Chapter 11 (1/2)
Index
Editor: Silavin
Proofreader: p4553r
In the ruins, Elena and Sara kept searching for footprints and finally found footprints of a child. The footprint that they found was so light that it would have easily erased if the air blew over it. The reason why they were able to find that slight trace was because of Elena’s tenacity and skill. And it definitely was Akira’s footprint. So they continued their search in good mood expecting to find the rumoured unexplored area.
But it was fruitless. They followed the footprints into an abandoned building and searched the whole place to find nothing of value inside it. Even so, they continued their search since they found similar footprints in the building. While on the other hand, the colourless mist was getting thicker.
After sometime, Sara realized that the colourless mist had gotten pretty thick and her vision blurred when she looked through her binoculars. Just to be safe, she asked Elena.
“Elena, the colourless mist is getting thicker. Is it okay to continue here?”
Elena answered Sara’s question after an unnoticeable pause.
“…It’s okay. Although it’s started to affect the information gathering device. It’s not so bad that we have to withdraw from our search.”
“Is that so? Well, I guess it’s fine if you say so.”
Elena then asked Sara in a worried tone.
“How about you? Are you okay? If the colourless mist starts negatively affecting your nanomachines, we’ll withdraw immediately. So do tell me if it does and don’t hide it, okay?”
“I’m fine. Although I can’t say that it doesn’t affect me at all, I’m still alright for now.”
“Well, if you say so. But don’t push yourself too hard, okay?”
Sara laughed mischievously at Elena to make her stop worrying.
“I’m telling you, I’m fine. When the push comes to shove, I’ll carry you and run away. So I still have a lot of spare power, you know.”
Elena then replied back while smiling teasingly.
“Oh my, are you trying to say that I’m fat?”
“NO! I was talking about your equipment. There’s no other deeper meaning than that. That’s really all. I’m telling you that’s all.”
Elena and Sara were laughing as they were teasing each other. At least they were able to confirm that they were really okay.
Elena did not lie. Although the mist affected the information gathering device, the effect was not that bad. But it would be unfavourable if the mist got any thicker, and by the looks of it, the possibility was very high.
If it were any other day, Elena would have decided to withdraw due to the danger. But she couldn’t do that today. They would not get any money if they went back empty-handed. And if their financial situation got any worse, there was a good chance that Sara would postpone replenishing her nanomachines, which would be life-threatening for Sara in her present condition. Elena wanted to avoid such a situation no matter what and she unconsciously pushed their search longer.
And Sara did not lie either. Her situation was the same as Elena’s information gathering device, it was manageable for now. But if Sara suggested Elena to stop the search because of her little discomfort, Elena would definitely go against it. And she feared that if it was handled badly, Elena might even go to the ruins alone without her, who was the primary firepower in the team. And that was not something that she wished to happen. As such, Sara pushed herself so that Elena would not worry about her.
Elena and Sara were actually having a hard time working as Hunters. Sometime ago, they were able to explore more dangerous ruins to earn money, but after going through some difficult circ.u.mstances during which they couldn’t earn much, their financial condition rapidly declined. As such, they had less money to prepare for expeditions, which in turn reduced their efficiency when searching in the ruins. They had fallen into a vicious cycle, that instead of earning money, they were actually losing money with each subsequent expedition. It was also the reason as to why Sara limited her nanomachine replenishment. It was also because they were in such a hardship that they believed in the rumour.
Hunters who had fallen to such a vicious cycle would need to either hit a jackpot or push themselves for a gamble, in order to escape from it. If they were to win their gamble, they would be able to raise up again as skilled Hunters who get rich. But if they lose their gamble, they would fall into deeper hardship due to the backlash from pushing themselves too hard.
Elena and Sara were betting on the rumour in order to turn their condition for the better. But due to their desire to get out from their situation, they unconsciously became careless. The fact that they put their bet on a baseless rumour was the proof of that.
Normally, they would have stopped here, but Elena and Sara were already committed in their bet that they forgot to be wary of their surroundings.
***
There were a lot of Hunters other than Elena and Sara who came to Kuzusuhara City ruins chasing after the rumour. But most of them already abandoned the search and returned back. While most of them who stayed also decided to return back due to the thickening colourless mist.
But a small part of these Hunters didn’t leave. They were the declining Hunters who were allured by the rumour. Since the danger was comparatively minimal and this was also a chance for them to turn their situation around in one shot, these Hunters remained obsessed in their search.
But they could not find the rumoured ruin no matter how much they searched. As such, they were getting annoyed and irritated. Since such a ruin did not exist in the first place, they would only get more and more annoyed.
They could not just go back empty-handed even after reaching their limit. They started looking for another way to obtain something so that their trip won’t be in vain. Rather continuing the search for this rumoured ruin and wasting their efforts and time, they began diverting their attention onto other prey.
***
Elena was traversing the ruin with a grim face. The colourless mist had gotten thicker faster than she expected and its effect on her information gathering device had become severe. The device’s detection range had considerably reduced and hence the chance for them to encounter a surprise attack had increased.
(…This is bad. To think that the mist would get this thick in such a short time. What a blunder. )
Then Elena said to Sara while regretting her poor decision to continue their search.
“Sara, we can’t go further, we should head back now.”
“I understand.”
“Sorry, the detection range is already very small, we should’ve returned sooner.”
“It’s alright. There shouldn’t be that many monsters in the outskirts. It’ll be alright as long as we head back carefully.”
Seeing Elena blaming herself, Sara just returned a smile that showed no trace of blame. Elena smiled in return and changed her mood since she understood that there was no meaning in regretting now.
Elena and Sara decided to head back. They were moving through the outskirts of the ruins looking for the vehicle that they parked there. Normally, the outskirts were a relatively safe place, but now that it was blanketed with the colourless mist, it had become a dangerous place.
Since their vision got worse because of the mist, the probability of close encounter with the monsters increased. It greatly lowered the survival rate of the Hunters who relied on ranged attack.
If they met a monster, which boast of great vitality, inside this fog, they would be forced to fight with it in close range. And that would be a very dangerous situation.
Suddenly, a gunshot echoed as Elena and Sara were moving inside the mist. Considering the sound distortion factor due to the mist, they knew that the source of that gunshot was pretty close to them, behind a crumbled ruin. Sara readied her gun while Elena operated her information gathering device and put all its resources on enemy detection.
“Elena, did you find anything?”
“Wait for a sec… I got some signals from where the gunshot was fired. It seems that 8 Hunters are fighting against 1 monster and they are headed our way.”
They could see Hunters running from the source of the gunshot and these Hunters were chased by a giant monster. Although they did shoot back while running away, there was no sign of the monster getting killed anytime soon.
Elena analyzed the situation.
“Looking at them, it seems that these Hunters have no close-range firepower. And also, the monster seems to be pretty strong that those Hunters won’t be able to defeat it with their equipment. We’ll get involved if we leave it be and it seems that it will be able to catch up with us even if we run away. There’s no helping it, we should defeat it in their place instead.”
“Roger that.”
Sara aimed her huge gun towards the monster, then Elena shouted at the hunters who were approaching her.
“Get out of the way!”
The hunters who heard her words acknowledged and stopped shooting back at the monster and kept running toward her.
The monster was so huge that Elena could see it easily even under the thick mist. It was a big carnivorous monster, its muscle line was visible even when it was covered by its thick fur. It opened his big mouth showing its huge fangs as it was trying to devour those Hunters.
Sara, who was aiming at that monster found something strange. Through her aiming device, she could see that the monster was mostly unharmed, even when the hunters were shooting at the monsters as they were running away from it. She thought that it might be because of its superb vitality that the monster was able to chase the hunters while ignoring their gunshots. But that did not seem to be the case.
[…Did the thick fur protect it from the bullets? Or is it that these hunters only have weak guns with them? Or is it that most of their shot missed since they were shooting while running away? Well, not that it really matters now, I’ll take care of it myself.]
Sara just pushed the question aside and pulled the trigger. The huge bullet that shot out from her big gun hit the monster right on its head. Fresh blood splattered from its head and it fell down to the ground. While that happened, the Hunters kept running while ignoring what happened to the monster behind them.
Elena saw something strange about these hunters. They should be showing desperation trying to run away from their certain death situation. But instead, they were lacking any expressions showing their fear of death or happiness that they found someone who would help them.
But she did not have the time to think about the reason. Due to the thick colourless mist, she had allowed a monster and a group of hunters approached them. And because she prioritized in taking out the monster, she was late in reacting to these Hunters.
These Hunters kept running past Elena and Sara without even saying a single word of gratitude. And then one of them threw something towards Elena’s feet.
Elena and Sara were so shocked when they realized that it was a type of hand grenade. Sara who was quick to react, immediately grabbed Elena and tried to run away from that place. But they were a bit late and the grenade exploded and threw their bodies into the air.
Sara covered Elena from the explosion and was able to protect her. But the explosion threw her away from Elena before landing hard on the ground. After that, she was in confusion for a bit, but she immediately regained her composure and realized that she was lying on the ground defenceless. She reflexively hid behind wreckage as she got up.
She then immediately tried to confirm Elena’s safety, but she could not find Elena around her. She was about to call for Elena when she heard a guy’s voice.
“That other girl!! Throw down your weapon if you don’t want your friend to die.”
Sara then heard Elena’s voice from the same direction.
“Sara!! Don’t mind me!! You can freely run away or shoot these bastards!!”
Sara was showing a pained face when she understood how bad the situation was, Elena was captured by those guys.