, I just can’t gather enough money… So… that monster looked just like the monsters that ate my arms, you see.”

Akira had an experience when he stuck his arm into a monster’s mouth and shot his rifle from inside the monster. If he was late even by a few seconds, his arms would have been eaten by that monster. Bad things could happen to anyone, Akira felt a bit scared when he imagined it. He sympathized with Colbert who went through that first hand.

Colbert took a deep breath and bowed.

“…I’m really sorry.”

Even after Dale calmed down and Colbert honestly apologized for what he did, Dale still could not lower his fist.

Akira was in a good mood after getting praised by Alpha, he was also feeling sorry for Colbert. So he thought that he had to come up with something to change the subject.

“Well, with that many monsters that we defeated, there should no longer be any of them left around. Not to mention that we got to kill monsters that might attack us on our way back in an advantageous situation. It’s not really that bad. The rain has stopped too, so let’s get ourselves ready to head back.”

Dale at least tried to confirm something with Akira.

“Guyver and that boy from your envoy haven’t returned yet though.”

“Call them and tell them to get back as soon as possible. I’m sorry but I prioritize Sheryl’s safety, there’s a good chance that all of those corpses outside might attract other monsters after all. So I have no plans to wait for them in case we can’t contact them nor to go out and look for them. If you want to stay here to wait for them, you can go ahead and do that. After I escort Sheryl and the other children to the city, I can return here again.”

Dale pulled out his information terminal and called Guyver. Although he still could not connect to the city’s network, with the rain in that area stopped, he should be able to at least reach Guyver’s information terminal if they were still inside the mansion.

In case if he could not reach Guyver, Dale was thinking of just leaving him behind. Even Dale himself had no plans to stay behind in the dangerous wasteland to look for someone that might already be dead. Not to mention if a monster ate him, then he would not leave a corpse behind. Dale did not have the leeway to just look around the Higaraka Residence ruin for a corpse that might not even be there.

But his worry quickly vanished, it was because Guyver had returned to that room.

The anger inside Dale from that needless fight was still lingering. So he vented his anger at Guyver.

“Guyver!! Where were you when we needed extra hands?!!!”

Guyver just laughed lightly.

“Calm down, it seems that you guys got attacked too, huh?”

“So you too?”

“Yep, we got attacked too. We somehow survived though. Then I noticed that the rain had stopped when we were done, so we quickly returned back to this room. I bet you guys are planning to go back to the city as soon as possible now that the rain has stopped, right? By any chance, were you planning to leave me behind?”

Guyver jokingly asked that question, to which Dale annoyedly replied.

“…Humph, yeah, if you were not back.”

“Whoa whoah, that’s just too mean, you know.”

Guyver laughed when he said that, although he was about to get left behind, he did not show any displeasure at all.

After that, they finished all their preparations and left the Higaraka Residence ruin to return back to the Kugamayama city.

Around the area where the first monster that Akira spotted loitered, there were multiple small cylindrical objects scattered. Those were the decoy devices that Dale lost.

The monsters that Akira and the others took out were gathered there because of those decoy devices.

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