After logging off from the [Hyperdimensional Channel], Kain brought his body into peak condition.
According to the unknown woman with the ID "A2," someone had been tailing them.
But why didn't she tell him over the radio?
One possibility was that the radio had been compromised and was being monitored by the other side.
And as for why they didn't continue communicating through the [Hyperdimensional Channel], that was because doing so could interfere with real-world perception and make it easy to lose focus.
So, who was the one tracking them?
Kain didn't immediately look around, acting like he was searching for something. That would be a stupid move, wouldn't it? It would practically announce that he also knew someone was tailing them.
He moved naturally according to A2's instructions. She would set up some traps.
But he hadn't gone far when a piercing howl rang out, the shriek of a shell tearing through the air at supersonic speed.
In the next instant, in the woods less than a hundred meters away, flames and shockwaves swept outward along with a string of thunderous blasts.
Then he saw several figures from the bombardment zone charging toward his direction.
No, not charging.
They were fleeing toward him.
His pupils constricted. Kain immediately sprang away from where he'd been standing, and a glowing orb that those people dodged slammed into the spot he'd just vacated.
Boom—!
The ground was blasted open into a crater about half a meter deep and roughly two meters across.
And what the attacker was, Kain caught it the moment he steadied himself: a flying machine shaped like a manta ray. It looked like it belonged to the same group as the machines he'd eliminated earlier.
As for the group that had been caught off guard and was now running toward him, it was four women and one man. Humans?
From the looks of it, was this a world undergoing a machine crisis?
And then, looking more closely at their outfits, they were clearly in a uniform style—somehow familiar—and all of them carried weapons. Beside them, boxy robots hovered close?
Those robots were currently opening up with small machine guns, raking the swarming machines behind them with gunfire, which made it clear they weren't on the same side.
So were these people on the same side as "Miss A2"?
Suddenly, with an explosion sounding off from the other direction, a figure arced through the air, flipping with the elegance of a diver, and landed steadily right beside Kain.
Silver hair, blue eyes, features so refined they looked sculpted, and a figure proportioned like a golden ratio.
Her outfit was battered and torn, but the style did resemble that other group's gear.
She was A2.
As for why she suddenly "jumped out" to his side, it was because she'd been attacked by machines as well and had no choice but to leap this way.
Now they were being pincered from both front and back.
Hm?
Kain noticed that A2 was also wary of the other group, her gaze edged with hostility.
And when those people saw her, they looked stunned.
"Huh? Isn't that an android? Isn't that a YoRHa type?"
The male teenager who looked the least combat-capable blurted it out in shock.
And that made Kain blink as well.
A2 was an android?
A YoRHa type?
"Recommended for destruction."
"Recommended for destruction."
"Recommended for destruction."
The ones repeating those words nonstop were the robots hovering beside that group.
"Huh? Recommended for destruction? What does that mean, 2B?"
The teenager looked toward a short silver-haired woman who seemed to be the squad leader. Her callsign was 2B?
2B?
That word made Kain's thoughts stall for a brief instant.
Not because the word itself contained some huge amount of intel that left him too shocked to think, but because the encircling, creature-like machines were already lunging in to attack, leaving him no time to consider what "2B" might mean, or whether it matched something in his memory.
He snatched up his M35 "M-Galaxy" Pattern lasgun and his Absolver-pattern bolt pistol, and fired on the two-legged, dog-like machine sprinting across the ground toward him.
"Shut up. Priority mission is handling these machine lifeforms!"
It was 2B barking at the robots beside her, because those robots' hostility toward A2 was even stronger.
So, after her words fell, the robots seemed to analyze the situation for a moment, and they stopped staring at A2 while repeating "Recommended for destruction."
In an instant, this stretch of forest was torn apart and pulverized by all kinds of ammunition.
"What kind of firearm is that?"
The astonished voice came from 9S.
Right now, with machine lifeforms hemming them in, everyone was forced into a temporary, tacit cooperation. That gave him a better angle to observe the target, and what he learned only made him more shocked.
The target's weapons looked crude, but the "bullets" he fired were fundamentally different from what they used.
The bullets they used relied on a firing pin striking the primer and propellant at the base of the cartridge, creating a violent pressure spike that launched a solid slug.
But the target's "bullet" looked like the whole unit flew out as one. There was no need to eject casings—there wasn't even an ejection mechanism on his weapon.
So what kind of design was that "bullet," exactly?
Wait, no—something was off. Slowing down and running deeper image processing—
"N-no way!!!"
9S was stunned. This was beyond ridiculous.
"What is it, 9S?"
As 2B asked, she raised a brow and, at the same time, cleaved a machine lifeform's head open with her blade.
"T-that guy's bullets… they're literally micro-rockets!!!"
9S reported to 2B in a state of shock and confusion.
What kind of technology did it take to cram a micro-engine into something small enough to load into a bullet of that size?
And when he looked closer at the target's "beam gun," 9S found it even more unbelievable.
It looked rough and unreliable, like it would explode after a few shots, but based on 9S's current records, it had already fired eighty-seven times.
Those eighty-seven didn't include the earlier encounter in the ruined city—this count was only after the current skirmish began.
Hm? He swapped an energy magazine.
Which meant a single magazine could fire at least a hundred shots.
And his accuracy was terrifying—practically one hundred percent. It was like he didn't even need to aim. A casual shot would hit a target and drop a machine lifeform.
Was that ability his own? Or was it some kind of system-assisted targeting provided by his power armor?
Either way, it was far stronger than the YoRHa unit.
Look at the machine lifeforms they'd eliminated so far—he alone had killed more than everyone else combined.
And judging from the battle scars on his armor, he'd clearly been through plenty of brutal fights. So why hadn't they discovered him until now?
Then 9S ran a simulation of such a battle scenario.
If the machine lifeforms hadn't appeared, and their squad had clashed with him, the result would be that only the Pods' light cannon fire could meaningfully threaten his power armor. Their other weapons likely couldn't crack his defenses.
No—if they used flight units, then large-caliber aircraft cannons could also threaten him, but it wasn't as though he would stand still and let them shoot.
Based on the combat power he'd shown so far—and the fact he still looked like he had plenty in reserve—the calculation came back: YoRHa's odds of losing reached fifty-three percent.
And that was under a fight-to-the-death assumption.
If they had to capture him without harming him, they'd have to commit more combat personnel. Otherwise, with their current strength, "dream on" was the only answer.
Boom—!
A sudden, earthshaking roar. The ground trembled slightly.
Everyone's expressions shifted as they looked toward the source of the immense disturbance.
A colossal mechanical lifeform was approaching—like a mountain given form. Even one of its fingers was thicker than the man in power armor standing here.
Its movements looked slow, but it was huge. One step covered a frightening distance.
That mass created a suffocating pressure all its own.
If you were actually stepped on, you really would be crushed until you couldn't breathe.
(End of Chapter)
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