Chapter 82 (1/2)

Index

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

Sheryl was overwhelmed trying to calm the children down.

Loud explosions and blinding light that suddenly came out of nowhere, Dale and Colbert lying on the ground, Akira and Guyver shooting each other and moreover, a monster coming running at them; there were numerous reasons for those children to panic.

But Sheryl did not flinch, and she bravely forced everyone to shut up. However, there was a limit to how long she could continue to keep them quiet. After all, the sound of gunshots showed no signs of stopping any soon, which proved that the battle was still going on. The children were under great pressure and were close to breaking down.

Sheryl scanned the situation and looked for Akira. Not too long after that, she saw Akira running toward her direction. He did not seem injured at all.

She let out a relieved sigh.

“Akira is on his way back. I’ll go and ask him about the situation, so wait here.”

After Sheryl said that to her gang member, she went to meet Akira. The other children also calmed down when they saw Akira unscathed.

Sheryl jumped off the cart and went to Akira. While that happened, Sebla slowly pushed himself up, he was still all wobbly.

Sheryl also noticed Sebla when she was looking for Akira, but she just ignored him. It was because she did not care whether Sebla was dead or alive.

Akira was relieved when he saw that Sheryl and her gang were still okay. Now he just needed to wait for Dale and Colbert to kill the monster.

Akira did think of helping Dale and Colbert, but he prioritized going and making sure Sheryl and her gang’s safety first. If only he had not stepped off his vehicle, he would not have to face all the troubles that he just went through. Thus, he thought that it was sensible to be cautious at least now.

He saw Sheryl walking towards him. He also noticed Sebla pulling himself up from the ground not too far from her. It seemed that Sebla was yet to recover from the effects of the stun grenade, so Akira did not put much attention on him. But that proved to be a wrong decision.

The moment Sheryl passed beside him, Sebla suddenly reached for her arm and pulled her towards him. He then strangled her and pushed the pistol in his hand on her.

“Stop, don’t move!!!”

Sebla yelled desperately at Akira.

Sebla had mostly recovered from the effect of the stun grenade. But his movements were dulled because of the fear, confusion and panic.

He had made a deal with Guyver to betray Sheryl and her gang. He and Guyver planned to kill Akira and the other people and share the relics among them. Sebla knew that it was Guyver who shot at Dale’s vehicle, he also left all those devices around to attract the monsters, and he had always been looking for a chance to kill Akira and the other 2 Hunters.

Sebla did lose his consciousness when he was hit by the stun grenade, but he woke up relatively faster. However, he kept himself close to the ground while the confusion prevailed and utilised the chance to slowly checked the situation around him.

But he could not understand much of what was going on. He did hear gunshots, so he guessed that someone was fighting. He did not find Akira’s corpse around so there was a chance that Akira was still alive. Thus, he guessed that Akira was fighting against Guyver. That was all that he could make out of the situation.

He then saw Akira return back alone. The moment Sebla saw that, his face twitched. There was a good chance that Guyver was dead at that point, but Guyver being alive or not was unimportant for him right now. He was more interested in knowing whether Guyver told Akira that he was planning to betray Sheryl and her gang as well as to kill Akira and the other 2 Hunters.

The reason why Akira glanced at Sebla was simply to check him. But to Sebla who was in a panic, it seemed as if Akira found out from Guyver that he was also planning to betray him and so he was coming to kill him now.

Sebla was blinded by the terror of losing his life. Right at that time, his eyes caught Sheryl. He could not come up with anything else as he aggressively grabbed Sheryl’s arm.

He did not even think about the consequence of his action.

As he tried to blackmail Akira by holding Sheryl hostage, Sebla’s face was twisted with fear, and the hand which held the gun was also shaking. It was a very dangerous situation.

Sheryl shouted at Sebla with full hostility.

“Do you really know what will happen to you if you do this?”

“Shut up!! Just shut your mouth!”

Sebla shouted back at her as he prodded his gun.

Akira then tried to calm Sheryl.

“Sheryl, Don’t provoke that guy, it’s dangerous. Just calm down, and try to keep your mouth shut. Don’t try to complicate things. Alright?”

Sheryl was thinking of looking for a chance to break from Sebla’s strangle, but after Akira told her that, she just obediently stayed quiet.

Sebla felt that strange change in behaviour from Sheryl. His face that was twitching in terror changed into a slight smile.

“T-that’s right!! Just shut up and don’t do anything stupid!!”

Thinking that he was getting the upper hand, his tension eased off a little. Hence, he was now able to reconfirm his situation. But once he realised that he was hopeless against Akira, who still had his rifles, his tension raised up again.

Sebla’s gaze quickly focused on the rifle that Akira was carrying. He then glared at Akira and shouted.

“Drop your gun!! Now!!”

Akira locked his gaze with Sebla, thinking about what could be done. But when Akira focused his gaze on him, Sebla flinched back and tensed up.

Right before Sebla’s nervousness manifested into action, Akira dropped his rifle to the ground.

Alpha never imagined that Akira would drop his rifle, that was why she looked at Akira with a surprised expression.

“Akira?!”

Akira did not answer her question, he focused all of his attention on Sebla.

Sheryl was also surprised when she saw Akira drop his rifle since she also thought there was no way Akira would do that. After all, she thought that he did not care too much for her.

She was so happy that she was even close to crying, she did not expect Akira would even do something so dangerous as to drop his rifle in front of his enemy just to save her. While at the same time, she was also feeling so much guilt as she forced Akira to do something that dangerous.

Sheryl was so filled with emotions as her eyes started tearing.

Sebla smiled mockingly after Akira dropped his rifle. It showed that Akira was listening to his order. That caused him to calm down and feel that he had the upper hand. The figure of Akira standing there just looking at him seemed to Sebla as if Akira had given up and had no idea how to get out of that situation.

Sebla had the choice of keeping Sheryl as his hostage and escaping from that place. But his fear and hatred toward Akira pushed him to take a more aggressive approach.

Right now, Akira had no rifle with him, so he might be able to kill Akira now. As that thought passed through Sebla’s mind, he couldn’t let it go. His thoughts manifested as he pointed his gun at Akira, grinned, and pulled the trigger.

But Akira was able to easily evade the bullet launched from Sebla’s gun.

Akira had placed all of his focus on Sebla, he was aware of the ever so slightest move that Sebla made when he tried to shoot. Sebla was moving in slow motion from his point of view. As such, Akira was able to correctly judge when and where Sebla would shoot from where he was aiming the muzzle, the slow-motion when he pulled the trigger, and the slight change in his expression.

Akira had stretched his time perception and was able to easily evade Sebla’s shots.

While Sebla’s gun was away from Sheryl, Akira quickly closed the distance between him and Sebla. He then grabbed Sheryl with his right hand and pulled her away from Sebla, while his left hand got hold of Sebla’s gun and sent Sebla flying with his right kick.

Sebla did not even have the chance to express his surprise when he saw Akira evade his shots. His focus was immediately shifted to the pain on his stomach as he was thrown into the air.

When Sheryl returned to her senses, she found Akira grabbing her right arm. Sheryl, who realized that Akira saved her, hugged him tightly.

Sebla was still confused by that sudden change of events and the pain in his stomach only made his confusion worse. He placed his hands on his stomach as he rolled around in pain.

Akira looked at the gun in his left hand that he took away from Sebla. He then threw it away as if he had no interest in it. It was the gun that Guyver lent to Sebla, so there was no telling what kind of trap was installed in it. Akira walked back to his rifle and equipped it while Sheryl was still clinging on him.

He then pointed his rifle at Sebla. Akira’s eyes met Sebla’s who lied on the ground pale-faced. Sebla’s expression greatly distorted as the pain in his stomach was slowly replaced with fear of death. Akira’s expression did not change much when he saw that. He was about to pull the trigger but he suddenly stopped.

Akira turned to Sheryl who was still clinging at him.

“He’s one of your gang members though, what do you want to do with him?”

“Just kill him.”

Sheryl answered Akira’s question without any hesitation at all. For her, there was no benefit in letting Sebla live. He took her hostage and tried to shoot Akira, although she might forgive him for the former, the latter was simply unforgivable as long as Akira did not tell her to let him go.

Akira looked at Sebla again. Sebla stared back at Akira with anger and hostility, it showed that he was already a lost cause.

All kinds of things ran through Sebla’s mind. The difference between him and Akira although they were living in the same environment until not too long ago and how they were so different right now. Sebla vented out his frustration which sounded as if he was whining.

“Dammit… You just got lucky…!! What’s so different between us!?”

Akira, who was about to pull the trigger, stopped when he heard that. There was a moment of silence between them. He then answered Sebla’s question.

“Didn’t you just say it yourself? That’s true, it’s our luck. You are just not lucky.”

After he said that, Akira pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced through Sebla’s torso, it took a few seconds before Sebla stopped breathing.

Akira looked pitifully at Sebla’s corpse. If he had not met Alpha, he would have been dead like that too. But Akira quickly scrapped that thought. Even if someone would have shot and killed him, it would have been because of a different reason.

Not too long after that, Dale and Colbert also returned after they took care of the monster. Akira pushed Sheryl, who was still clinging on him, away and she obediently concurred.

Akira was still on his guard, it was obvious that Sheryl was crying up until just now, Sebla was lying dead not too far from them, and Guyver was nowhere around. All of these cues made Dale and Colbert frown.

Both lowered their guns and walked to Akira. Dale took another look around and said to Akira.

“I want to know what just happened first, is it okay?”

“Sure.”

Akira, Sheryl, Dale, and Colbert exchanged information to confirm what was going on. After Dale understood the gist of the matter, he mumbled.

“That bastard! Doing something like this!! But still, although it’s weird to say this myself, that guy is pretty crazy to pick a fight against all three of us. Did he not think what would happen if his ambush failed? Was he so confident that his ambush would work perfectly?”

Dale looked surprised and angry as he said that. He had explored an old-world ruin together with Guyver. Thus, he more or less knew of Guyver’s skill. And according to his judgement, Guyver was average at best.

Colbert interjected and answered Dale’s question.

“…That might be because of his debt.”

“Debt? That guy has debt, huh?”

“Yeah, I heard that it’s a pretty big debt. I also heard that he was originally planning to pay his debt with the relics that we would gather today.”

Dale looked a bit pained as he said.

“Don’t tell me that he had no way of paying that debt as the deadline was coming close so he got desperate. I guess he planned to take our relics and Sheryl’s relics to amass a lot of money either for paying his debt or for running away from his debt, huh. Now that I remember, he also rushed forward without checking for enemies in the ruin. I guess he really was that desperate…”

Dale tried to make sense of everything that happened that day with the new information he just received. But in the end, they were all just his guesses, and with Guyver dead, there was no way to confirm them.

Akira then interjected.

“We can do that later, let’s get to the vehicle and head back to the city.”

As they were about to head back to the vehicle, Colbert suddenly stopped them.

“Ah, wait for a sec. It’s kinda hard to say this but… There’s one thing that I want to do.”

“What?”

“If it’s possible, I want to take Guyver’s body back. Ah, I also brought myself a body bag, so it won’t get your vehicle dirty… So, is it ok?”

Colbert understood that what he was asking was something unpleasant for Akira and the others. As a matter of fact, Dale and Sheryl looked obviously annoyed.