Ch.65Honor and Pride (3)

“And it was supposed to be our lady’s ‘awakening scene’!

I guess that’s what happens when you’re not the protagonist.

Seems she couldn’t receive some ridiculous buff out of nowhere to defeat an opponent much stronger than herself.

Still, she was plenty cool… who would’ve thought there’d be interference like this at such timing.

The first long-range weapon created by humans.

Despite my efforts to catch them, the rain of arrows—hundreds per second—continued to fall relentlessly to the ground.

“Everyone! Evacuate to buildings where you can take cover!”

“Don’t hide behind the armored vehicles! The arrows will pierce right through the armor!”

“And please provide as much covering fire as possible toward the Bow Monster while you’re running! Try to create at least some distraction.”

The arrows poured down like a torrential rain, endless and overwhelming.

I caught more than 90% of them while airborne, and Lady Hoshino somehow managed to cut down the remaining 10%.

Meanwhile, the soldiers on the ground who hadn’t yet made it into buildings—

Those comrades still at risk of being pierced by arrows—

Provided covering fire toward the Bow Monster, who was nimbly jumping around on a distant rooftop.

But shooting from below to above,

Especially against a target constantly changing its sniping position, was clearly difficult.

Bang bang bang bang bang.

“Damn it, I don’t think we’re hitting anything…”

“Just keep firing as much as you can!”

“It’s impossible! The target already looks like a dot, and the moment we point our muzzles outside the building, we risk getting our arms skewered!”

The average effective range of a standard military rifle is about one kilometer.

But even that only applies when firing from an advantageous position with secure high ground.

Besides, the opponent was a Class 1 monster—even if they hit it, it was questionable whether it would have any effect.

Just ten years ago, another Class 1 monster, the Violence Monster, had ravaged an entire district while simply absorbing bullets specifically designed for monsters.

“Do you think… that hero who chased after the monster will handle it?”

“…No. Zero is a hero about my level. She’ll probably just barely manage to track it.”

Beyond my line of sight, the Homunculus girl was desperately chasing after the Bow Monster, who was bouncing around with ease.

I could catch glimpses of Zero’s movements, but unlike the still-relaxed Bow Monster, sweat was visibly dripping from her forehead.

“Huff… huff!”

“Hahaha. Ready to stop chasing me? Do whatever you want. My target is Hoshino anyway, so I have no intention of killing you, Hoshino’s friend.”

“Ngh…!”

I briefly overheard their conversation through my enhanced hearing.

Then the Bow Monster seemed ready to rain down another shower of arrows in our direction.

Thanks to the lady and me, perhaps,

Although the armored vehicle they arrived in was already riddled with holes, it seemed all the soldiers had managed to evacuate into the building without a single casualty.

“Um, Princess Hoshino. About that creature above us who’s been catching the Bow Monster’s arrows all this time…”

“You mean that one? The legendary unidentified horned-mask monster that’s been impossible to subjugate for ten years!”

“Eh? Ah, yes… I suppose so?”

Perhaps feeling some relief now,

The soldiers hiding in the same building as Lady Hoshino began talking about my reputation(?).

“You’re truly amazing! To think you were facing off against a Class 1 monster along with that evil creature said to devour both its own kind and humans alike before we arrived!”

“No, I didn’t really do anything…”

“Isn’t that the monster that turned Hero City A into a wasteland ten years ago? I honestly almost soiled myself the moment I saw it.”

“If you had to face both monsters simultaneously, the annihilation of our unit would have been practically guaranteed…”

“You brilliantly pitted the two monsters against each other to ‘divide and conquer’! Excellent work.”

“No… that’s not what happened…”

There seemed to be many misunderstandings.

Looking down at Lady Hoshino’s face, I could see a mix of restlessness and guilt.

But what did it matter?

In summary, our lady was being praised by those around her.

As her only playmate, I couldn’t help but feel happy.

Besides, the situation seemed to be winding down.

“Grrrr…”

“Huh? The horned-mask monster has stopped moving!”

“Is it because the enemy monster isn’t shooting arrows anymore?”

“Well… it was targeting the Bow Monster, but what the Bow Monster was actually targeting was us.”

All the soldiers had safely evacuated into the building.

Perhaps because of this, the Bow Monster had ceased its attack. I wondered if I should head back now.

After briefly waving to the lady, I planned to return to the bathroom through the tunnel I had come from.

But then.

Thud-thud-thud-thud.

“Hm?”

“That’s…”

“A helicopter sound?”

“?! But we didn’t hear anything about additional support!”

That’s when it happened.

Had additional forces arrived due to the monster appearance in the district?

Combat helicopters appeared, flying low between the high-rise buildings, directly in front of the Bow Monster.

“Fire!”

“Firing!”

Monsters with small, human-like sizes were mostly Class 3 or below in threat level, like the Missing.

So it seemed the information hadn’t been properly relayed yet.

“Huh?”

With a confused expression, the Bow Monster stood on the building’s exterior wall as the helicopters did something they shouldn’t have.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat.

“…! No! Machine guns won’t work against an enemy like that!”

Five helicopters simultaneously opened fire with their machine guns.

The bullets instantly began decimating the exterior wall where the Bow Monster stood.

Amid the tremendous gunfire, the glass wall and its surroundings where the Bow stood completely crumbled.

All except one thing.

The very target they needed to eliminate.

“Communications! Cease fire immediately! And withdraw! Despite its small stature, it’s a Class 1 threat level monster!”

Static… crackle…

“Hurry and tell them to retreat!”

“Damn it, it’s not working! For some reason, communications are jammed!”

“…Um, is the Bow Monster drawing its bowstring again?”

“What?!”

The Bow Monster, calmly smiling in the midst of anti-monster bullets without even trying to dodge.

The combat helicopters then launched missiles one after another toward her.

BOOM.

The impact was powerful enough to tilt a 20-story building.

Now only black smoke billowed where she had been standing on the glass exterior.

Yet when the smoke cleared with the wind, the Bow remained perfectly intact, and I could hear the heartbeats inside the helicopters racing wildly.

“It had… no effect at all?”

“This is strange. Headquarters clearly said this level of firepower would be sufficient for subjugation.”

“W-what the hell is going on?”

Regardless.

Thwack.

The Bow Monster shot an arrow precisely at the helicopter’s propeller section.

Simultaneously, desperate screams echoed from inside the helicopter as it lost its ability to fly.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll pierce you with my arrows before you crash to the ground.”

From the beginning, she could have accurately shot through the heads of all the invisible humans inside the helicopters.

Yet she chose to make the helicopters crash first, then end their lives during the process—probably because of me protecting the humans.

‘Is she planning to escape while I save all five helicopters?’

No… if that were the case, she would have already turned her back the moment the helicopters began falling.

The reason she was still drawing her bowstring as they fell was simple.

“This is the price for interfering with my work, kin-slayer.”

“Grrrrrr!”

She’d come up with an excuse to escape and a way to mess with me at the same time.

If I jumped into the air to catch her arrows, the helicopters would crash to the ground and explode.

But if I grabbed the falling helicopters, she would use that opportunity to snipe the humans inside.

Either way, the outcome would be terrible.

Even as I deliberated, the helicopters continued their slow descent toward the ground.

“Kyahahahaha! Either way, you can’t save those humans…?!”

Bang!

Maybe it’s because I’m a monster.

My thinking slows down.

And the monstrous instinct within me whispered:

Why not just give up and tear apart the Bow Monster in front of me? They’re going to die no matter what I do.

Yes, whether I caught the incoming arrows or lifted the helicopters, they were doomed anyway.

So I was about to charge toward the Bow, ignoring the hostages and following my instincts, when—

“Aaaaargh?!”

How could mere anti-monster bullets wound a Class 1 monster?

The Bow Monster clutched her face with both hands in agony, interrupting her draw.

In that moment, I managed to shoulder all five falling helicopters and land safely on the ground.

Immediately after,

“W-who the fuck?!”

The Bow Monster removed her hands from her face, her eyes bloodshot.

She was panting heavily as she shouted toward the building where Lady Hoshino was hiding.

“Just… just with bullets you managed to damage me? And from this distance?”

…I mean, seriously.

The distance had to be at least a kilometer.

How did someone manage to precisely target only her eyes from ground level while she was clinging to a high-rise building’s exterior wall?

And with two shots simultaneously, no less.

‘Yoon Ha-eun… can’t possibly be here.’

From the start, all the equipment she used was beyond human capability, procured from the Weapon Monster.

If she had sniped with such a gun and hit, it wouldn’t have ended with just bloodshot eyes.

No, the Bow Monster’s head might have simply exploded.

Which means this was done with an ordinary sniper rifle?

“Huh?! You’re from that place where the Wolf Monster appeared…!”

“At your service. I’m honored you remember me, Princess Hoshino.”

“Rookie! You did great work!”

Rookie.

Come to think of it, there was a female soldier in G City, the tutorial stage, whom Lady Hoshino had taken a particular interest in.

<Monster Front> was originally a mobile game with a male protagonist in a harem of beautiful girls.

So I thought she was just a random extra we happened to meet.

But now, watching her snipe a Class 1 monster from afar with the skill of a “protagonist,” my preconceptions were beginning to crumble.

Just maybe.

A very slight “maybe.”

Just as I had been transmigrated into this world and twisted the original story, what if the protagonist had been female from the start?