Aki

a、Rei

a and Shio

i is still on his way to headquarters. Reina helped Shiori, who was about to collapse, and walked up and down the underground corridor. As for Akira, he walked a little further away from Shiori and Reina, and judging from the distance, he was still cautious about them.

Akira often takes pills while keeping an eye on her surroundings. The medicine he took was bought from Shizuka's shop. The medicinal potency is extremely low compared to the medicinal herbs found in the ruins of the Old World. But even so, if he swallowed that medicine in large quantities, it would at least hasten his recovery from fatigue and the healing of his wounds.

"So—Why?"

Shiori thinks that if Reina and Akira are allowed to continue the conversation, their topic may become an unpleasant topic between the three. So, she squeezed out what little strength she had and interjected.

"Ma'am, we're already far from that area. I know it's rude for me to ask, but could you please check if we can already contact headquarters. ”

Knowing that it was not good for his health, he took so much medicine because after a quarrel with Shiori, he was injured and very tired. He did this just in case they ran into a monster on the way back, and he would be in the best condition. All in all, it's both the fault of Shilis and the fault of Renus. In that case, it's not something to discuss.

Shiori's heart was still a little numb, and she felt that she should have stopped Rena sooner, or at least warned her not to talk about sensitive things. If it was normal for her, she would have warned Rena a long time ago, but now she can't do it. This is because she focuses all her remaining energy on staying awake and not losing consciousness in that place.

I understand why Shiori suddenly interjected, but I don't want to cause any quarrel there, so I keep silent. Rena was the only one who didn't notice this, and she focused on her terminal.

A voice came from her terminal.

"This is the headquarters—"

"It's connected!!"

The moment Rena confirms that her terminal is connected to HQ, Crystal immediately yells at the terminal.

"This is number 27!! After fighting that suspicious man, we have 3 wounded hunters! There are no more conditions for fighting! The suspicious person is dead! There's a good chance he's brought more of his friends from the underground tunnels!! It seems that they are planning to secretly take the relics out of the dungeon!! Send hunters who can fight well and provide support!! My terminal was destroyed by him while I was fighting that suspicious person!! That's why I contacted you from another hunter terminal!! ”

There was a brief pause before the headquarters staff responded.

"27th, explain what happened. First of all, about that suspicious person—"

"Please allow us to return to HQ first."

"No. 27, we need to confirm the situation first, so answer our question first-"

"Permission first!"

Akira yelled. It was clear from his voice that he was tired. The staff understood that there was no point in rebutting, so he simply allowed them to return.

"Very well, you can go back to headquarters. But answer our questions on your way back, understand? ”

There was a daunting nuance in his voice.

"It's number 27, Roger."

Akira took a deep breath to calm herself.

They could hear a commotion coming from the terminal, as if something was going on at headquarters.

Akira walked back to the headquarters as she answered questions from the headquarters staff. He tells the staff about Yajima, who suddenly attacked him, the disturbing smoke that prevented him from contacting Shiori and Reina, the fact that he killed Yajima, and why he thought Yajima and his friends planned to do so. Sneak old world relics from dungeons. He answered correctly all the questions posed by the staff at Headquarters.

The staff also wanted to ask Shioli and Reina. But Rena still couldn't fully recover from the chaos, and she was still a little confused about what had just happened. Not to mention, she was really worried about Shiori, so she was not in a position to answer the staff's questions at all. As for Shiori, she is barely conscious and cannot answer his questions properly. Therefore, he can only question Akira.

Akira reported as he cautiously walked forward, and then he noticed a group of hunters running towards them. Rescue finally arrives, and Rena and Shiori breathe a sigh of relief, but instead of them, Akira frowns.

"Rena!! Shiori!! Are you all right?!"

The reason why Ming seemed a little annoyed was because it was Katsuya and his party who came running.

Shiori breathed a sigh of relief and finally met the other hunters, who lost consciousness on the spot. Rena panicked and tried to hold her up as she was about to fall. Katsuya and the others hurriedly surrounded her and helped Reina support Shiori.

Alpha then said to Akira.

"Just let her leave it to them, and we'd better get out of here. If you're always there for them and wait for them to start asking about you, that's going to be a problem. ”

"You're right. Anyway, they didn't let us go back to headquarters together. And I want to avoid any trouble as much as possible. ”

Akimasa quietly leaves Katsuya and the group, but Katsuya notices him and tries to stop him.

"Wait!! Where do you think you're going?!! ”

Shiori is apparently in poor health and unconscious, and Rena panics. The only one who is completely calm, Akira, is trying to sneak away. Judging by the situation they are in; Coupled with his distrust of Akira, Katsuya believes that Akira is the real cause of this. He believes that Akira did something bad that caused Shiori and Reina to be injured, and it may even be that he attacked Reina and Shiori.

Akira had already escaped from that place. Alpha smiled at him, warning him.

"You can't stop running, okay?"

"I know."

Even without Alpha telling him, Akira ignored Katsuya's voice and continued to run towards the headquarters.

Katsu didn't know whether to chase Akira or not. Suddenly, the voice of the headquarters staff came from the Renas terminal, and the staff asked, not knowing that Akira had left there.

"Number 27, what's that sound? What's going on over there? ”

When he replied, Katsuya sounded visibly angry.

"This is D

a

Katsuya of kam! We just met a wounded hunter! ”

"Who? What number? ”

"Number 52!!"

"What about the 27th? Isn't he there? I heard that three people, including the 27th, were injured. ”

Katsuya realizes that number 27 is Aki

A, he replied as if he was venting.

"If it's that guy, he looks like he's okay at all and just runs!! I don't even know where he's going!! ”

"I see. The rest of the injured hunters are all Drakeham's, right? Number 52, I'll put the other two back into your ranks, and you command from here, that's all. ”

Katsuya shouted at the terminal.

"Wait!! Are you asking me to bring Reina and Shiori back instead of sending them back? ”

"Your role is to confirm your condition, see how serious their injuries are and then decide whether to take them with you or let them rest at the defensive point, and if they are seriously injured, you can even take them to the medical team. You guys decide what to do from there. Whether you're going to send some people back, or to continue your duties with the remaining hunters, or whether to bring the whole team back, because you can't seem to continue with the current situation, it's up to D

a

Kam you discuss and decide for yup. Don't ask us what we're going to do. Ask D instead

a

kam。 Notify headquarters only when you deem it necessary. It's also busy here, you know. That's all. ”

The staff at the headquarters hung up the phone after speaking.

Katsu can also sense that Motobu is contemptuous of Shiori and Rena's situation. His face twitched with anger. Then he quickly decided what he was going to do next.

"Well, let's take Shiori and Reina back to headquarters."

Bringing everyone back to the headquarters can be understood as abandonment. Airi understood, so she asked Katsuya.

"What about our duties?"

Gram replied with a smile.

"They let us decide for ourselves. Well, go back to the headquarters, let Reina and Shiori stay in the medical team, and then return to our duties. After all, our friend's life is much more important than our duty, right? ”

Seeing that Katsuya put his friend's life above his duty, the other young hunters in the team looked at him with approving.

Yumina wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to bring everyone back, but she felt that if she said anything, Katsuya would decide to stay, so she just kept silent. She knew how clever Shiori's skills were, and what had happened to make her so bad, so she didn't want Katsuya to risk it alone.

***

After arriving at the headquarters, Akira continued to report on the situation on Yajima. He thought that the staff was going to ask him a lot of questions again, but after a brief report, he let go.

Because on the way back to the headquarters with Akira and Shiori and Reina, they had already asked for the necessary details. And, on Akira's way back, the situation changed. It seems that more Yajima friends have been found in the dungeon, and they have killed some hunters sent out by the headquarters.

Aki was reported when the headquarters staff told him that some deaths had been reported after a clash between them

a Cold sweat flows. If he had met more powerful people like Yajima on the way back, he would undoubtedly be dead by now. He barely dodged the bullets there.

Alpha looked at Akira, who was trembling slightly, and just smiled and comforted.

"I'm glad we left that place soon."

"You can say it again, I don't know why I'm always being pushed into this dangerous situation? Is it really a lack of luck? ”

Alpha replied as if he was cheering for the muttering Akira.

"I'm sure it's because you wanted to leave a beautiful hostage to die at the time, and you may need to do more good things later."

Akira looked angry.

"Don't be crazy. If I throw my weapon away, he'll kill me right away, you know? ”

"I bet you're right. Although you somehow saved her, it may not be enough to balance everything out. Or maybe because you ended up saving her and your luck increased, being able to get out of that unlucky place before anything trouble happened. ”

Akira muttered to herself.

"It's just unreasonable."

Indeed, if he stayed with Katsuya and his party, it might become a lot of trouble. Akira didn't want to think that she was able to escape because of luck. If possible, he wants to use the luck he has accumulated to do better things.

He understands that Alpha is just joking to make him happy. But for some reason, her voice was very convincing to Akira.

Although there were only a few minor injuries, Aquilas's body was actually in a terrible state. Cheap medicine was not enough to heal his wounds. So he asked the staff about the medical team, and the staff explained the details to him.

"I don't mind if you want to see the medical team. But let me tell you in advance, it's not free. There are a lot of hunters who misunderstand this, so be careful with the bills. ”

"How do I pay for my medical bills?"

"You should check with the medical team that most of the Hunter's medical expenses are deducted from their rewards, depending on the medical care you seek and whether you are insured or not. Ah, your terminal is broken, right? You go and get another one first, without a terminal, the medical team won't help you. If you don't share your location through a shared network, they may think you'll run away without paying. So be careful that too. ”

Akira followed the staff's advice and changed to a new terminal before heading to the room where the medical team was on standby.

Although they are called medical teams, there are still many hunters who do not have a creature like Akira. Some of them use nanomachines to augment their bodies, some are cyborgs with a human appearance, and some look completely mechanical from the outside. These types of hunters need to be repaired rather than cured.

As Akira followed behind a board that read something like Biology, a man in a white lab coat greeted her.

The man Balin looks more like a scientist who likes to do human experiments than a doctor. He was stationed there to treat hunters with living organisms.

Akira saw the worry on Habayain's face. Although he had never seen a doctor, he didn't notice too much that Balin was obviously a shady person.

Habayashi happily greeted Akira.

"Welcome to the Habayashi Clinic, Katsubara Ruins Branch. Sorry for interrupting the question, but how are you going to pay the bill? ”

"Subtract from my pay."

"Okay, got it. Ahh The check-up is free, but my other services cost money. If I don't fix it, don't hold a grudge against my body because you don't have enough money, okay? Oh well, take off your clothes. ”

Akira obeyed Habayain's instructions and took off her fortified suit. Habayashi used a strange camera-like tool and some sort of scanner to examine Achillas' body. He also uses other strange tools to check. With his current knowledge, he didn't know if these tools were really for checking his body.

It took about 10 minutes to complete the checkup. After that, Hachibayashi handed over the results to Akira.

"I'm glad it wasn't a big deal. However, I recommend that you get treatment. So, what kind of treatment do you want to receive? ”

"Isn't my wound serious? My limbs were screaming in pain. I could only move around, thanks to the cheap medication I was taking. ”

Akira seemed suspicious of what he had just heard. Balin just replied with a smile.

"A serious injury is a situation where you lose a limb or your internal organs are dug up or even destroyed, and they are basically injuries that go straight to the hospital. Just a few cracks in the bones, or some internal bleeding, or injuries caused by muscle fatigue are all minor injuries. ”

It seems that there is a big gap between the standards of minor injuries of Achillas and Hachirin. But from the hunter's point of view, Habayashi was right in his thinking.

Akira smiled vaguely, sounding half-believing.

"At least can you heal my injuries without reducing my combat effectiveness?"

"I see. There are various treatments available to you, but I would recommend that you choose the one that is not covered by regular insurance. ”

"I don't have any insurance."

Balin looked surprised. After all, most of the hunters in that place were insured by some kind of insurance.

Habayashi seemed to be pleased. It's at least an expression that a doctor wouldn't make.

"Great!! In that case, what about the drug I developed? Here's my recommendation! You don't have insurance, do you? Then I'll let you buy it cheap!! ”

Balin grabbed a small container beside him and showed it to Akira. The container was filled with a green liquid. No matter how you cut it, it's a suspicious-looking medicine.

"No, thank you. Since insurance doesn't apply to that thing, it's certainly something that's not safe. ”

"It's okay, don't worry, it's not self-made, I decompose and analyze the old world drug, and then use the data to simulate its effect, I can guarantee its effect because I have already tried it. before myself. The reason why they are not insured is because of the influence of large companies, and it is set up like this, so people will choose those drugs that are produced by large companies. This medicine is better, I can at least assure you a lot! So, what do you think? I can't get certified unless I have enough data and a sample of the people who use it. If people could buy cheap but powerful medicines, it would be better for the world, right? It will provide better therapeutic outcomes and may even save people's lives. Take this as a good thing to restore some of the humanity you tend to lose as hunters in dangerous work. ”

Habayashi struggles to convince Akira.

From his observation of Hachirin, Alpha said to Akira.

"Akira, I'll at least tell you about it, he's not lying. He's not trying to scam you or squeeze your money. I don't think he intended to deceive you at all. ”

"Hmm, hmm, even if you tell me that, it's just that you know."

"Well, that's totally normal."

Even if the drug can't become mainstream because of the influence of big pharma, if it is a drug that has been circulated among the people and has been certified, then at least there should be no bad side effects. How many times Habayashi had given himself that medicine in the past, it was not enough to convince Akira.

Habayashi knew Akira was hesitating. But hesitation is not the same as rejection. Thinking so, Balin further urged Ming.

"Ah, I see!! If you buy this medicine, I sell the old world medicine on me too!! These pills are not available to you on a regular basis unless you use chrome!! But I'll sell it to you in Olum!! What do you think?! ”

Habayashi took out a box from the bag beside him and handed it to Akira. The box Akira was familiar, similar to the medicine he had found at the Katsubara ruins.

Aki

a confirmed this to Alpha.

"Alpha, isn't it?"

"It looks like he's not lying, the box is still sealed. I think it's true. You'll want to get it if possible. ”

Alpha and Akira agreed. He knew very well how powerful the medicine was. So he really wanted to get some medication if he could.

"How many boxes are you willing to sell?"

"2 million gold coins are only one, this medicine generally only treats serious injuries, and I can't sell it cheaply."

Honestly, it's actually a kind of insurance in case his medicine doesn't work. However, of course, Habayashi would not say that to Akira.

The price is reasonable. Although Ming was hesitant at first, he eventually accepted the offer.

"Okay, I accept. Please deduct the remuneration from my remuneration. ”

"Alright then!!"

Balin seemed happy and began to prepare for treatment. Seeing this, Akira felt that she had just made a wrong decision and was slightly worried. But he then addressed himself and underwent treatment.

The treatment itself was completed quickly. They just soaked the bandage in the green liquid and injected it into some part of Aquilas's body.

"So be it. Let's take a break for the next 1 hour or so. Walking around doesn't get dead, and as long as you take a break, you will have the most effect. Also, don't tell anyone that I sold that medicine to you, okay? It's not something I usually sell, you know. So if other hunters come to me for the same thing, it's a hassle. ”

"Okay. How much does that treatment cost? ”

"100,000 gold coins, you can expect its effect, because this is not insured, so the treatment here has given you a great discount, thank you very much for cooperating with the treatment."

Balin smiled suspiciously. Ming found that some of the words that Balin said just now were suspicious, so he frowned.

Aki

I don't know if it's expensive. If he can recover his body to the point where his injuries will not reduce his combat effectiveness within 1 hour, he thinks it will be quite cheap.

What's more, he also has a powerful elixir that he can use in case something bad happens. Alpha didn't stop him either, and it should be fine. So he just decided to leave that alone in order to preserve his mental power.

Suddenly, things around him became very busy. Akira looked to the source of the commotion and saw some badly injured hunters being carried to the medical team. Some of them were covered in blood, some had lost limbs, and even one hunter had lost half of his body.

Balin looked at the hunters and said.

"Wow, there's something urgent here, and people with minor injuries will only get in the way. Excuse me, can you move somewhere else? I want to save as many people as I can. ”

"Even if you say that, some of them are dead, aren't they?"

"This may not be entirely the case. Some of them have semi-mechanized brains, and some of them are using nanomachines to stay alive even if they lose their necks for a short time. If we can still save those people, if we hurry. Well, of course, that's if they have enough money to pay us. After all, we can't turn you into a cyborg at zero cost. They may have to work all their lives to pay off their debts, but that's not our problem. So there you have it, give way, give way.

Akira looked at the hunters again. He was amazed to find that the hunter with such an injury could still be rescued while he was gone, so as not to get in the way.

Alpha smiled at Akira, who was looking at the hunters.

"You'll be fine with only minor injuries."

"yes, you're right."

If he makes even the slightest mistake, Aki

a will also join the ranks of hunters. He even made a bet that if that happened, he would die.

Before putting back the booster suit, Aki

a Swapped the Energy Pack in the Booster Suit for a new one. He noticed that he was consuming a lot more energy than he expected.

"We're using up quite a bit of energy, don't you think?"

"It's because I controlled the reinforcement suit and performed crazy movements, so I couldn't help it, but fortunately it didn't break down because of it."

In order to ensure Aki

A being able to survive the battle, Alpha takes control of the augmentation suit in a way that is sure to shorten its lifespan. Although Akira survived, it was not cheap at all.

When he returned to headquarters, Akira could feel the suit stiffen somewhat. The results of Habayashi's examination were a good excuse to explain to the headquarters the circumstances of Minras's injury, so the headquarters only arranged for him to be monitored in the area near the headquarters so that he could rest. He wants his shift to end and nothing bad happening again.

***

There are many collapsed buildings in the Katsubara ruins. Behind that dilapidated building, a huge transport truck was parked, as if out of sight. There were heavily armed men near that truck. The one who plans to move out of the old world ruins from the dungeon is a friend of Yajima.

Since the mastermind of that plan, Yajima, is dead. The program is available in Nelia and Kai

continued at the helm.

Kane and Nelia leave the dungeon with the relics that Yajima had hidden. After they reached the surface, they blew up the hole to cover their tracks.

Their original plan was to retrieve all the relics hidden in the dungeon and flee to another city. The truck itself is well prepared for crossing the wasteland, it is large and very durable. There are a large number of expensive Old World relics piled up on the pallets. They just need to escape from that place with their friends and they will become rich.

Provided, of course, that they can escape from that place with those relics. For some reason, they gathered in that place. That's because they're having a problem.

Countless terminals fixed in the Nelias Power Kit are attached to the truck. She is connecting the truck's controls. She was the second-to-last when it came to operating the controls after Yajima's death. She is now trying to control the truck's controls.

When Nelia is still trying to take control of the truck, Kane asks her, and he doesn't even try to hide his displeasure.

"How's it going?"

"Zero."

Nelia said this to Kane, waving her hand as if giving up. Hearing this, Kane vented the emotions in his heart.

"Damn!! That damn Yajima, how dare he leave us such a terrible souvenir!! ”

Kane knocked on the truck. His power suit is big, and so is his power. Therefore, when he slapped the truck, it made a loud noise.

The truck was originally a Yajimas. It has an advanced control unit that makes it possible for even an amateur to drive that truck well. But the root of their problem lies in the advanced control unit. The control unit prepared by Yajima installed his additional program.

This is a posthumous revenge request program. This is a program that hunters can download from the dark web of the Eastside Web. This is the program that cyborgs use to collect the data of the person who killed them and send them over the network to request that person to be killed. By killing the person, the person who completes the request will receive a reward, such as money from the requester's hidden account or the location of the requester's hidden property.

Yajima installed this program onto the truck control device in case of Kai

or any of his friends betraying him.

But Yajima was killed by Akira. The show set Akira as the person most likely to kill Yajima. After all, he was the last person Yajima saw before he died. Before the program connection was interrupted by interference smoke, he was also the closest person to Yajima.

The truck's controls were set to freeze until the target in the program was killed. Of course, they can remove the controls, but to install a new one, they need a special set of skills. And they don't have that kind of skills, and they don't have backup control devices that they can use.

Depending on the program's settings, the program uses different methods to confirm the death of the target. Some poorly made programs may be deceived by similar mannequins and may not be able to confirm the death of the target even after the requested target has been killed. As for the advanced program, they confirm the death of the target by submitting an image of the dead target.

Nelia tries to bypass the confirmation process. But due to the advanced controls and advanced programs that someone has spread on the dark web, all of her experiments have ended in failure. She also doesn't have the skills to crack programs.

Since Nelia can't do it, it means that no one here can do it.

Nelia sighed and said to Kane and the others.

"There's nothing we can do, so let's give up."

Kane roared back angrily.

"Give up, you say?!! Are you kidding me?! How much do you think this plan will cost?!! How much do you think all the relics we collect are worth?!! If we sell them, we can get at least 10,000,000,000 AU

um！！！ No, we can get more!! Damn, I'll leave those relics here!! ”

When Kane erupted, everyone else around him flashed expressions of fear. If he goes berserk with a powerful power suit, no one there can stop him.

Nelia looked at Kane, who had misunderstood her words, and said angrily.

"Who said to give up the holy relics?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying give up bypassing that program."

The terminal connected to the truck control device displays the target requested by the program. Nelia said, pointing to the terminal.

"Let's go, kill this kid."

On that terminal is the image of Akira.

Akira aimed at Neriath's head again and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew out and landed right next to Nelias's head, sending her head flying again.

"I still can't beat her!!"

Alpha smiled and tried to calm him down.

"Calm down, if you lose your cool, you won't be able to hit the target as you normally would."

"Is there anything you can do with your support?"

"Your gown has been damaged to the point where it doesn't work properly, and if I try to control it now, it could cause a malfunction, and in the worst case, it might even tear your limbs. So, are you sure you want me to control it? ”

"No, please don't."

Alpha has changed back to his usual self. She floated beside Akira as usual.

But at this point, Nelia couldn't see Alpha anymore. Because the ruins she used to connect to Katsubara's map were destroyed by Achillas' attack, Alpha knew about it.

Akira pointed her rifle at Nelia again, and she just smiled.

"If you kill me, you will die too."

Akira ignored her and pulled the trigger. The bullet landed near Nelia, and her head was raised high again. Still, she continued.

"My friend betrayed me, and he now intends to kill you and me. He sent his power suit here and put it on autopilot. His power suit is equipped with a self-destruct sequence that can shoot anyone around him along with it...... You can't escape. It will chase you wherever you go, and it will explode once you enter its blast radius. I bet it was filled with enough explosives to destroy the entire building. ”

Akira ignored Nelias's warning and continued to walk towards her. Then he fired another shot, destroying her upper body, leaving only her neck and head.

"Your only chance to turn off the self-destruct sequence is to destroy or deactivate its controls. I bet it's hidden behind thick armor and it's hard to destroy its controls. But if you give it to me, "I can hack its controls and disable them." In fact, I'm actually doing it right now, and preventing it from exploding. But if you kill me now, it will explode immediately. ”

Akira ignored her again and took another picture. The bullet grazed Nelias's ear and hit the floor. Once again, her head was thrown out by the bullet blast wave.

"I see, well, it's up to you. You're in charge. It's not a bad thing that I want to die with the person I want to talk to. ”

Nelia smiled. It's the same smile she has when she flirts with Akira.

Akira stood beside Nelia and pulled her hair up as she pulled her head. He stared at her.

"Any evidence?"

"Nope."

Akira asks her if it's just a lie to save herself, or if she has some kind of proof that she's telling the truth.

But Nelia said she didn't have any evidence. She even tells Akira that if he doesn't believe her, he can continue to do whatever he wants.

Aki

a It is impossible to tell if she is lying. Alpha's expression was solemn, and he suddenly said to him who was still confused, and quickly left that place.

"Akira, you need to get out of here first, hurry."

Aki

a Follow Alphas' instructions immediately. He ran out of the place with Nelias's head.

The whole building was rumbling. This was because Keynes's power suit was forcing its way into that building.

That power suit was set up to autopilot, and it ignored any damage to itself as it forced its way in from the side of the building that had been weakened by the missile barrage earlier.

It burst through the walls, floors, and ceilings of the building with its massive body. It used its powerful firepower to drill into the building. It doesn't care about energy consumption and output safety limits, but goes straight to where Akira is.

While it was not possible to accurately detect Aquilas's location, it could at least guess where he was in the absence of a colorless mist.

It kept firing at Akira with its cannons, but the bullets released by those cannons only hit the wall in front of it, turning it into dust. The interior walls of that building were not as solid as the exterior walls and were not at all an opponent of warheads. The walls and ceiling of that building collapsed into a pile of rubble. The autopilot did not take into account the remaining ammunition. It will continue to shoot until it runs out of ammunition.

Akira quickly fled the place, away from Keynes' power suit. He asked Nelia as he ran.

"Why do you want to kill me so much? Or is that thing just there to cover your friend's escape? ”

"No, the relics we collected, if we don't kill you, we can't take them."

"What does this have to do with killing me?"

"The man you killed, Yajima, has his posthumous revenge plan targeting you. Therefore, unless we kill you, the truck used to transport the relics will not move. ”

Akira remembers the words Yajima left before he was killed. He did say that his friends would take revenge if Akira killed him, but at the time Akira thought it was just a bluff.

Achillas' face twitched, clearly angry.

"It's a big problem. So you can even get that kind of program, right? ”

"Yes, you can. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't even be spending energy trying to kill you. If you believe me now, how about we make a deal? I'll stop the Cairns Power Suit, and in exchange, you'll help me. ”

"I'll just keep running. It takes a long time for that power suit to go through the building, so I'm sure I'll be able to outrun it by then. ”

"Didn't you come to this building knowing you couldn't outrun it?"

"Once you've taken control of that power-up armor, there's no guarantee that you won't use it against me. After all, if you kill me, you'll get all your relics, right? ”

"Well, then you have no choice but to trust me. You're so good at beating me, you know? I don't want to fight with you anymore. What's more, my friend even chose to flee here. Avoid fighting you, even if it means leaving behind the expensive artifacts we collect. I don't think it's a bad proposition because it will save your life as well. Well, I'm not going to ask you to be my boyfriend. After all, I don't want to get a boyfriend by threatening him. ”

Nelia was smiling, though she had only her head left. Akira frowned at the sight of her expression.

"Alpha, is she telling the truth? If she's really lying, you'll find out, right? ”

Alpha shook his head.

"Unfortunately, as I said before, I can't tell if she's lying because of her cyborg body. So I can't say anything other than I'm not sure right now."

Akira was visibly annoyed. If he accepts Nelias's offer, not only will he let go of the enemies he pushed into a corner, but there's also a chance she'll attack him with a power set. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that he will be able to run past the power suit outside the building. If he walked out of that building, Kane might have used his cyborg body to catch up with him and kill him.

"So either I'm going to risk escaping that power suit, or I'm going to believe her offer, hehe

While Akira was still thinking about what to do, Alpha came up with a third option.

"You do have another option. You can try to fight that power suit. ”

Alpha made these speculations without any evidence. She's just talking about possibilities. But that didn't change it for Aki

a The fact that the third option is provided.

"So I'm either going to accept her offer, or I'm going to run away, or I'm going to resist, right?"

"I can only give you a few suggestions. These all depend on your luck, so I don't have a recommendation on which one to choose. You should decide, Aki

a。 Whichever one you choose, I have your full back. ”

"I understand."

Akira threw Nelias's head to the ground.

Nelia stared at Akira as she made her decision.

"I'll fight back first and then ask you for help, you just wait here."

With that, Akira began to run back to fight the Cairns power suit.

Nelia smiled as she watched Akira run.

Although the Cairns Power Package follows an autopilot program, it is not an intelligent autopilot program. It's unclear if it was targeting someone inside the building or just going on a random rampage. It wasn't like it was aiming the gun at Akira accurately. It is simply any signal received by the information-gathering device that attacks it. This power-up suit will attack any human-like signals it can find.

Even if there is some obstacle between it and the target, it will not look elsewhere and will push them aside with a gun or body. Two of the four cannons on its arms have run out of ammunition and have been turned into ornaments.

With the enhanced field of view, Akira can see large power armor rampage not far from him. He could notice that some of its guns had run out of ammunition.

"Wait, if I just hide, won't it run out of all ammo at this rate?"

"Well, yes. But I hope it doesn't explode when the ammo runs out. If the whole building collapses, it's going to be very bad, you know. ”

"It sounds like it's likely to happen. So no way, let's go. ”

The Berserk Power Set creates new holes in the walls of the building. Aki

A used the holes to snipe that power suit, and due to its sheer size, landed with one shot.

CWH special ammo hits that power the torso. The impact threw its massive body into the narrow hall. It moves slowly, and while Achillas isn't in good shape, he can move faster than the massive power suit.

The force field absorbs the impact of the CWH special ammunition. There was a loud bang, a dazzling light, enveloping the area. The suit's response was to point the gun at Akira, but its arms and gun got stuck in the rubble, thus slowing it down, giving Akira a chance to move to safety.

Aki

A continued with that hit-and-run sniping and hammered the power suit with CWH Special ammo. Meanwhile, the power suit continued to fire randomly inside the building, destroying walls, floors, and ceilings as warheads flew around the area.

It seemed like a unilateral shot at the power suit, but a single blow was enough to kill him. And on the other hand, while each impact throws its body off balance, the Keynes Power Suit doesn't stop spraying warheads from the huge gun. The warheads turned the wreckage and rubble in the area to dust, and Akira had fewer and fewer places to hide. Akira did not expect at all that he had the upper hand there.

Suddenly, the sound of bullets striking changed. The force field has been depleted of energy, and the CWH special bullet is capable of directly hitting the body of the power suit. As its movement gets worse, it begins to become apparent.

Aki

A didn't let that slip off, and he continued to shoot at its torso. It didn't come for nothing, Aki

A ended up causing some damage to its controls. At that moment, the controls sent out an emergency signal, causing the power-powered warframe to swing violently on all fours in pain.

But that didn't stop Akira. As he continued to shoot, the power suit eventually stopped moving.

"Did we win?"

"It seems so. At least, it doesn't seem to be dangerous anymore. ”

"yes!!"

Akira shouted with joy. It was a cry of victory, as he was finally able to get out of a deadly predicament and defeat a great enemy he had not expected to defeat.

"Akira, it's not over yet. Don't let your guard down until we've done everything. ”

"I see, let's go."

Akira replied firmly, and ran to finish the rest.

Nelia was waiting for Akira, and she couldn't do anything but wait for the outcome of the bet.

Finally, she can see the results coming back.

Akira returned to where Nelia was, and she greeted him with a smile.

"Welcome back. Looks like you've somehow ruined the Keynes power suite, huh. It's amazing that you can do that in this situation. ”

Sure enough, as Nelia said, Achillas was in such a bad physical condition. Both his body and the enhanced suit were close to their limits. But even then, he somehow survived and stood in front of her.

Seeing that Nelia was still smiling in that situation, Ming obviously asked with a puzzled expression.

"Are you so relaxed that you're not afraid of death?"

"No, not at all. But if you can keep me alive, that's great. ”

"I see, well, I don't want to die either."

"Our thoughts are really similar, and as I thought, would you like to be my boyfriend?"

"No thanks. I don't want to date someone who wants to kill me, and I don't want to date a dead girl. ”

Akira replied quickly. Then, he prepares his CWH antimatter rifle and aims it at Nelia. There's no way he's going to miss his shot in that range. He only needs to pull the trigger to secure his victory, and he still has enough strength to at least do it.

But then Nelia said with a smile.

"Well, it's going to be fine."

Akira looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

Before Nelia could answer the question, Alpha suddenly interjected.

"Akira!! Don't move!! ”

Aki

A followed Alphas' orders and stopped. His fingers were still on the trigger. The next moment, the CWH antimatter rifle in his hand was violently flown out.

He was startled by the scene in front of him, and several people suddenly appeared around him. They appeared out of nowhere, at least, Akira hadn't noticed them before. The man who shot the Achillas CWH antimatter rifle was one of them.

While Akira was still confused, more people appeared around him.

“Alpha！ Where did these people come from?! I didn't notice them at all!! ”

"They just arrived, and they all used camouflage devices, so you didn't notice."

"C camouflage device?"

"Those are devices that prevent others from detecting your location. There are many types of camouflage devices, starting with thermal camouflage, motion camouflage, and sound camouflage. ”

"That's not what I'm going to ask"

Then one of them said something to answer Aki

as a question.

"Don't move!! It's the Nine Nine Mountains Defense!! Surrender, don't fight back!! If you don't obey our orders, we may judge that you are against the chengguan! We even have the authority to take you out of the case!! ”

Those men were soldiers of the Bear Mountain Guard. More and more people are constantly appearing while surrounding Akira.

In addition to Akira, there are many people who have tried to contact the Underground Exploration Headquarters and Temporary Base. While Akira was unable to make contact with the temporary base, the others were able to relay the message of the Underground Exploration Headquarters. The commander of the temporary base felt that the situation was not good and decided to quickly send a city defense team.

The defense team quickly patrolled the area around the underground reconnaissance headquarters. During their patrol, they noticed explosions, as if someone was fighting nearby. It was then that Kane delivered his power suit to the building where Akira and Nelia were. The defense team thought it might be the ruin thieves fighting the monsters, and sent someone to find out where the sound came from.

When they arrived, they saw Aki

A aimed at Nelia with his CWH antimatter rifle.

Akira looked at the people around her and sighed. It is clear that they are more skilled and better equipped than him. They looked very cautious when they aimed their rifles at him. If he makes any suspicious moves, they can always kill him.

"I think this has happened before."

"It's a coincidence, in fact, I feel the same way."

Akira is talking about his experience when he was about to kill Yajima. At that time, he should have hurried to pull the trigger, because he didn't do so, and he had to pay for the mistake by engaging Shiori. But then again, in this case, he can't do it.

Before Nelia could say anything, he quickly raised his hand and shouted. After all, it would be problematic if what she said would complicate the situation.

"I'm Akira!! I'm a hunter working in a dungeon exploration operation! I was ambushed by relic thieves on my way to the temporary base! You can ask them for verification!! ”

"Lock them up!! If they return fire, you have the right to shoot! We have received reports of the death of an underground hunter!! So be careful!! ”

"I'm just a hunter!!"

Several men stopped Akira and handcuffed him, but he did not resist. The defense team then took him and Nelia away from the place.

Akira could feel the tension in his body and mind relax. Regardless of the outcome, his battle was finally over. He was very tired physically and mentally. Akira, who had fainted, was no longer able to resist that tiredness.

His eyes slowly closed. Before he lost consciousness, he could hear Alpha's voice.

"It's okay, don't worry, have a good rest."

Alpha smiled and reassured Akira. It was a smile that told him that there was no danger anymore.

"Then I know good night."

As his consciousness faded, he breathed a sigh of relief. The garrison panicked and held Akira, who was suddenly unconscious.

"Subject is unconscious!!"

"Check his vital signs and react accordingly!! He could be one of the grave robbers!! We can't let him die in any way, so we can extract all the information from him! Call the medical team at the Underground Exploration Headquarters and tell them to be on standby! Team B, search the building! There could be more artifact thieves around! If you find any of them, keep them alive if possible! If not, you have the right to kill! ”

The rest soon began their work on the orders of the commander.

Like Akira, Nelia is protected by a defense team. Although only the head remains, the device installed in the head allows her to talk to other people over long distances. Because of this, she knew about the situation outside.

Although Nelia was unable to control her body, she caught a glimpse of Akira as she was carried away.

[You see, like I said, it's going to be fine.] ]

Nelia smiled. She knew that if she managed the time for the defense team to arrive, she might be able to get out of this situation alive, and she did.

Her luck kept her alive. It could also be said that Achillas's luck kept her alive.

Kane fled all the way to the outskirts of Katsubara's ruins. He met some people there. Although they don't look the same, it can be seen from their appearance that they are cyborgs like Kane.

Then they salute Kane. A representative of those people stepped forward and said.

"Welcome back, sir!"

Kane replied.

"Thank you for your hard work and give me a sit

ep。 ”

"Yes, sir!! We have evacuated all those who were dispatched. We have also received reports that our moles have successfully retreated. ”

"I see. It's time for us to retreat. For the sake of safety, it is better not to go to Kumayama City and go directly to another city. Let's go."

"Shall we leave them alone?"

When they refer to "they", they are referring to the people who worked with Kane when he stole the relics from the dungeon. They were still waiting for him and Nelia near the truck, but they weren't his friends anymore.

"yes, I'm sure the defensive team will take care of it for us, and if we do it ourselves, it will only make it easier for the defensive team to track us down. While they might be fine if they found me, it would hinder our actions if they found someone else as well. ”

"Roger, let's go out!!"

Then Kane left the place with those men. During their journey, one of them asked him.

"Sir, I heard that you changed your plans in the last hour, is there any reason why you did this?"

"Mainly because a guy named Yajima was killed, he was in charge of transportation, and things got complicated after his death, so we had to cancel the original plan."

"Is it impossible to find a way to save that person?"

"His death shouldn't have caused much trouble to our original plans. That person should live until he brings the relics of the old world to our place If you want to laugh at me for not being able to predict such a thing, this has changed the whole operation has failed, you can continue to do it, I will take full responsibility. ”

"No, it's not. I can understand that something bad is happening that you can't control, and it's not something we can handle. I apologize if my question angered you in the wrong way. ”

The man noticed that Keynes's mood had deteriorated. So he decided not to ask any more questions.

Kane fell into deep thought.

[However, how did it become like this?] According to the people in the Department of Long-Term Strategy, there should be no hunters in this area who can take out Yajima and Nellia. Nelia did say that there might be agents mixed up among the young hunters of Drarankham. Now that I think about it, Dramakham did send some young hunters to the dungeon, and I heard that one of them was actually a good hunter. Did the city send agents to Drarankham to control that big gang from the inside? Did we run into one of these agents by accident? If he really is a city worker, that explains why he is so strong. I think I'll dig deeper into it later. ]

Then he asked the people around him.

"I've heard that there is a large group of young hunters in Drarankham, do you know who is at the center of that group? Since here it is a young hunter who is talking about, simple publicity should be enough to pull him in, and they should at least come up with such a plan. ”

"Of course, the name of the target should be Katsuya. Need we do a detailed document on him? ”

"No need, I'll check it myself later, and I'll ask you to make one if I need it in the future."

"Yes sir."

The man decided not to say anything more, lest he make Keynes's mood worse again. But because of this, he lost the opportunity to correct their misunderstanding.

Kane and the others left the ruins of Katsubara and disappeared into the wasteland.

Nelia is being held in a solitary cell inside the Bear Mountain City Jail. It is equipped with a device to restrain the robot. There was a table in that separate cell. Nelia was pinned to the table. She's just a head.

She has a number of cables attached to her neck. Most of them are to keep her alive, and some are to prevent her from coming into contact with other people. So she couldn't do anything, she was bored to death.

After a while, a man came in and smiled at Nelia.

"Uh, Nelia-san, right? I'm Yanagisawa. How are you, I guess? ”

Nelia replied with a smile.