episode_0056

Whiz! Whiz!

Crack! Clang!!

He dodges the continuous rubber bullet snipes.

The terrifyingly powerful rubber bullets severely dent the walls of nearby container boxes. It feels like even steel container boxes would shatter into pieces after just three of those bullets.

‘What is the opponent’s objective?’ ‘Remnants of the Lesser Rat? An Awakener?’

Non-lethal rubber bullets inherently have a short range. They are designed that way.

They are meant to be fired at point-blank range; using them for sniping is inefficient and meaningless.

He is currently using a container box as cover, but he can’t just keep hiding like this.

He almost instinctively exposed himself when he saw the female leader of the Lesser Rat, whom he had been cornering, desperately trying to escape, but,

Whiz!

“Ugh…!”

As if to stop her, another bullet flew right in front of his nose, preventing him from giving chase.

Even as this happened, the villain was escaping. His anxious heart pounded like a bell.

* * *

Why on earth is that woman here?!

On the rooftop of a building not far from the harbor where the raid operation was currently taking place.

There, Number 13, who was observing the situation with a telescope in hand, sighed.

He had come here after receiving orders from the ‘Villain Alliance’.

Although he had arrived somewhat late.

The ‘Villain Alliance’ had ordered him to guard and keep watch over a certain villain organization tonight.

To protect them so that the organization could safely escape their base tonight.

Villain Number 13 was almost powerless now, but he couldn’t refuse the ‘Alliance’s’ orders, so he reluctantly accepted.

And so, he had trained Club enough to be useful for a day and then come here.

However, Club’s training had taken longer than expected, causing them to arrive somewhat late.

And what he saw upon arriving at that location was precisely this scene.

He could see the villain organization he was supposed to protect, and the Seventh Division Heroes mercilessly slaughtering that organization.

“Fuck…! Number 13! Explain this to me! Why is our Seventh Division here?! Why do I have to shoot at my comrades?!”

“…Shut up. I don’t know either.”

“Number 13!”

“Enough, Club! It’s an order! Shoot!”

Through the telescope lens, he saw the fleeing leader of the ‘Lesser Rat’ and Spade trying to chase her.

At Number 13’s command, Club pulled the trigger of the air rifle she was holding, despite her expression showing complete disbelief.

With a sound somewhat different from a typical gunshot, another rubber bullet was fired.

The bullet, enhanced by Club’s magic, flew faster and more accurately than any other bullet, intercepting Spade who was chasing the villain far away.

However, it only barely managed to make her stop, unable to injure or subdue her. To be able to block a sniper shot from this distance, a bullet with that speed, without error. Was she a monster?

“Don’t think about anything else, Club! You’re currently a temporary member of Abyss, and you’re under my command! There was also Rahye’s order, wasn’t there?! So listen only to my words! Understand?!”

“…Fuck…!”

Club, with an unconvinced expression, nevertheless aimed the rifle again for Number 13 and put her finger on the trigger.

She would use her abilities, which had been significantly enhanced by Number 13’s training, to stop her comrades….

* * *

‘The sniping angle is roughly this…’ ‘The location…’

Spade quickly thought to herself, then took out her radio and conveyed the current situation.

That there was a sniper, to be careful, that the discovered leader of the Lesser Rat was escaping, and that she would pursue her.

[Spade, are you okay? If it’s dangerous, you can retreat.]

Rahye’s voice came from beyond the radio.

It was a solemn voice befitting a battlefield, but its content contained Rahye’s policy of valuing lives.

No problem.

She replied so. This much was no obstacle at all.

The incoming bullets were indeed terrifying in both power and speed, but for Spade, who possessed superhuman senses, they were manageable enough to respond to.

Moreover, for some reason, the opponent was using non-lethal rubber bullets.

If that was the case, even if they contained immense power, Spade’s magic-enhanced body could take a few hits without issue.

Thinking so, she was about to rush out, when Spade’s intuition, a sixth sense akin to a beast’s precognition, rang an alarm again.

The same sensation of a chilling shiver running down her spine as before. A sharp, rising coldness.

As she reflexively turned her head,

Crack!

This time, the bullet grazed Spade’s temple.

She barely managed to avoid a direct hit to her head, but the radio in her hand shattered into pieces.

Thump, thump, thump, thump!

“My goodness… how?!”

At the bullet she barely avoided, Spade suppressed her painfully pounding heart and breathed roughly.

No, more than that, it was strange. She was behind a container box, a barrier, so calculating from the previous sniping angle, this should have been a safe zone.

‘Multiple snipers…?’

No, that wasn’t it. Her intuition whispered that it couldn’t be.

Spade reflexively scanned her surroundings. She checked if there might be a cat or some kind of animal.

What Spade thought of from that snipe was Club, her currently kidnapped comrade.

Because Club could adjust the angle of a bullet she shot with her ability as much as she wanted.

However, for Club to use her [Remote Sight] ability, she needed a living creature to use as a relay.

There was no such creature visible in a noticeable location.

Besides, there was no way the kidnapped Club would be in a place like this, nor would she snipe her own comrade.

Whiz! Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!

“……! Ugh…!”

The barrage of bullets, which still froze her spine, had not ended.

Ignoring the cover, Spade rolled on the ground, frantically evading the continuous sniper fire that kept changing angles.

Occasionally, she took out the special stun baton fixed at her waist and skillfully batted them away.

The snipes themselves weren’t impossible to deal with.

But…

‘If this continues, I’ll lose her…!’

Dodging around the containers, she barely caught sight of the villain’s back, fleeing far away.

Spade gritted her teeth, batted away another incoming bullet, and hid behind the adjacent container box.

Even hiding like this, another snipe would surely come, but it didn’t matter.

She re-fixed the baton in her hand to her waist, and this time, placed both hands and feet on the ground.

It was what was called a crouching start.

“Do you think I’ll let her get away…?!”

Spade’s intuition, ringing an alarm, told her that the next bullet would arrive very soon.

It’s fine. It’s fine.

The title of A-Class Hero isn’t given for no reason.

It’s not a naive rank given just for accumulating achievements.

It means possessing significant skill and having experienced that many battlefields.

A simple but powerful, [Physical Enhancement] that transcends common sense.

And intuition honed through countless battles.

With Spade, possessing both of those, this level of threat could be overcome without difficulty.

―3,

Spade, with her hands and feet on the ground and her posture lowered, resembled a vicious carnivorous animal stalking its prey.

As if to emphasize her fierce momentum, the magic she unleashed became visibly apparent, taking the form of crimson lightning.

Roar! Crackle! Crack!

From Spade’s body, from the small Awakener’s body, the explosive, burning crimson flames of magic instantly erupted.

Her crimson eyes emitted an increasingly clearer light as the amount of magic released grew.

―2,

She instinctively knew that a bullet would soon fly towards her.

But she wouldn’t rush. She mustn’t rush.

She commanded her body, which felt ready to spring forward at any moment, to hold back for just one second, or even a fraction of a second.

If she started too early, she’d be intercepted. If she started too late, she’d be sniped in her current posture and it would be over.

―1,

She couldn’t even determine where the sniper was, and it was naturally impossible to discern the sniping timing by sight or sound.

Therefore, she relied solely on intuition to target.

Relying solely on intuition, she gauged the sniper’s firing timing.

It seemed the sniper had the ability to manipulate bullet trajectories.

But Spade had been on missions with such comrades many times, so she knew well the difficulties snipers with such abilities faced in responding.

What she aimed for was right after the shot.

Once a bullet was fired, its speed was too great for even an Awakener with [Trajectory Manipulation] to control it beyond its pre-set path.

So, if the target accelerated immediately after the shot.

Then… they couldn’t follow!

――0!!

“HaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

Spade roared with a powerful shout, instantly unleashing the magic that had been crackling and burning around her.

An explosive sound.

A thunderous roar that shattered the ground and tore through the air.

It seemed she had heard a familiar sharp ripping sound just before that, but the small sound of a bullet was instantly overwhelmed.

Leaving behind the bullet fired at her.

A crimson light, a bursting red glow, like an arrow released from a bowstring… rapidly closed in on the fleeing villain.