Chapter 213: Communication Cutoff (1/2)

The robotic humanoid soldiers slowly encroached deeper into the Kuzusuhara ruin. They were the main actors in the expedition into the ruin. They had a powerful large black gun accompanied by a missile pod of a similar size. It was assorted with high-caliber portable cannon complete with forcefield armour shields.

The new weapon was dispatched as a part of the defensive squad during the expedition, it worked as an advertisement for the new powered suits. Inabe spared no effort to advertise the powered suit and the weapons to all companies that he knew. He ended up filling the expedition with an abnormal number of powered suits and weapons.

With that many powered suits roaming the area. Of course, they would clash with the monsters. All swarms of monsters went to impede their advancement, this included weapon dogs. But the squad was able to plough through them with ease, filling the area with carcasses.

“HQ, this is C501 from C5 squad. We have encountered a swarm of large monsters and defeated them.”

“How is the damage?”

“The squad is fine, we still have enough medicine and ammo to continue the operation.”

“Roger that, continue with the plan.”

“…I just have a small worry though. We are encountering monsters more often than we first predicted. I know that the unexplored deeper part of the ruin is filled with powerful monsters, but they are even stronger than we expected.”

“The unexplored areas stay unexplored because most of the Hunters who went there did not come back alive, that is exactly why we lack information regarding those areas. It can’t be helped if there are powerful monsters there. Maintain the supply route and expand out carefully… Ah, and also, there’s a directive from the upper echelon to keep the damage to a minimum since it won’t act as a good advertisement otherwise. So make sure to withdraw when it gets too dangerous.”

The powered suit operator laughed in reaction to that small joke from HQ.

“Well well well, I’m glad that we got ourselves some kind commanders this time. C501. Roger that!”

The call was closed as he then scanned the surrounding area. The ground riddled with carcasses as far as the eyes could see was the testament of the power of the squad.

“Well, we’re winning anyway, so I guess there’s nothing to worry about.”

The powered suit squad continued their objective of expanding the secured area. Although they encountered numerous monsters, to the point they questioned where those came from, their powerful equipment made quick work of them. Since that was the case, they thought that there was no problem at all.

Not too long after the squad continued, they arrived at a certain place where numerous tall buildings stuck to each other, forming a formidable wall. In front of that wall, a monster was standing as if guarding the wall.

The outer appearance of that monster was similar to a tank with multiple cannons. It was so huge that even the powered suit squad had to look up to see the entirety of the monster. The monster looked like a mobile fort. While the lower part of the monster was equipped with metallic reptilian legs, it looked like a biological monster carrying a fort on its back.

As that monster spotted the advancing squad, its guns quickly turned and aimed at them before it started shooting vigorously as if it was also trying to destroy the buildings around it.

The black powered suits quickly engaged the monster. They immediately put up their shields to take cover from the incoming barrage. They hid behind the rubble or jumped away from the enveloped direction as they quickly surrounded their target. They communicated closely with each other to ensure maximum teamwork as they quickly dispatched the monster.

Both the monster and the squad were using high caliber weapons, obviously not to be used for fighting against mere humans and were also not designed to be used by humans either as they released countless warheads at each other, enveloping the area with barrages that flattened the already ruined buildings in the area.

The blasts were so powerful that the forcefield shield could not completely block them. The powered suits that were using their shields as covers had their whole arms blown away. Those who were hiding behind the rubble and tall buildings were almost buried alive. While those who jumped up were blown away, crashing down one by one into the ground.

But the monster itself was not able to get away unscathed. Many of its cannons were sacked, huge holes were left in its armour plates, while the fleshy parts of its legs were shredded to pieces.

Rubble and wreckage rained down from the sky mixed with live warheads. The warheads bounced around and fell down in a completely different place. The warheads that landed on the rubble exploded and threw more rubble into the mix. This also helped shave the forcefield armour of the powered suits. Of course, the monster was not unharmed as well. It basically inflicted equal damage to both sides.

That was when more reinforcement arrived. The squad that was already in battle worked closely with them to adjust their aim as they performed a long-range bombardment. The already powerful warheads landed accurately in a concentrated spot, blowing the humongous monster away.

As the leader of the vanguard squad looked at the monster that was already turned into a pile of meat and scarp, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

“This is C501. Thanks for the reinforcement.”

“C801 here. I’m glad we made it on time. So then, why didn’t you wait for us?”

“It was already too late when we noticed the enemy. It might have been using some kind of camouflage. Although it might sound like a lame excuse, we did not expect an attack at all, all the monsters that we encountered up till now had no camouflage on. If we dial up the sensitivity of our information-gathering devices to detect monsters with camouflage, there is a good chance that they would be able to track our position as well. That’s why we thought that it was an unnecessary risk.”

“I see. Do you think there is a chance that those monsters that you encountered first were just decoys for this monster?”

“…No, I don’t think that’s the case, but again, I can’t really say for sure.”

The squad leader then proceeded to check the damage from the exchange and frowned. Three powered suits were down and many of them were damaged although still fit for battle. Considering that it was a squad filled with new equipment, it was costly.

“To everyone in the squad, we will take this point as the frontline, take up defensive formation and tune up your information-gathering devices to scan for hidden monsters as well. We will prioritize securing the area. For those with forcefield armour below 70%, withdraw together with the severely damaged units. We will then join up with the C8 squad and-”

While the squad leader was still giving out commands, his information-gathering device suddenly showed a signal coming from the monster that the squad just defeated. As they focused their attention in that direction, one of the buildings that was a part of the tall wall which was already on the brink of falling from the previous exchange, started to crumble. Once it was completely flat on the ground, the squad leader was able to see past the wall as he contacted the HQ in panic.

“H-HQ. This is C5 squad, we just encountered what might be an immensely powerful monster. Fortunately, we were able to defeat it with the help of the C8 squad. We will send the damaged units to the back.”

“Roger that… Is there something wrong over there?”

“We spotted something that seemed to be a completely undamaged city behind the wall that got destroyed from the previous battle. I’ll send you an image, you can go ahead and check it yourself. We ask for further orders after you finish checking the image.”

The abnormality in that call expressed what kind of amazing thing that they had just found. The squad leader waited nervously for the next order when his information-gathering device suddenly picked up another signal. As he flusteredly shifted the camera on his powered suit to the source of that signal, he saw through the gap of the fallen building, the figure of a beautiful girl.

That girl somehow seemed unhappy as she gazed coldly. And when the squad leader met her eyes through the camera, the girl seemed to be muttering something before his connection to the HQ suddenly was cut off.

Tsubaki was standing on top of the rubble on the border of the area under her jurisdiction. Normally, she would not be able to get out of her area due to her restriction. This time, she came in an old-world automaton that was already turned into a terminal. So she did not travel there as a virtual object.

Tsubaki gazed at the squad of the black powered suits and mumbled.

“…They are here. Looking at them, it’s no surprise it did not even stand for 50 years this time. Well, it doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t change that it satisfies the requirement. I hope we can negotiate peacefully again this time.”

Tsubaki walked and left the area. Multiple transparent robots followed next to her as she stepped outside the area.

The squad leader was at a loss that his call with the HQ was suddenly cut. But their information-gathering devices that were already tuned up to detect hidden monsters, now showed multiple signals. It gave them a shock as invisible objects appeared one after another from a small opening in that crumbled wall.

“Open fire!!”

All the experiences that he accumulated caused his alarm to ring danger as he barked out commands. The rest of the team did not lose a beat as they started shooting as well. Right at the same time, the monster under Tsubaki’s command also replied accordingly.

Flashes from muzzles and forcefield armours appeared out of nowhere, distorting the optical camouflage of the mechanical monsters and shedding to their true form in front of the squad. Countless tanks with multiple legs. Some of them had their legs completely folded up as they were floating without touching the ground. The walls, the grounds, even the sky were immediately encroached by monsters as they did not stop shooting at the city’s squad. The black powered suit quickly reformed their formation and released more or less the same absurd amount of warheads in the enemy’s direction.

And so, the wasteland was once again engulfed in flames.

***

Inabe looked delighted as he was on standby in the front base’s command center. The picture sent by the forward squad showed an area under Tsubaki’s control, which indicated that this large-scale expedition was a success.

The area would be put under his jurisdiction and he would be promised a good position if he could bring in profits from that area for the sake of the city’s development. The fact that he had won this large bet of his, had sent him over the moon.

That was when something really bad happened. The picture displayed on the large monitor suddenly went blank.

“What just happened? Get it back online!!”

The other people present there scrambled in panic from Inabe’s order. But unfortunately, the connection did not return back no matter what they did.

“It’s not working. We can’t establish contact, or more like, this is…”

The staff looked grim when they noticed what was going on.

“We lost all contact with all the Hunters there!!”

“What!?”

Inabe could not hide his surprise. His voice echoed through the command center and dissipated into the air. But even so, it did not help with the situation that they were facing at all.

—*—*—*—

Right about the same time, Akira was hunting for relics in one of the old dilapidated buildings. The building itself was located inside the area secured by the powered suit squad. Most likely, no one had ever searched that building. It was simply because it was guarded by too many monsters, then there was a good chance he could still find a number of relics inside the building. But Akira’s expression said it all.

“There’s really nothing here, huh? Though I’m pretty sure we’re already deep here and it won’t be strange to find a lot of relics in this area.”

Not only was it filled with powerful monsters, but there were also no relics to be found. It was the worst possible location for Hunters. Tsubaki had used her restricted authority as much as possible to remove relics around her own area, that was why Akira found nothing here.

Alpha already knew about that fact, but she avoided saying anything to him.

“It’s exactly because Hunters normally cannot even come close to these buildings that they organized such a large-scale expedition. They are hoping to find an area rich with relics.”

“That does make sense, but again I don’t want to get anywhere close to those powered suits. Although I’m sure I can find better relics if I do that.”

Unexplored areas have a better chance of housing valuable relics. That was why although they knew that it was dangerous to stay close to the powered suits, there were Hunters who chose to do so in order to get first dibs on the unexplored buildings.

As for Akira, he chose to stay away from the front line, thus only exploring the buildings relatively later. It was the result of him prioritizing his safety. In the first place, he only accepted that request, thinking of joining up with Elena and Sara in case they also participated in the operation. Although it was not like he was taking it easy, he believed that there was no need to unnecessarily expose himself to danger.

“But, I guess it would be bad if I don’t show any result, right?”

“I think there’s no need to worry about that. The contract states that you are free to do what you want. The inner part of the ruin is still pretty dangerous although the powered suit squads already combed this area beforehand. So let’s proceed with safety in mind.”

“You’re right, I guess I’ll do that, huh… Alpha?”

Akira glanced at Alpha when he said so, but Alpha who was beside him just a moment ago suddenly vanished. He raised his eyebrows and looked around, thinking that she just suddenly changed position, but he could not find her anywhere.

Right at the next moment, he felt a slight dizziness as his vision blurred for a second, but it quickly returned back to normal. He felt weird as if his vision was momentarily cut off before restarting.

“Alpha! Stop with the joke! At least tell me beforehand if you’re going to do something like that!”

But there was no reply. Even if he sent a strong voice through telepathy, it only dissipated without getting any response. Akira felt a different sensation compared to when Alpha left him back in the Seranthal building. Back then, it was more like there was someone there that was ignoring his call, but this time, it felt like he was completely alone, enveloped in complete silence.