Chapter 125: The Hunters Who Barricaded Themselves (1/2)

Even after Sara destroyed the second monster, Elena still ordered the team to stay on watch in that hall. There were corpses of dead Hunters, wreckages of destroyed monsters, monsters that had been rendered harmless with their bodies almost fully intact, they were looking at these while still on stand by in that room. The time that they spent there was crucial to gather and analyze all the data that they could get there. But it was only a matter of time before it turned into simply a waste of time.

[Judging from how the monsters reacted, it seems that they don’t know our location. It might be because their ability to share information and contact each other is also lowered just like how the sensitivity of our information-gathering devices are also lowered. If it’s blocking them from calling reinforcements, it might also be the case for their ability to contact each other, no, maybe they can but only for the monsters on the same floor? Then, even if it’s true that the manager of this building has turned hostile to us, then why is their ability to contact each other affected the same way as how the sensitivity of our information-gathering device is affected? Is the manager of this building not sharing information with these monsters? Is it because they’re under different management? Or is it because these monsters are broken or something? Or is it simply because they’re not working under the management of this building? Or is it that they’re trying to trick us here?]

When Elena’s display showed that her information-gathering device had finished gathering and analyzing all the information that it could get there, Elena decided to finally move on.

[I’ve finished analyzing the monsters here. We should be able to detect the same type of monster better now, it’ll at least increase the sensitivity of our information-gathering device. There doesn’t seem to be any reinforcement, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay here any longer, it would be a waste of time if we keep staying here longer. I guess it’s time to go then.]

Elena then said to the rest of the team.

“We’ll keep up our method and speed just like before. Although you can see the result for the radar on your map, don’t drop your guard just because there are no monsters detected. Just fight the monsters that block our way, there’s no need to kill all the monsters, prioritize more on searching the area. But of course, safety is still number one. That’s all, let’s go.”

They immediately started moving again, and as Elena ordered, they kept the same speed and method although the situation on the 20th floor was completely different compared to the 19th floor.

There were puddles of blood mixed with wreckages of monsters on the floor as they continued their search on that floor. There were traces of destroyed barricades and the Hunters who must have frantically fought those monsters. The Hunters’ hands that were poking out from a pile of wreckages of dead monsters were still holding their rifles even now. Rubbles and wreckages blocked the hallways and the corpses of the Hunters who created those piles scattered inside the hallways.

The monsters there already turned the Hunters on that floor to corpses, and the still-moving monsters now quickly turned their attention to the new enemies that just stepped into that floor.

Alpha gave Akira an order while they were in the middle of moving.

“Akira, to your right.”

“Roger that.”

Akira who was running immediately stopped at the intersection in front of him and aimed his rifle to the right.

He gathered his concentration and compressed his time perception as he fixed his aim at the target that he could not even see. He then tracked the A24 monsters that passed through the next intersection and pulled the trigger the moment they showed themselves.

Akira was able to see the location of the control device inside the monster’s body due to Alpha’s support. Alpha also indicated the location where Akira’s bullet would easily pierce its armour and destroy its control device. As Akira tried to align his aim, a trajectory prediction line extended from his CWH anti-material rifle’s muzzle.

The bullet that flew out from the CWH anti-material rifle hit the weak point of the monster. It destroyed the monster’s outer armour and pierced through its innards, it went straight for the monster’s control device and destroyed it in one shot. The monster that had lost its brain immediately stopped functioning and just crashed into the ground with the momentum that it had when it flew out from the intersection due to inertia.

“Alright!”

Akira nodded and immediately started running again. When he had a chance, he quickly turned to Alpha and asked her a question while still running.

“How was that?”

Alpha smiled and warned him.

“If I didn’t fix your aim, it would have missed the monster about 1 metre to the left. You need to try to keep calm while fixing your aim as fast as possible.”

“…I see.”

Akira felt slightly depressed, he felt pretty good with himself after that shot, but it turned out that it was all thanks to Alpha’s support.

But Akira quickly pulled himself together, he knew that he had no time to lament. He then commented about the other factor that increased the difficulty of sniping monsters there.

“But still, this place is pretty bad. It would have been much easier if they cleaned this place just like what they did on the lower floors.”

Because of the fierce battle that happened beforehand there, the leftover of that battle blocked the way and made it more difficult for Akira to move around. Wreckages of dead monsters scattered on the ground, they were leaking out oils which then mixed together with the blood from the dead Hunters. These were preventing Akira from moving too fast. They did not have a stable footing and the floor was slippery from the oil and the blood. Sniping alone was already hard enough, but the environment there increased the difficulty even more.

Alpha then answered Akira’s question.

“The cleaning drones might have been destroyed by the other mechanical monsters.”

“…Wait, they’re not friends?”

“We don’t know for sure if those monsters are working under the command of the manager of this building. They might be a completely separate swarm that somehow entered the Seranthal building. Of course, this is nothing but a guess though.”

Akira made a troubled look, but he immediately returned his face to normal.

“This has really turned into something super complicated. It might have something to do with the current abnormality in Mihazono ruin, but well, I guess it has nothing to do with me, huh. Well, it’s true that I might be able to get 10,000,000,000 Aurum if I know the reason behind it, but it’s not the time to be thinking about that right now.”

Alpha smiled at Akira and said.

“That’s true. You came here in order to help Elena and Sara out of your own volition after all. So you need to concentrate more on that. But if you’ve had enough of it, you can tell me anytime. I’ll immediately readjust your course of action for moving separately from the team.”

Akira sulked for a bit, but Alpha just ignored it and kept smiling at him.

It was true that he actually just ignored Alpha’s opinion and dragged her for his own selfishness to help out Elena and Sara. That was why he thought that it was understandable for Alpha to poke at him like that, so he just ignored it and decided to move on.

Shikarabe aimed his rifle at the monster that was located behind a pile of wreckage and pulled the trigger. The piercing bullet that he was using was able to pierce through the pile of wreckage and hit the monster behind it. He was able to destroy the monster’s vital component in one shot and killed that monster.

Shikarabe was able to ascertain the enemy’s location from the data that he was receiving from Elena.

[It’s amazing how accurate this information that she’s sending to me is when the sensitivity of my own information-gathering device is this bad. It’s great that I can take it easy. I can see now why Arabe is always trying so hard to get Elena and Sara to join the gang, though it always ended up with a failure.]

Shikarabe was honestly impressed by Elena’s ability and smiled bitterly remembering how his friend worked so hard for it although it ended up with failures.

While Carol had a large gun with her that could blast the monsters in one shot. It was also thanks to Elena that she was able to quickly detect the monsters that hid in difficult-to-spot places.

[Elena’s ability to process information is really nothing to scoff at, Sara is also moving accordingly to keep Elena protected. It’s understandable that Akira looks up to them. I guess it won’t be easy to impress Akira with my Hunter skill, huh. Well, let’s just do my best.]

Carol was also impressed with Elena and Sara’s skill. So using that as a reference, it seemed that it would not be easy to try to show off her Hunter skill to Akira.

Togami was desperately trying to catch up with the moving speed of the rest of the team. He did not complain at all as he used all he got to use that chance to show his skills to other Hunters.

His powerful equipment supported him to push his way through difficult situations. But that was not enough for him to match the current speed. He was barely able to follow the rest of the team.

Togami checked at the other Hunters while fighting the monsters. Just like Akira who was able to track a monster that was invisible to him, Shikarabe and the other Hunters could also predict accurately where and when the enemy would appear or shoot accurately through wreckages or rubbles.

Togami was also receiving the same information from Elena just like the rest of the Hunters, but even so, he could not use it to perform as well as the other Hunters.

His expression turned stern.

[So it’s normal for them to be able to do that, huh?! While on the other hand, I can’t do that at all… At least for now though, I’ll definitely learn how to do that too as soon as possible!!]

In the past, excessive praises pushed him to grow, but this time, frustration and the feeling of patheticness pushed him to grow. Togami recognized his own skill and his pathetic performance here, he was scolding himself as if to tell him to fight back while pushing himself to the limit.

Elena kept scanning the surroundings while going deeper and deeper into the building. And of course, he was also keeping his eyes for any signals from their rescue targets while scanning her surroundings. At the same time, she was also marking the route that the team would take on the map.

Sara was fighting the monsters they encountered while making sure that Elena, the leader of the team, was properly protected. Sara’s display was showing the information that Elena had analyzed and sent to her. Thanks to that information, Sara was able to effectively remove the monsters that were blocking their way forward and any monsters that approached the team.

Elena and Sara basically work together as a team of two when they did Hunter jobs. Depending on the request that they took, they sometimes had to work under a different team, or sometimes, as the leader of the team, but that was not enough to break their habit of working as a team of two. It was simply because they understood and trusted each other, they knew that it was the best option and they trusted that fact.

Sara then contacted Elena through the transceiver.

“Elena, who is this rescue target that we’re trying to rescue this time? Or more like, is there really any survivors in this situation?”

“This is only my guess, but I think it’s very likely that they’re still alive. Or at least, it seems that Shikarabe thinks so. If Shikarabe’s aim this time is to retrieve the borrowed equipment or the corpses, I’m sure he would have chosen another option. That’s why he asked us to do this even though he doesn’t want to.”

That answer did not fully convince Sara. She looked around at the wreckages of dead monsters that were scattered on the ground and said.

“The people who fought these monsters might be the Hunters who accepted that SOS rescue request, right? So basically, they must be the Hunters who were in this ruin yesterday. I’m sure most of them only had enough supplies thinking that they would return back during the day, right? And even if they brought with them extra supplies, I’m sure they had used most of them to fight all of these monsters. And if they are strong enough to handle all of these monsters in that situation, I bet they’ve already escaped the building by themselves though.”

Judging from the average strength of the Hunters in the Mihazono ruin, the state of the Hunters who accepted that SOS rescue request, and the leftover of the battles in that place, Sara’s experience as a Hunter was telling her that there was zero chance their rescue targets were still alive.

Elena actually had the same thought as Sara. But even so, she believed there was a good chance that their rescue targets were still alive, and that reason might lie in the secret information that Shikarabe would not tell her.

“I actually agree with you. But even so, Shikarabe still believes that they are still alive. They might have some team members who specialize in close-quarter combat, or they might bring with themselves way more supplies than most Hunters would, or they might be way stronger than most of the Hunters in this ruin, or they made sure to barricade themselves somewhere to make sure that they would be able to return alive. So judging from that, they might still be alive even now. Don’t you think that’s plausible too?”

“Well, that does make sense, a lot of Hunters went to this building after Drankam issued that SOS rescue request after all. So it won’t be strange if some of them are actually that skilled.”

Sara was convinced by that answer, but even so, Elena who answered Sara’s question felt that something was still bothering her.

It was the reason why Shikarabe made that expression back then. Judging from there, there was no mistaking it that it must be something troublesome, something that forced Shikarabe to adjust his action assuming that their rescue targets were still alive. There was no telling how much that something might affect the other Hunters later.

Elena then carefully asked Shikarabe.

“Shikarabe, I didn’t ask you this since I thought it must be information that you can’t share, but at least I’ll ask you this now. Can you at least tell us the name of our rescue targets?”

Shikarabe’s expression turned clouded.