Chapter 124: Continuing The Exploration (1/2)

Elena and her team changed their main goal to rescuing the Hunters left trapped inside the Seranthal building. They also adjusted their exploration method to fit their new goal.

Up until now, they explored all the hallways and rooms from the first floor using their information-gathering devices to map out the inner layout of the building before. But this time, they only searched the rooms that Carol indicated and immediately went to the next floor once they were done. Their travel speed changed, so much that it surprised Akira.

Since they restarted their exploration, Akira always searched the rooms following the instructions from Alpha.

The level of the difficulty of the exploration suddenly went up compared to before. Since they increased their exploration rate, they did not have much time to check their surroundings and make decisions. And if they were late in doing so, it would cause the next action to get delayed, thus, increasing the accumulated stress, lowering their concentration, slowing them down, and eventually affected how careful they were in doing their searches. It was only a matter of time before Akira could not endure the accumulating stress.

Seeing how Akira was accumulating stress pretty fast, Alpha decided to stop the training.

“Akira, you should take a break. I’ll do the search, so you should calm down and take a rest.”

“…Alright.”

Akira let out a light sigh. Although it was not like he completely lowered his guard, he fully relied on Alpha for detecting enemies now, thus, he could relax a bit as he followed Elena and the rest of the Hunters. Akira also started to move more sluggishly than before, but since Alpha also mended that through his augmented suit, it was not that apparent. Therefore, the other Hunters did not reprimand him.

Now that Akira got some leeway, he then asked a question that had been bothering him for a while to Alpha.

“Alpha, there’s something that I want to ask, though…”

“Oh my, if you have so much leeway as to make a pointless chit chat now, it might be a good idea to restart your training again.”

Akira went silent. Well, it was true that Akira was talking with Alpha through telepathy, so he did not make any sounds nor he did move his mouth, but even so, he suddenly went silent. Anyone who could notice that would think that conveying silence through telepathy was indeed a meaningless action. And the only thing there who could notice it was Alpha alone.

Alpha smiled mischievously and said.

“I’m just kidding, so, what is your question?”

Akira then frowned while still in silence as Alpha was smiling amusedly at him. If it was a competition of being obstinate, Akira had zero chance of winning. Akira knew that well, his face turned displeased as he sighed before his expression returned to normal and said.

“…I just thought that we’re moving faster than before since we changed our main goal. I’m just wondering if that’s really alright. Ah, that’s not right, I actually think that it should be okay, but…”

Akira was trying to gather his thoughts as he was speaking with Alpha. Alpha quickly guessed what he was trying to ask even before he could finish his sentence, she then immediately answered.

“You basically don’t doubt Elena’s order. That’s why you have no complaint about it. But that would be your subjective opinion. It’s not like you, yourself, fully understand the effect of that order, evaluate it, and finally conclude by yourself that it should be fine. If I have to word it differently, if Shikarabe or Togami make the same decision, you would’ve questioned it. So you want to know if I also think that it’s not a bad decision, and if I do, you want to know the reason why. You’re basically wondering if the increased searching speed affects the quality of our searches. You’re also wondering that if you only look in the places where you might find one of those mini information relay devices, you might be missing some devices on your way. It’s not like you can ask about that to Elena right now, you can actually just ask her later, but since it’s bothering you and you have the chance to ask me, you decided to ask me now, right?”

Akira frowned and was a bit weirded out by Alpha’s words. He then said.

“…Well, yeah, something like that.”

Although Akira was trying to hide it, Sara was able to accurately guess what happened when he joined the bounty hunt with Shikarabe only with the limited information that Akira shared with her. And this time, Alpha was able to quickly guess what he was thinking even before he finished gathering his thoughts.

Akira was actually feeling a bit scared that it was only a matter of time before they could completely read his thoughts even without him saying anything.

Alpha then started evaluating Elena’s decision.

“I do also think that Elena’s decision is the right decision. Although it ultimately depends on how you are going to evaluate that decision, and I’m sure that even you are not expecting Elena to have a god-like level of commanding skill, to successfully lead a team of Hunters filled with amateurs through a deathly battlefield, right?”

“Well, yes.”

“Then, there should be no problems. Elena is doing a good job analyzing the current situation and adapting to the new information. I can at least say that much. So, if I have to start from the searching speed…”

Alpha suddenly stopped there and forcefully moved Akira’s body through his augmented suit. Akira was putting too much attention on Alpha’s explanation that he significantly slowed down. Akira, who realized that, flusteredly pulled himself together and aimed his rifle at the intersection that the team just passed through.

Alpha then smiled at Akira and said.

“As I thought, isn’t it better if we talk about it later?”

“…You’re right, let’s save that for later.”

“Alright then. But if talking with you slows you down that much, then I won’t be able to talk to you when you’re exploring an old-world ruin, huh. I’m sure you’ll feel lonely too because of that. Do you think I need to train you to do that?”

Alpha said that while still smiling, while on the other hand, Akira pouted when she said that.

Elena and her team continued deeper into the building. They did not encounter any monsters as they explored the building, but unfortunately enough, they also did not get to encounter any of their rescue targets.

They searched only the rooms where there was a good chance the Hunters who they were looking for might be barricading themselves. But all of them were empty rooms. Although they did find some traces of battles and bloodstains that might be from the Hunters and some other traces showing that someone was once there, they did not find any Hunters at all, not even their corpses.

A change happened when they reached the 20th floor. As they were about to explore the 20th floor, Elena suddenly told them to stop.

They immediately put their guards up and scanned their surroundings. They noticed that the 20th floor looked completely different from all the other floors below it.

There were Hunters’ corpses, wreckages, rubbles, and still-moving monsters.

Judging from their outer looks, they should be the A24 monsters that they fought in the Mihazono ruin’s city district, but they were badly damaged, their torsos were dented and some of their limbs were blasted to pieces. Some of them lost their legs, while some others lost their wheels. But that did not hinder them from moving around as they were able to nimbly avoid the corpses and the wreckages that were scattered on the floor.

Shikarabe looked around and mumbled.

“…So, they only finished cleaning the lower floors, huh. Well, I guess it’s better than having them waiting to welcome us here.”

Looking at what those monsters were doing there, it did not seem like they were waiting for Akira and the other Hunters. But judging at the dead Hunters on the floor, it did not seem like they would peacefully let them pass either.

Elena immediately tried to think of a plan to clear up those monsters.

[I bet they’re patrol drones. And judging from how they are moving around, it doesn’t seem like they’ve noticed us yet. Is it because their sensors are broken or something? Are they not exchanging information with Seranthal’s security facilities? Or is it because the very thing that is lowering the sensitivity of our information-gathering devices is also affecting them? Are they autonomous drones? Are they here for reconnaissance? Or is that they’re simply roaming aimlessly after their control devices got destroyed or something?]

Elena thought of so many possibilities, then after going through all of those options, she then said to Sara.

“Sara, kill them.”

“Roger that.”

Sara aimed her anti-material rifle at those monsters. Just like the information-gathering device, the aiming device of her rifle was also affected by the Seranthal building, thus, its accuracy was worsened.

But, it did not cause much trouble for Sara’s ability. She aimed her rifle at the torsos of those monsters and pulled the trigger once she was sure that her shots would hit.

The bullet that flew out of her rifle’s muzzle hit its target accurately. That bullet was designed for firepower rather than piercing power, as such, it easily blasted A24’s torso. The impact threw its body and scattered its inside around as it rolled over on the ground. It did not take that long before the next A24 also got blown away.

Elena told her team to stay on guard while she was observing the A24 that had turned into wreckages on the floor.

Akira suddenly realized something weird.

“Alpha. It’s about the monsters that Sara-san just killed, from the outside, they look like mechanical monsters, it’s not like they’re actually biological monsters, right…?”

Alpha found that question rather strange, but even so, she decided to recheck the dead monsters that were scattered on the ground. They were made of metals and some kind of nanomaterials. They did not seem to be biological monsters.

“Well, from what I can see, I believe they’re mechanical monsters. What’s wrong?”

“Nah, I’m just wondering about what’s the meaning of killing mechanical monsters. Judging from what Sara-san did back there, does that mean to break them and render them unable to move…? That still doesn’t sound right, though?”

“Oooh, I see.”

From how Elena worded it, Akira was wondering if they were actually biological monsters that looked like mechanical monsters. It was a subject that could easily cause a debate.

Alpha then thought, Akira just encountered a monster. So, it might be better to let him focus more on watching his surroundings instead of thinking about something else. So she was wondering if she should scold Akira instead.

But it was not clear yet whether it was really unnecessary or not. Being critical and extra cautious made people more careful, and sometimes, it might even be the trump card to escape a hopeless situation. An ability to think outside the box and come up with an unthinkable solution was an invaluable skill.

In order to polish that skill, there was no other way but to keep being critical and always ask difficult questions. If Alpha scolded Akira, there was a good chance that Akira would obediently do that, thus, reducing his chance to polish his skill in thinking outside the box.

If it was about the ability to detect enemies, Akira would not be able to get better than Alpha. Thus, Alpha decided that she should encourage him to polish other kinds of skills, although it was unlikely.

Alpha then answered Akira’s question.

“It could be interpreted as putting a short gap in between executing the actions that would kill and when the target could be assumed dead. So applying that to mechanical monsters, I would say that Elena told Sara to leave a small time gap, from the moment she started shooting at those monsters until when those monsters fully stopped moving anymore. Or, maybe even put no time gap at all if it was possible. That was what Elena asked from Sara. Although it’s nothing but a guess, I believe that’s the gist of it.”

“Is it not enough to just destroy them?”

“Let’s say if those monsters are a part of the building’s security. They might immediately call for reinforcement when they’re attacked, or maybe they won’t. They might only call for reinforcements once they judge that they can’t win only with their firepower. This condition might also include the damage done to its own body. Some of them might have a self-repairing system, then they would repair themselves, check the damage on their bodies, and if it’s above the threshold, they would call for reinforcements. So in order to stop them from doing something like that, there’s a need to completely stop their functions with one shot. That’s why Elena used that word. I think you can interpret her like that.”

“If they’re really a part of the building’s security, won’t they already know our location and would call for reinforcement the moment we destroyed them?”

“We don’t know how much these monsters are exchanging information with each other. Maybe Elena wanted to check that too, that’s why she gave that order, or maybe, she wanted to know how many monsters would come here just from the sound of the gunshot. It should be hard to ascertain our position only from that gunshot inside this building, you know. After all, something is reducing the sensitivity of your information-gathering device inside this building, but we don’t know for sure if that also affects the monsters. Moreover, if they’re really a part of the building’s security, even if their sensors are also affected, they should have already known our location from the sensors scattered all over the interior of this building. So these monsters might as well know our location from that shared information. I think Elena is trying to check that too.”

Akira looked a bit surprised, he did not even consider that at all. It might be because he always relied on Alpha to decide on what to do during a fight. After listening to Alpha’s explanation, it reminded him of his lack of skill in that department.

“I can make other guesses too, but let’s just stop here. Now that we just encountered some monsters, you need to be more careful from here and on.”

“Just tell me one more thing then. About that thing that you just explained to me, is that a normal thing for Hunters to know that? Am I the only one who doesn’t know that far?”

“It might be just simply because Elena thought you would understand what she wanted to convey only with those words. Elena and Sara seem to have been working together for a long time, so I bet they can tell what each other is trying to say without actually saying it. I bet she would add an extra explanation if she was to give the same order to you. But judging from the content of that order, I think it’s as you said. If you’re bothered by that, you should put more effort into studying from now on. I’ll help you too, you know?”

Alpha smiled mischievously, Akira returned that with a bitter smile.

“I guess I still have a long way to go before I can be a proper Hunter, huh?”

When Alpha said that she would help him, she was actually saying that she was willing to increase the difficulty of the training and the study. Akira at least knew that much.

Togami confirmed the change of the situation as he continued watching his surroundings. The monsters were now scattered on the ground while Elena was scanning the area with a serious look. That was all the changes there for now.

Togami who was seriously watching his surroundings suddenly made a confused expression, he then looked slightly troubled.

In the back of his head, he was thinking that there were no longer any monsters in that area and there did not seem to be any reinforcement coming either, which in that case, should it not be better to continue the search? After all, in order to reach their rescue target as soon as possible, it might be better to hurry up.

Togami then asked Elena.

“Uhhh, aren’t we going to continue the search?”

Elena did not even turn or change her expression as she replied.

“Sorry, I don’t have the time to explain it. If you have any questions, just ask Shikarabe.”