Chapter 859: December 19th: The Mech Drama Closes
Author's Preface
Thank you for your long patience.
Sengaku Hisai, equipped by Rust, has been destroyed to a near-semi-ruined state after taking multiple high-firepower magnum bullets. Furthermore, a portion of the player's head is exposed from the helmet.
(The hitbox is so tiny~!)
One head's worth, and furthermore only a part of that. With a slight, wry smile at the exceedingly narrow "hitbox," Eclair takes out a handgun from his bosom.
It's not one of the store-bought ones that were disparaged as "doubtful if it can even kill a Goblin," but rather a Behemoth high-end custom live-bullet revolver whose power is guaranteed to a certain degree. For Eclair, the unadorned gun grasped in his own hand is his true trump card.
Through the Emergency Purge, Electric Shock Confectionery No. 3 @ GGMC was blown to pieces. However, it allowed its pilot, Eclair, to escape from his restraints fully intact, and brought him this single, one-time chance. If that is so, it can be said that Electric Shock Confectionery No. 3 @ GGMC fulfilled the best and highest role as armor.
"Gotcha!"
Eclair himself only has "certainty," but speaking from a god's-eye view belonging to neither of the two people present... his aim was unmistakably Rust's head, and moreover, he had accurately aligned his sights on the bare flesh visible through the extremely slight gap peeking out from the crack in the enhanced armor helmet.
The Tactical Mech that performed the absolute best work, and Eclair, who put her in check with the absolute best movement. There wasn't a single mistake in his movements; even if he had known everything about this battle beforehand, it was such that he would have been forced to make the same movements once this situation arose.
Therefore, there is only one "cause."
『I thought you'd do that...!』
The fact that the enemy was someone who could show understanding toward those best, finest, and supreme movements... toward that state of being where one greedily seeks victory even after discarding their beloved mech. That was simply all there was to it.
It wasn't that she couldn't do it, but that she didn't. To think things through from one to ten of one's own will, and upon doing so, choose not to choose it. In other words, it means she knows what happens when it is chosen.
(An Emergency Purge is not a declaration of surrender. It's the will to continue fighting, refusing to give up on living even if all you have left is a single fist!)
The moment her opponent, Electric Shock Confectionery No. 3 @ GGMC, burst open, Rust realized that the person inside, Eclair, had not thrown away the fight. Or perhaps he might choose to flee, but even so, Rust bet on the opponent choosing to fight.
Therefore, Eclair, who took the initiative with a surprise attack, readied his gun and fired... During the time of that movement—which ordinarily would have been Eclair's "initiative" all the way up to readying and firing—Sengaku Hisai dove in.
"Wha—"
Grab. As Sengaku Hisai forcefully grabbed the muzzle of the revolver Eclair readied dead-on with her crushed left fist and attempted to twist it upwards to snatch it away, Eclair reflexively pulled the trigger.
Because the Destruction attribute was enchanted onto the live ammo, it wasn't Sengaku Hisai's arm, but rather the left hand of Rust's actual body that was blown off. But as if even that was a trivial matter, Sengaku Hisai didn't stop.
Eclair's eyes followed the fist as it moved in a wide arc... and by the time he realized it was a bad move, Sengaku Hisai's legs had already clutched his neck with a flexibility unbecoming of mechanical armor.
『......I feel a bit bad doing this against a bare body, though.』
While guiding his gaze with her fist, she fired her leg boosters with exquisite output. With a complex movement combining a cartwheel and a handstand, Sengaku Hisai clamped Eclair's neck between her legs, and pushed the boosters to maximum output.
『......It's over!』
———At this moment, Eclair himself couldn't perceive what was being done to him. No, he felt the result of what happened more than anyone, but he couldn't understand why it had happened... It was just too dizzying.
While clamping Eclair's head between her knees, she fired her boosters from a handstand position supporting herself with only one hand, performing a full vertical rotation. With a motion akin to a somersault kick, she spun in a full circle with Eclair in tow, smashing him directly into the ground.
The ability to fly and bounce around on the ground rather than in space means possessing enough propulsive force to completely support one's own weight within a gravity well. This sequence of actions, concentrating all that power solely into a gymnastic movement, is the sure-kill maneuver for Robot-Killing, used specifically by the hero in Nephilim Hollow who neutralized all of Crimson Twinewing's armaments.
Originally, this was meant to drag around and rip off the head of a Nephilim, a giant robot that could be described as a giant mannequin (an act absolutely never meant to be used on a living, bare body), yet Eclair had it slammed into him using a Tactical Mech as a substitute for a Nephilim.
"Y-You definitely... aren't supposed to... use this on a bare body............"
『......I held back.』
"Liar~......"
It's not a lie. If Rust truly intended to end it, she would have hammered in a knee or a fist long ago. The reason Eclair survived with 1 HP thanks to a lucky Endure and is still alive is because Rust still has something for Eclair to do... Strictly speaking, she doesn't care about Eclair himself.
『......I do not recommend attempting one last fart... Ahem.』
It continues to exist as long as the equipper is alive; a Meteor Iron Mirror whose invincibility is guaranteed from a meta-perspective due to its property of connecting outside the game.
Rust spoke softly into the one Eclair had deployed.
『......Nephilim Hollow. I am there. If you can proudly declare 'I can win,' then come. I will accept the challenge... And, Nephilim Hollow 2 is coming out. Evolved with the ShanFro engine, Nephilim Hollow is guaranteed to be the hegemon, so if anything, go pre-order it right now.』
Somewhere far away, the sound of an explosion. Eclair intuitively sensed that it was the decisive blow sealing the mercenary corps' total defeat.
And more than anything, the fact that their grand scheme was ruined by just two people, and that even that was nothing more than a stepping stone for this "invitation," left him with no choice but to smile wryly.
"D-Direct marketing, seriously~........."
Washed over by a feeling of powerlessness that blew away even the defiant will to land at least one hit at the very end, Eclair finally went limp, as if to signal his surrender.
In response, Rust let out a soft laugh.
『......I'll accept a rematch anytime. The whole mercenary corps should start playing Nephilim Hollow.』
Just before the finishing blow was dealt, Eclair saw an illusion of a carnivore in the smile peeking out from the shattered helmet.
◇
<<......Mold, what are you doing?>>
<<Ah, Rust. Well, the fuel efficiency was worse than I thought and I ran out of gas... so I was bolstering the defenses until you met up with me.>>
<<......I see. So, did you finish them off?>>
<<Ah, yeah. I ended up destroying quite a few houses though... With 【Genbu】, the firepower was a bit excessive.>>
Non-Standard Tactical Tortoise 【Genbu】. A steel tortoise equipped with the Twin Serpentine Cannons, arguably the highest in terms of pure firepower among the Non-Standard series... Staring at it currently curled up in a defensive posture, as if pulling its head and limbs into its shell, Rust let the tension drain from her shoulders.
<<......For now, we've accomplished the mission from Pencilgon.>>
<<That's true.>>
Rust and Mold were deployed to the Thirdrema city streets with the objective of fighting the GUN! GUN! Mercenary Corps, but having achieved their defeat, there wasn't much point in staying here.
Of course, it was better to be here than not. However───
<<As Pencilgon-san said, once it reaches the final stages, organized movements will become practically non-existent. It'll probably turn into a massive chaotic brawl with players charging into the headquarters based on individual judgment... Since Tactical Mechs are bad at prolonged combat, I think we're better off fighting moderately on a different battlefield.>>
<<.........Mm. Let's kill some time around Fourfolkshire.>>
<<Then I'll hand 【Genbu】 over to you. If we put it in the Inventoria, there won't be any "just in case.">>
Unequipping 【Genbu】 and 【Fugaku】, Mold transferred them to Rust, including the Non-Standard Ether Reactor.
Now then, how should we get to the other town? While Mold was thinking about that, he suddenly realized that Rust was still equipping the black Tactical Mech—he was pretty sure it was named "Kokushimusou"—and furthermore, with that Tactical Mech equipped with multiple mode-change mechanisms, she was currently in the form of a two-wheeled vehicle.
『......What are you doing?』
"Um... you want me to get on?"
『......Mm. In real life, it's impossible for me to be the one giving you a ride, so this is a rare case.』
Because her flesh-and-blood body is humanoid, and furthermore because she is contorting her body to match the shape of a two-wheeled vehicle, he would be straddling his childhood friend's back while she was in a near-prone position.
Mold had an incredibly complicated expression on his face, but he quickly gave up, thinking that no matter what he said, Rust would not bend her insistence. Even if Mold possessed Teleportation magic, there was no need to discuss which one Rust would choose: a flavorless fast-travel, or transforming herself into a bike mode to race across the battlefield.
"......By the way, Rust, was this even designed with carrying a passenger in mind?"
"......Mold."
"Yeah."
"......Hold on with guts."
Before Mold could even mutter "You've got to be kidding me," Kokushimusou went full throttle.
Author's Afterword
Volume 10 of the Shangri-La Frontier manga adaptation is currently on sale to great acclaim!
Translator's Notes
- [1] Title: The 4 character idiom this time is 喜劇閉幕 (kigeki heimaku) meaning "the closing of the comedy", replacing 喜 (joy) with 機 (machine).
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