Due to deal restructure text to speech player is currently unavailable. Will find a solution soon.

Chapter 128

Translator: Athena13

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

Akira was completely dumbfounded when the pile of monsters that was blocking the entrance to the room suddenly got blown away .

From there, Kanae and Shiori jumped out . Kanae immediately punched a B18 monster while Shiori swiftly sliced a B18 monster near them . The punched monster crashed into the wall with a loud banging sound, while the sliced monster was beautifully cut into two symmetric pieces and fell down to the floor .

Akira immediately noticed that those were Kanae and Shiori, both of them also immediately noticed Akira too . Not too long after that, Reina also jumped out from that room . The moment she was out, she immediately looked around and checked her surroundings .

Shikarabe quickly grasped the current situation and shouted .

“We’re heading back now!! Akira, you take the rear!! Togami, escort them back to the hall! Let’s go!!”

Right after Shikarabe gave that order, he immediately made a 180 degrees turn in order to secure the hallway back to the hall .

Kanae grabbed Reina’s arm and pulled her along since it seemed that Reina still did not fully understand the current situation . She then glanced at Akira and spoke to him in a good mood .

“I’ll leave the rear to you!!”

Kanae was waving at Akira with her free hand and a big smile on her face . Reina was half-dragged by Kanae as she passed beside Akira, she was still obviously dumbfounded .

Shiori elegantly stopped and stood next to Akira .

“Is it alright to leave the rear to you alone?”

“Just go . ”

Akira did not hesitate at all . Both of them were busy, after all .

Shiori slightly bowed at Akira before quickly catching up with Kanae and Reina .

Togami just stood there frozen for a few seconds, his brain could not process what just happened, but he eventually returned back to reality and flusteredly tried to catch up with the other Hunters .

Now Akira was left alone in the rear, Alpha was floating next to him while smiling .

“Aren’t you glad that you don’t need to search inside that room now?”

“You can say that again . We just need to return back now . Thank goodness we’re in the last part of this search . It went better than I thought it would . ”

“I’m sure that the rest of the job is not that hard, you just need to return back with the rescue targets . But you should not lower your guard yet, okay?”

“Yeah, I know . ”

Akira pulled out his A4WM automatic grenade launcher and aimed it at the hallway . The A4WM grenade launcher immediately spewed out grenades, it was not a weapon designed to be used indoors . Even if the inside of the old-ruin building was resilient, Akira still had to be careful using that rifle . Even though it was a powerful weapon, it would be meaningless if it ended up destroying the interior and blocking the hallway, that was why Akira did not use it until now .

But he only needed to head back now, so Akira thought that it was even advantageous in that situation if he ended up breaking the wall and blocking the hallway to prevent the monsters from chasing them, so he pulled the trigger without holding back at all .

Grenades flew from its muzzle into the hallway and swallowed the swarm of monsters coming from the deeper part of that hallway with explosions . The shockwave from the explosions did not have anywhere to escape inside the closed hallway, thus, it was blown right back at Akira . Because of that, a huge wreckage suddenly just flew right past Akira .

Akira staggered as he gasped .

“…Whoah!!”

Alpha amusedly looked at surprised Akira and said .

“That rifle is not designed to be used indoors, so you need to be careful . ”

Smokes raised inside the hallway and blocked the view . Akira kept his eyes on that cloud of smokes for monsters but he did not see any disruption in the smokes . So he then decided that it should be fine as he turned around and started running back while still keeping his eyes for more monsters .

Reina, Shiori, and Kanae were running following Shikarabe, who was guiding them back to the hall where Elena and the rest of the Hunters were waiting . Since Shikarabe destroyed most of the monsters on their way to the room, they had not much trouble on their way back . It was not like there were no monsters at all, but Shikarabe, Shiori, and Kanae could handle them just fine .

They then heard explosions coming from behind, it was the sound of Akira using his A4WM automatic grenade launcher .

Kanae glanced behind her .

“That Akira seems to be having fun back there . But still, I didn’t expect to find him in this building . I guess this must be some kind of fate, huh?”

But Shiori quickly warned Kanae .

“Stop with the chatter and focus on the fighting . ”

“It’s fine, I can chat this must basically because I have the leeway… Here!”

Kanae kicked a B18 monster that suddenly appeared in the hallway when she said that . As her leg that was wrapped in black tights and a pretty big shoe extended out under her maid outfit, she drove a powerful kick into the B18 monster near her .

Kanae’s maid outfit actually had a good defensive capability, while her black tights was a part of her augmented suit . Shiori was also using the same equipment as Kanae except for the boots . The ones that Kanae was using were specially designed boots for CQC . Not only was it exceptionally robust, it was also equipped with mini force field armour that could create short force field burst . It was specifically designed to boost the power of the kick of its user .

The B18 monster that Kanae kicked was blasted as if it was a cannon .

Shiori immediately focused her attention on another B18 monster that appeared in the opposite direction and cut it with her blade . Shiori’s blade was able to easily cut open the B18 monster as if it just ignored the force field armour and went straight for the monster’s body .

Shiori sighed, exasperatedly .

“No matter whether you have the leeway or not, it’s shameless to make unnecessary chit-chat, you know? They should’ve taught you that right, Kanae?”

But instead, Kanae tried to make an excuse .

“They taught me that random chatter is important to calm down my nerves during a long fight though? Didn’t you also do that with Milady?”

“Your unnecessary chatter is not the same as my conversation with Milady . ”

Shiori and Kanae showed enough leeway to make that exchange while keeping their guard up and making sure that Reina was safe .

Reina was running behind Kanae and Shiori . The swarm of mechanical monsters that surrounded them when they were barricading themselves inside the room were mostly gone . The moment they came out from that room, Shiori and Kanae immediately killed any monsters near them . Reina had considerably calmed down compared to when she was inside the room .

Reina, who regained some of her composure, finally noticed Togami who was looking in her direction . She then somehow sounded a bit harsh as she asked Togami .

“…What?”

Togami flusteredly replied .

“No, it’s just that… If I’m not mistaken… You should be on the same team with Katsuya, right?”

“…I was . But I’m no longer in Katsuya’s team . So, what about it?”

“Well, Uhh… No, it’s nothing . ”

Togami finally looked away . Reina kept staring at Togami with a confused look for a few seconds before she just casually returned her view forward .

Togami lightly sighed and thought .

[What the heck am I doing…]

Togami was actually only glancing at Reina when she suddenly looked back at him . When that happened, he thought that he should at least say something and just spoke out anything that came up in his mind about Reina . That was all there was to it .

But Reina sounded a bit annoyed when she replied . Togami was slightly overwhelmed by that and decided to just cut their conversation short .

Although Togami did not realize it himself, he actually glanced at Reina since he felt a sense of camaraderie with Reina .

Togami was together with the other Hunters who were better than him . Although this was only his self-evaluation, he believed that he did not contribute much, it could even be said that Akira and Shikarabe were protecting him along the way . Or at least, he did not think that he contributed much or did anything that he could be proud of during that rescue operation .

At that time, Togami caught sight of Reina who was protected by Shiori and Kanae . The scene of her being protected by Shiori and Kanae inside a place that was far too dangerous for her to be, and the fact that it seemed she lamented her situation there . It was basically similar to the situation that Togami was currently in . As in matter of fact, Reina’s skill was indeed relatively closer to Togami than to Shiori or Shikarabe .

When Reina suddenly spoke to him, Togami did not even realize that he was staring at her and could only react flusteredly and throw out a random subject . But in the end, it seemed that it somehow annoyed Reina and it left him with a strange feeling of self-admonishment .

Reina also lightly sighed and thought .

[Why in the world did I do that…]

The reason why Reina reacted harshly was because Togami’s question reminded her of her own patheticness, so it was her venting to Togami .

In reality, Togami’s impression of Reina was simply one of the people from Katsuya’s team, that was all there was to it . The only reason why he remembered her was simply because he saw Reina on Katsuya’s team from time to time back when he had a one-sided rivalry with Katsuya .

But on the other hand, Reina knew Togami to some extent . She knew that Togami was a skilled young Hunter in Drankam, he might as well be the second strongest young Hunter in Drankam after Katsuya . People in Drankam had their attention on him and they hoped that he would be the beacon for the anti-Katsuya faction . She also knew that Togami was a skilled Hunter who successfully hunted a bounty monster with Shikarabe and a handful of other Hunters .

So in short, Reina saw Togami as a Hunter who was above her, just like how Togami saw Shikarabe .

So when Togami asked Reina if she was still in Katsuya’s team, to Reina, it sounded as if Togami was asking her why an incompetent Hunter, who could do nothing but tag along with Katsuya, was in this place .

Reina’s logical side was telling her that was not what Togami meant and it was nothing more than her imagination . But since she thought like that once, it was hard for her to change it now .

Reina realized that she just vented her anger at Togami and she hated herself for doing that .

If only they were in a safe place and they could take their time talking to each other calmly, Reina and Togami could be able to get along . But unfortunately, they did not have that luxury at the moment . The still-growing Hunters, both of them, just pulled themselves together for now and somehow moved on from that worry .

Akira was still shooting grenades using his A4WM automatic grenade launcher while retreating . His retreat was going very well, even too well that Akira started questioning it .

“The monsters stopped coming . I don’t think it’s because I’ve defeated them though… So what’s going on here?”

Alpha casually answered his question .

“They might have decided fighting frontally would be ineffective, so they might be avoiding you right now . ”

Alpha was not smiling like during the last battle, but she did not seem worried either . Her expression was neutral .

“Either way, let’s use this chance to retreat . ”

“You’re right . ”

Although it was not as dangerous as before, Akira still could not lower his guard on his way back .

Shikarabe led the group in the front while fighting the enemies that were blocking their way back to the hall where Elena and the other Hunters were waiting . Once they returned back, Shikarabe immediately scanned the situation and finally sighed in relief .

Elena immediately approached Shikarabe .

“How was the rescue?”

“It went well, we secured the targets and retreated back without any trouble . Give us your next order to get out of this building . We basically recovered 3 Hunters and they’re not badly injured . ”

Elena looked at Shikarabe, then looked at the hallway where Shikarabe came from . Not too far from the entrance, she could see Reina, Shiori, Togami, and Kanae running, then also Akira a little further behind them .

Elena’s face slightly relaxed after she confirmed that everyone was alright . But she then immediately pulled herself together and gave the next order .

“Sara! Carol! We’re pulling back!!”

Carol and Sara who were guarding the entrance to the other hallways gathered around Elena when they heard that .

Elena then asked Shikarabe .

“Shikarabe, is it alright to count those 3 Hunters as extra fighting hands?”

“Yes, but only two of them . And keep in mind that those two are here to protect the other one . ”

“Got it . Shikarabe, you lead them down to the 19th floor . If the situation down there is still the same as before, we should be able to get a short rest . ”

“Roger that!”

Shikarabe waved at Shiori, signalling her to follow him . After Shikarabe confirmed that the other Hunters got his signal, he immediately moved out to lead the way down to the 19th floor .

Shiori, Reina, Kanae, and Togami appeared out of the hallway and they did not stop running as they went straight to the stairs . Elena was obviously surprised when she saw 2 maids and a young girl passing through the hall .

She then mumbled while still looking at Reina and the other two Hunters .

“…Maid outfit? No, more than that, I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere before…”

Elena tried to dig through her memory, but Shiori and Kanae’s maid outfits distracted her from remembering them . Sara and Carol finally grouped up with Elena, Sara then asked Elena a question .

“…Elena, about those Hunters though…”

Sara seemed to be thinking of the same thing as Elena, but Elena responded back prioritizing her position as the leader of the team .

“They’re the rescue targets . We’ll also move out once we meet up with Akira . Shikarabe said that two of them are basically bodyguards for the other one and it’s okay to count them as extra fighting hands . Since I sent Shikarabe down ahead, they should not face any trouble going down . We’ll join with Akira to guard the rear while retreating too . After all, the monsters from the 30th floor might chase us on our way down . ”

Sara looked a bit bothered as she nodded .

Carol also seemed a bit bothered .

“If my eyes didn’t trick me, I saw 2 of them are in maid outfits though…”

“Since we can count them as extra fighting hands, there should be no need for us to protect them . So just put that back in your mind first and you can ask about things that have nothing to do with escaping from this building later . ”

“O-Okay . ”

Sara and Carol seemed a bit confused, Elena could understand their feelings . But it was not like she had the answer to that either and it was not the place to ask that question now . So Elena decided to prioritize more on escaping that building and save any questions for later .

Akira was running through the hallway, his face slightly relaxed the moment he saw Elena and the other Hunters .

“It seems that Elena-san and the others didn’t face any trouble either . ”

“Akira, keep running! It seems that Shikarabe and the rest of the Hunters have gone down first . ”

Alpha urged Akira to hurry up . Akira was a bit surprised by that but complied and started running faster .

The moment Akira entered the hall where Elena was, one of the barricades that blocked the way to the other hallways suddenly burst open as a relatively big monster burst into the room .

That big mechanical monster smashed its way through the barricade with high momentum . So the moment it broke in, the barricade was forcefully blown away, crashed into the ceiling, wall, and floor as they made loud banging sounds .

One of the wreckages was even sent flying towards Elena even though she was far from that barricade . Although it really surprised her, she was able to nimbly evade the wreckage that flew straight at her . The same thing happened to Carol and Sara, but they skilfully kicked the flying wreckages aside .

The big monster was more or less tall enough and wide enough to block the whole hallway alone . It was wrapped with a robust-looking body . Although about 10 metres of its body had extended out of the hallway, it was not its full length yet, there was no telling how far its body extended down the hallway .

Akira ducked and evaded the flying wreckage as he was running to where Elena was . He then quickly turned around, aimed his A4WM automatic grenade launcher at that big monster, and pulled the trigger . The grenades flew out straight to that big monster, stuck on its armour, and exploded .

The impact forced that big monster down into the floor and kept it flat on the floor . But then a part of its lower armour suddenly peeled off and legs with wheels appeared under those peeled off armours .

It seemed that Akira was able to somehow stop that monster momentarily, but Elena immediately shouted at him .

“Keep running!!”

Akira immediately ran toward the stairs and was about to go down the stairs .

In that instant, a part of the monster’s big body peeled off, exposing the guns under it . On the next moment, it shot indiscriminately inside the room as if to make sure that it hit all nooks and crannies around it . Loud gunshots followed with a barrage of bullets filled the room, it hit everything indiscriminately, wall, floor, ceiling, and even the wreckage of the other monsters .

Akira, Elena, Sara, and Carol quickly jumped down the stairs and barely avoided the bullet storm . It was a rather intense situation .

They then hurried to catch up with Shikarabe who went down earlier . The situation below the 30th floor did not seem to have changed much, there were no extra monsters at all . And since they already destroyed most of the monsters on their way up, they were able to quickly and safely go down .

Sara was still running when she suddenly asked a question to Elena .

“Elena, did that huge monster not trigger your radar?”

Elena frowned .

“…Sadly enough, yes . Not only the sensitivity of my information-gathering device is lowered in this building, the dead monsters that we used to block the other hallway were also producing weak signals that might have interfered with my information-gathering device . I’m sorry . ”

It seemed that Elena felt responsible for that, Sara just smiled at her and replied .

“Don’t worry about it . If you couldn’t detect it, then there’s really nothing we can do about it . It’s not like I’m blaming you here, right Akira?”

Akira lightly smiled and agreed to what Sara just said .

“Yes, I agree with Sara-san . So please don’t worry about it . ”

Akira then sent a glance to Carol, who understood what Akira was trying to say .

Honestly speaking, she was not interested in blaming it on Elena at all, but at the same time, she also wanted to know why she could not detect a monster that big .

Back then, Carol noticed that Akira suddenly ran faster . If Akira did that because he knew about that big monster, it would mean that he was able to detect a monster that Elena could not . But then again, Akira’s surprise did not seem to be fake the moment he saw that monster .

Although she still had some questions, it was not the time to ask those questions . Carol held her curiosity back as she smiled at Elena and said .

“The fact that no one detected that huge monster means that it might have some kind of special camouflaging device that exploits the lowered sensitivity of our information-gathering device . Or maybe that the setting adjusted to help to detect the smaller monsters is not good at detecting big monsters . But if we readjust the setting to focus more on detecting big monsters, we will have trouble with the smaller monsters instead . So I think this is where it’s important to make a compromise, I’m just happy that we could survive that big monster without losing anyone . ”

After saying that, Carol checked Akira’s reaction . Akira seemed to be listening closely to her and nodded in agreement .

It seemed that she made the right decision there to even put up a reason as to why Elena was blameless in order to score some point with Akira . As Carol thought, Akira seemed to lack common knowledge for Hunters and he was showing interest in such a thing . After Carol was able to confirm that, she kept her poker face although she was smiling happily deep inside .

After Elena heard supportive words from her best friend that she was together with for years and a young boy that she got along well just recently, plus extra reasoning that Elena was pretty sure Carol said mostly for someone else, Elena pulled herself together and smiled . She sounded delighted as she said .

“Thank you, now I know that there is such a kind of monster too, I’ll be more careful next time . ”

Sara smiled satisfied seeing that Elena had cheered up .

“But still, how did a monster that big get inside the hallway? I wonder if that thing is a part of the security of this building . ”

Akira seemed interested in that subject too .

“It doesn’t seem to be an extra security monster though… Not to mention, with its size, I don’t think it can move around freely inside the hallway . Carol, do you have any guess? You’re pretty knowledgeable about the Seranthal building, right?”

Carol frowned and said .

“As far as I can tell, I don’t remember monsters like that guarding this building before . In the first place, with a body that big, I don’t think it’s possible for that monster to come from outside of the building… I really have no idea why that thing is in this building . ”

There was no one present who could answer that question . So they decided to just shelve it for now and move on .

They were able to reach the 19th floor and group up with Shikarabe without any trouble .

Reina and Togami were breathing heavily, compared to them, Akira looked completely normal . Rather than the difference in their physical strength, it was more because of the medicines that Akira kept consuming . But Reina and Togami, who saw Akira, could not help but misunderstand . They looked at Akira with a mix of surprise and amazement .

Elena then gave an order to everyone there .

“We’ll head out again after 5 minutes . Until then, make sure that you have everything ready . ”

Akira immediately checked his equipment . He pulled out reserve ammo from his rucksack and reloaded his rifle even if he only used it once . He also replaced the empty reserve magazines attached around his body, refilled the medicines in his pocket, and replaced the energy pack of his augmented suit .

While in the middle of doing that, Akira suddenly mumbled .

“…I used quite a lot of my reserve supply this time . ”

DVTS minigun extended magazine, CWH anti-material rifle special ammo, A4WM automatic grenade-launcher grenades-magazine, medicine, augmented suit energy pack–all of them were expensive consumables . But Akira did not remember wasting any of them, it was a necessary expense .

But still, when he imagined how much expense he had accumulated there, he could not help but to smile bitterly and lightly sigh .

Alpha then teasingly smiled at him .

“Just in case if you want to know, I can tell you how much you’ve spent until now . ”

“No thanks . ”

Akira answered back firmly . After all, if he was worried about the money that he used to fight the monsters, it might force him to pay that cost with his life later . He thought that he could worry about it later after he returned back alive .

“…It should be alright, I should be able to earn more money . Not to mention, I made quite a lot of money yesterday too . As for this request, Carol and Elena-san should have properly negotiated the details with the City Management . And since we successfully rescued Reina, I should get an extra reward from Drankam too, it should be alright . ”

Akira was telling himself that it should be fine . He should not think how many days the money that he spent this time would have bought in the inn where he once lived, or how many times he could eat in that luxurious restaurant that he visited once out of Shiori’s invitation with the money that he spent that day . Akira kept telling himself not to think about it .

Alpha just smiled and said .

“You’re right, it should be alright, maybe . You should be able to end up with huge profits from this request . That’s why, if you want to get extra motivation, it should be alright to use the reward that you get this time to eat a meal in that luxurious restaurant where Shiori invited you in the past . ”

“I know you’re saying that on purpose!!”

Akira tried his best not to show his emotion on his face .

Alpha smiled at Akira who was trying to keep his poker face and said to him .

“Oh my, that’s not true at all . I’m just saying that since I think it’s totally okay to reward yourself with something like that after working this hard . It’s not like I’m teasing you for taking this dangerous request from Elena without thinking much about the reward, you know . ”

Alpha was still smiling like usual next to Akira, while Akira just silently continued checking his equipment . His face only twitched for a bit in response to what Alpha said to him .

Chapter 129

Translator: Athena13

Editor: Silavin

Proofreader: p4553r

Akira was still pouting after Alpha poked fun at him, but then Kanae suddenly spoke to him as if she could not read the mood.

“Akira! We meet again!!”

“…Yeah.”

Akira replied as if he was not interested in talking with Kanae at the moment, but she ignored that.

“But still, what a coincidence to meet you in this place. If you’re going to come here, you should have come with us right from the start, you know?”

“I’m here not because I planned to come here right from the start and it’s not like I came to this building to rescue you in the first place. You should ask Shikarabe for the details.”

“Is that so? Well, whichever the case, thanks for saving us.”

For some reason, Kanae was looking at Akira with interest. In contrast to that, Akira looked at Kanae with a little suspicion. It was because he had no idea why Kanae was so interested in talking to him.

To be more precise, it was just that Kanae had no reservation when it came to approaching someone else, while on the other hand, Akira was being careful to anyone who approached him without any good reasons. Both of them simply did not suit each other.

Kanae was interested in Akira’s strength, a part of it was because she could not figure out how strong Akira was.

From the story that she heard, she knew that Akira could fight evenly against Shiori when she was using her trump card in the underground city of Kuzusuhara ruin. Shiori’s trump card was a special accelerator drug that increased concentration, sharpened sense, and slowed down time perception. The price of using that drug was putting one’s brain under immense stress that might render its user paralyzed for a few days, but in exchange for that, it could completely transform its user into a superhuman while that drug was still in effect. So, the only people who could fight Shiori in that state must be powerful people.

But when Akira faced Katsuya during that incident with a pickpocket girl, even after Akira released an excessive level of killing intent, he ended up slowly retreating back. In reality, since Kanae left that place with Reina and Shiori early, she could only hear what happened after they left from the other people. But from what she heard, it seemed that in the end Katsuya did not hand over that girl to Akira, and Akira just silently left.

It was true that Katsuya was a powerful Hunter, but compared to Shiori with her accelerator drug, he was obviously weaker. So, since Akira retreated back from Katsuya, then it would mean Akira was not that strong.

While on the other hand, Shikarabe and Akira got pretty close to the room where Kanae was hiding with Reina and Shiori. When she was about to go down the stairs, Kanae glanced around to check the situation, and judging from what she could see, they would have fought their way through the monsters to get that close to that room, which meant that Akira must be pretty strong.

And that Akira was now right in front of her. Kanae was pretty confident in her ability to evaluate someone with her eyes. And from what she could see, Akira was indeed pretty strong for a Hunter of his age, that was all there was to it, nothing more. So in short, Akira did not seem that particularly strong. She could not feel a trace of vigour, pressure, or aura that strong people usually had. He seemed to be just a common Hunter like all the other Hunters in the eastern district.

Kanae had enough reason to think that Akira was not that strong, while at the same time, she also had enough evidence to believe that Akira was pretty strong. Because of that, Kanae could not say for sure how strong he really was.

She was smiling while guessing Akira’s real strength.

[Yup, no idea at all. I can’t really tell if Akira is strong or not. Honestly speaking, I want to poke at him to see how strong he really is, but as expected, I shouldn’t do that in this situation.]

Kanae’s impression of Akira was simply someone whose strength was unknown to her.

Even for someone like Kanae, she knew that she had to prioritize her current duty at the moment. So in short, if they were in a different situation, she might have already poked at Akira right now. Kanae honestly felt a bit bummed by that.

Togami and Reina were really stressed out as they were trying to catch their breath, but after staying in that safe place for some time, both of them eventually were able to calm down. Once they had calmed down and had enough leeway to put some of their attention to the current situation, both of them immediately directed their gaze to things that bothered them the most.

For Reina, it was Carol. While for Togami, it was Kanae and Shiori. But technically speaking, both of them were bothered by the same thing, their appearances.

Reina looked at Carol and thought.

[…What is with that augmented suit? It’s really something… Or more like, no matter how you look at it, it’s designed for seducing men, right? Although I heard that some old-world augmented suits have that kind of design, it’s the first time for me to see someone actually using it. Is it just an augmented suit from the current era but with an old-world design? Or is it an old-world relic? Whichever the case, I’m impressed that she’s actually using it. Is it a matter of getting used to that design? The curve is pretty intense too… Is it just that it looks intense simply because of the design?]

Reina looked really bothered as she was staring at Carol’s augmented suit.

At the same time, Togami looked at Kanae and Shiori’s maid outfit and thought.

[…That thing is a maid outfit, right? And maids are those people who serve in a big mansion for rich people, right? So why are there maids in this old-world ruin? Are those maid outfits actually old-world relics with strong defensive power and they’re using it in place of normal armour? But for some reason, they look pretty much used to it though, it doesn’t feel like they’re Hunters. But Shikarabe said that our rescue targets are Drankam Hunters, right…? Wait, he might be talking about Reina and those two might be Reina’s maid… But again, why would a Hunter have maids?]

Togami seemed so confused as he was staring at Shiori and Kanae.

Shiori was standing next to Reina, offering her a stamina drink. Reina thanked Shiori and drank it.

Shiori noticed that Togami was looking in her direction, but she did not pay much attention to it. She herself understood that her maid outfit would attract some attention. And as long as she was there as Reina’s maid, there was no need to put too much attention to what other people thought or said.

After Carol finished her preparation, she nibbled on a ration that looked like grilled rice dumplings. Although it looked like a simple snack from the outside, it was actually infused with restorative and healing properties. It also replenished the nanomachines that she used during the last fight. For Carol, consuming that food was equally important as replenishing her reserve ammo.

Carol also noticed that Reina was looking at her, but she just ignored that. Although the design of her augmented suit was made to seduce men, it sometimes also attracted attention from the other women. Some women who were not used to seeing old-world design often threw glances at her out of pure curiosity without any ill will. There were also girls who did not like having a Hunter in that appearance near them. Even Carol herself knew that much. She thought as long as Reina did not complain or say anything about her appearance, then there was no reason to be bothered by that.

Kanae then turned to Togami who was looking at Shiori, so she then looked at Shiori before shifting to Reina, who was next to Shiori. Since Reina was looking at Carol, Kanae’s eyes soon ended up on Carol.

Kanae was somehow smiling amusedly, she then threw a smile at Carol.

“Whoah! That augmented suit is really something!!”

Akira was caught by surprise, he did not expect that Kanae would go and ask that question. Akira looked around and noticed that most of the Hunters there had the same impression as him.

Carol was lightly surprised as she turned to Kanae. After all, to her, it did not seem like Kanae was someone who paid attention to appearances.

Carol smiled confidently as she replied to Kanae’s remark.

“I won’t deny that, but I don’t want someone in a maid outfit to say that to me.”

Akira unconsciously nodded lightly. What Carol said did make sense and Akira could feel that the other Hunters there would agree with him.

Kanae smiled back and said.

“This is a maid outfit. It would be great if you don’t treat it the same as that augmented suit with a design that is obviously for seducing men. No matter how you look at it, your design sticks out far more than this. Or is that you’re already used to that design?”

Carol smiled and replied.

“That’s weird for you to say that when you voluntarily use that maid outfit and come all the way here to an old-world ruin when there are many armours out there with the same fighting capability. I don’t know whose maid you are, but I wonder if that person doesn’t think that it’ll be sticking out. Or is it out of fetish or something?”

Kanae and Carol were smiling at each other. Although it was not exactly a friendly exchange, it was not a hostile exchange either. It did not feel like they were challenging each other and picking a fight.

As Akira was looking at both of them with a slightly troubled face, Kanae suddenly turned to him and threw a question.

“Akira, which one do you think is weirder?”

Akira obviously looked troubled when Kanae suddenly threw that question at him, but then Carol asked a similar question to him too.

“Oh, good idea. Akira, which one do you think is the weird one? Which one do you think sticking out the most?”

Instead of answering their questions, Akira asked a question to both of them.

“…Why are you both asking me?”

Kanae and Carol replied with similar answers as if they had already decided to do that beforehand.

“Isn’t it fine? It’s just out of curiosity.”

“Isn’t it fine? It’s just out of a whim.”

Akira looked around, Elena and Sara were holding back their laughter. Shikarabe looked like he did not care at all, Reina and Togami looked at Akira as if they were waiting for Akira’s answer, and Shiori was just standing next to Reina with a neutral face.

Akira could feel an awkward mood drifting in the room, he then answered back honestly.

“Personally speaking, if it’s on the first sight, I think the maid outfit sticks out more. For Carol’s augmented suit, it’s just a normal augmented suit with an old-world design after all… And I bet that it’s not normal to see maids whether it’s only an outfit or a real maid in the old-world ruin.”

Akira’s response was extremely biased since he had already become used to seeing old-world design because of Alpha. His opinion might be very uncommon for people around his age. As in matter of fact, Reina and Togami were obviously surprised by Akira’s answer.

After listening to Akira’s answer, Carol sported a winning smile. While on the other hand, Kanae lightly waved her hand left and right while shaking her head too. She then spoke to Akira like a veteran talking to a complete beginner.

“Akira, it seems that you still don’t understand how wide this world is.”

Akira casually replied.

“Yeah, I’ve been pretty much living in a narrow world until now after all. Sorry about that.”

Elena lightly giggled as she joined in.

“We should go soon, if you have the time for silly talk like that, I trust that you’ve finished your preparation, yes?”

Akira’s expression turned serious.

“Yeah, I can go anytime.”

“Ready when you are.”

Kanae sounded like she was in a good mood as she said that and returned back to Reina.

Carol still kept her eyes on Kanae when she answered Elena’s question.

“Yeah, no problem here.”

Carol was looking at Kanae as if she had a question in her head.

[…I feel like she asked me that because she was probing for something though, is it only my imagination? Is that simply out of habit? It doesn’t seem her companions are bothered by that either…]

Carol just concluded that Kanae did that simply out of habit and decided to stop thinking about it.

Once Kanae returned to Reina and Shiori, Shiori whispered to Kanae.

“I don’t know what you were planning there, but hold yourself from doing anything that might cause a fight.”

Kanae replied back as if it did not bother her at all.

“Well, isn’t it fine? It seems that Milady was wondering about it, so I was asking that question in her stead. It’s no good you know, Milady, you should not stare at a Hunter whom you don’t know well that intently. Depending on that Hunter, it might be interpreted as picking a fight after all, okay?”

Reina pouted and tried to deny it.

“…It’s better than asking that question straight at her, after all, it’s more or less the same as already picking a fight when you do that, you know?”

Kanae was still smiling as usual when she replied back.

“I don’t have any problem if she accepts it, that’s the biggest difference between me and Milady. Milady, don’t tell me that you think it’s okay to be a bit cheeky just because we’re protecting you and we’ll definitely do something about it when things get bad? Don’t tell me that’s why you keep glancing at her? It’s a big problem depending on whether you do that on purpose or not, you see.”

Reina could not say anything back. Although she did not do that on purpose, it was also true that she could not give a straight answer if she was asked whether she did that thinking that Kanae and Shiori would definitely do something about it if things went bad.

Shiori lightly sighed.

“Just try to behave yourself. If you get ahead of yourself, I’ll cut you.”

“Yes ma’am!”

Kanae replied back in a good spirit. It was hard to say from her personality whether she responded positively to behave or that she was happy because it sounded like Shiori was willing to fight her. But at least, Kanae decided to just shut up, so Shiori did not pursue any further.

Kanae glanced at Akira and thought.

[…I tried to surprise Akira there with that sudden question, but it seems that he did lower his guard. It also seemed that he was pretty much relaxed while we were talking. As I thought, I guess that Akira is not really that strong, huh? Or was that only an act? Or is it that he’s someone who totally changes when he’s in the middle of a fight? Uhhh, I still don’t have enough material to make any conclusion.]

Kanae was thinking so as she lowered her evaluation of Akira. After all, that was what she could get from her own observation if she did not include stories that she heard from other people.

Kanae was smiling, she was hoping that there would come a chance when she could get better information to accurately predict Akira’s real strength.

After everyone finished their preparations, Elena then explained the next plan.

“We’ll go down to the first floor from here and escape the building from the front entrance. Let’s hope that the squads securing this building are still alive.”

Shikarabe felt there was something strange in how Elena worded her plan.

“Is there any reason for us to worry whether the squads outside are still alive or not?”

Elena lightly nodded.

“Yes. You already know that I left mini information-gathering devices on our way up to make sure that we have a safe escape route, right? So basically, the mini information-gathering device on the first floor near the entrance got some signals. It seems that multiple entities entered this building.”

Carol then said to Elena.

“Can you tell me exactly the shape of this something that entered this building?”

If they had a human-like form, then it might be the other Hunters. Or at least, that was what Carol was hoping, but Elena lightly shook her head and said.

“Unfortunately, the device was not able to identify their shapes, and the sensitivity is lowered inside this building. So I can’t say anything about their shapes. The only thing that I can say for sure is that something came into this building. Although I did say multiple entities, it might be the same object going in and out of the building multiple times on purpose to trigger the signal multiple times. So I can’t really confirm the numbers too.”

This time, Akira was the one who asked a question to Elena.

“Is there any chance that they are a reconnaissance team just like us or might even be the main rescue squad?”

“That possibility is not zero. But if that’s really the case, it might be the reconnaissance team. After all, it’s unthinkable for them to send the main squad after sending us, the reconnaissance team, into this building without waiting for us to return first. Either way, just keep in mind that we might spot other Hunters on our way down, make sure not to shoot them by mistake.”

“Understood.”

Akira nodded firmly. Elena lightly smiled and nodded back at him.

Elena’s face then returned back to her serious face.

“The real problem is if that’s not the case, which would mean more monsters just entered the building, that would also mean that those monsters broke through the encirclement made to secure this building. There’s a good chance the situation outside the building has turned dangerous, although the possibility is pretty small, I recommend you to at least keep this in mind. After all, no one can tell what will happen from here on.”

Elena remembered the big monster that attacked them on the 30th floor as she warned everyone.

“If no one has any more question, let’s move out.”

With that sentence, they started the operation to escape the building.

—*—-*—*—

While on the first floor, 2 groups of Hunters were debating each other, they were the group made of Hunters from Drankam and another group that was made of Hunters unaffiliated with Drankam. All of them were Hunters who successfully hunted bounty monsters in the past.

Back then when they were in the middle of debating on how to secure the Seranthal building, Elena’s team finished their negotiation first and was sent ahead as a reconnaissance team. When that happened, there were 2 groups who felt that they got jumped ahead by Elena’s team.

The first group was the Hunters not affiliated with Drankam and refused to be working under Drankam. They thought that sending Akira ahead was the decision that the Drankam side made. They thought that Drankam gave preferential treatment to that team stating an excusing that they brought back useful information for the operation.

That was not exactly wrong, Shikarabe did say that too when he negotiated with Drankam’s side. As in matter of fact, the information that they brought in might have actually be used in that operation.

So in order to calm them down, Drankam decided to make a compromise and send them as another reconnaissance team.

The second group was the young Hunters in Drankam that belonged to the Katsuya faction. To be more precise, they were able to get dispatched ahead because of support from within Drankam, from Mizuha.

Mizuha was rather concerned by the fact that Shikarabe was the leader of the first reconnaissance team. She also knew well how much Shikarabe hated Katsuya’s guts. She was worried that Shikarabe was planning to use the achievement from this chance to influence the composition of the main squad or even to change how Drankam would treat Katsuya.

So in order to fight back against Shikarabe, Mizuha even made some compromises about the main squad so that she could send ahead another reconnaissance team to the Seranthal building.

After that, both teams were sent to secure the first floor of the Seranthal building so that Elena’s team would not be able to monopolize the rewards. They thought that it might be hard for Elena’s team to do that since they had limited equipment and manpower, but it would be an easy job for them since they brought more people and carried better equipment. Of course, they could just gather information and bring it back too, but if they ended up bringing back the same information as Elena’s team, then Elena’s team which would have returned back first would claim the reward first.

Although both groups of Hunters were not that hostile to each other to the point that they would try to kill each other, there was no mistaking it that they would be disrupting each other’s job. Even a small accident could immediately turn into a fight. The leader of each team was only barely able to calm their respective team down.

Near the outer side of the front entrance to the Seranthal building, a Hunter by the name of Kurosawa was shouting orders to his team with an annoyed face. His equipment and the aura around him clearly showed that he was a powerful Hunter.

Kurosawa was the leader of the team which killed the 1,500,000,000 Aurum bounty monster, Maimai. He was taking the lead of the anti-Drankam team this time.

Kurosawa looked at his watch and clicked his tongue.

“…The sixth squad isn’t returning back at all although I told them to properly watch the time. Send the eighth squad in. Tell them to ask the squad securing the A, B, C and D stairs if the sixth squad went to the second floor without my permission or not.”

Another Hunter next to him then replied.

“I bet they’ll be back if we just wait a bit longer.”

Kurosawa glared at that Hunter.

“We can’t check their situation at all from the first floor. There are 3 possible reasons why they are late. First, they might be trapped somewhere and can’t return back. Second, they might not be that competent to be able to return back as we originally planned. Or third, they might be pretty stupid as not to listen to my order. But whichever the case, we treat them as MIA. There’s no need to wait for them.”

“Alright alright, I’ll send the next- Oh, there they are.”

The sixth squad stepped out from the entrance. Kurosawa signalled them to come with his finger. Once they stood in front of him, Kurosawa then asked them a question that was mixed with insult.

“From what I can see, it doesn’t seem any of you are injured? Were you almost killed somewhere or something?”

The leader of that squad sighed and answered that question.

“We were about to return back on time when one of those kids picked a fight with us, you see. If you tell us that it’s okay to shoot them, we would have been able to return back on time though.”

“Where?”

“Hallway C7.”

Kurosawa clicked his tongue again when he heard that. He then gave a signal for the sixth squad to just go and take a rest before he headed to where the Drankam side’s leader was.

The leader of the Drankam group immediately noticed Kurosawa. The other young Hunters around him looked at Kurosawa with hostility, but Kurosawa did not care about them at all as he said to the leader of the Drankam group.

“It seems that some of your people picked a fight with my men, can you at least properly discipline them? I don’t mind if you want to keep on playing around here, but I have no plans to tidy up your mess.”

That young Hunter glared back at Kurosawa as if he was trying to put Kurosawa under some pressure.

“If that’s really the case, we’re sorry. And also, stop saying something like that, everyone here is being serious.”

That young Hunter responded back just like a Hunter should. The impression that he was giving off was different compared to those new green Hunters or former Hunters. A skilled Hunter would be able to immediately recognize his real strength and disregard his young age.

That was also the case for Kurosawa, he knew that the young Hunter in front of him was a rather talented Hunter. Although for now, he was nothing more than a skilled young Hunter, it was only a matter of time until the ‘young’ word get dropped.

The young Hunter in front of him might be a stronger Hunter than him in the future, but that was still in the future, not now. Kurosawa looked down at the weaker Hunter standing in front of him and said to him with mockery.

“I’m being serious here. If we objectively evaluate your performance, that would be the result. I’m not a Drankam Hunter after all, so I’m not obliged to choose my words just to keep your mood, am I right, Katsuya-kun of Drankam?”

The leader of the Drankam team was Katsuya.

Katsuya glared even more intensely at Kurosawa, but Kurosawa just ignored him.