Chapter 315 : The Monster Hunters
Chapter 315: The Monster Hunters
Lexus Bane.
What kind of man had the one Aaron Stingray had personally recruited appeared to be during his usual classes?
His graying hair was so greasy it looked as though he'd drenched it in hair wax, while his unkempt beard grew wildly in every direction, reminding people of a jungle.
“This is the cleanest thing I own.”
That was the grumbling excuse he always gave, yet his shirt still bore stains that clearly looked like cheap whiskey spills, and it was rare to ever see him wearing matching socks.
When he'd first arrived at the Academy, he'd at least made some effort to look presentable.
But after just over a month, he'd completely let himself go.
He seems like a good teacher though…….
But the way he talks and acts is kind of…….
Seriously, what's an old man pushing sixty doing acting like that…….
That was, at least among the Stingray scholarship students, the most positive general opinion of the man named Lexus Bane.
Objectively speaking, he really was an excellent instructor.
The problem was that students weren't exactly qualified to judge teaching ability.
No matter how many points he earned through his lessons, his everyday behavior erased every last one of them.
Some students who didn't know him well even dismissed him as someone who had “gotten in through connections despite having an unimpressive résumé.”
Even Airi, who was probably the closest to Lexus, never called him “Instructor,” “Teacher,” or “Master.”
She simply called him “Mister.”
But at this moment...
The Lexus standing upon the battlefield was different.
He was no longer the lazy delinquent who scratched his stomach and casually wandered into his students' training sessions whenever he pleased.
He was a professional.
He was one of the strong.
He was a Fixer.
Standing there was a man who had once belonged to the VCPD Special Forces, had once served as a senior executive in the Stingray Security Team, and had once even been considered a candidate worthy of receiving the government's “Blue” Fixer designation.
Bang!
The instant a single gunshot rang out, blue flames erupted from the muzzle of the pistol he'd raised.
The flames became flashes of light.
The flashes raced freely across the battlefield, piercing the vital points of every enemy with perfect accuracy.
Papapapapapapapak—!
A single bullet brought down hundreds...
Thousands of monsters.
The bullet spiraling around Lexus instantly cleaned out every surrounding enemy before continuing to fly across Behemoth's back, eliminating every miscellaneous creature in its path.
Lv.4 Arcane Module, [Magic Bullet Marksman].
Every enemy within the range of his perception would inevitably be struck.
No matter how they fled, hid, or dodged...
Once fired, the bullet would never lose its target.
Until either the enemy died...
Or the bullet itself disappeared...
The Magic Bullet would never stop.
The entire massacre lasted only a few seconds.
To an ordinary person, the lingering afterimages of the bullets would have made the entire battlefield appear to flash all at once.
In truth, even an Adaptee's eyesight couldn't keep up with the speed of those Magic Bullets.
Only Airi—with her extraordinary dynamic vision and reflexes—could barely understand what had happened.
She couldn't help but marvel.
'H-He's incredible……!'
She'd known Lexus Bane wasn't someone to underestimate...
But she'd never imagined he was this powerful.
Considering that his physical age had only recently returned to his forties after finally undergoing anti-aging surgery...
Just how strong had he been in his prime?
For the first time, Airi felt a little guilty for secretly looking down on Lexus until now.
[Hahaha! Well? See that, you little chicks? Even if you wet your pants, I won't laugh at you!]
...Unfortunately, that feeling lasted only a moment.
...If only he hadn't said something like that, her respect might have lasted a little longer.
In any case.
Thanks to Lexus, nearly thirty percent of the lifeforms Behemoth had created were wiped out.
He had proven he truly possessed the ability to fight alongside the other Special Operations Fixers.
However, despite eliminating a large portion of the fodder...
Behemoth itself was still alive.
And the remaining seventy percent that Lexus hadn't dealt with continued interfering with the Adaptees.
Just then—
[I'll take care of the rest.]
Apparently, Lexus hadn't been the only one connected to that communication channel.
This time, another voice joined in.
Ssssssh!
The instant the voice sounded, something resembling a yellow sandstorm erupted across Behemoth's back.
A massive ocher-colored cloud of dust rapidly swelled before engulfing the remaining monsters.
To everyone's astonishment, every creature caught within the sandstorm rapidly began melting away.
No...
To be precise, they were weathering away.
Their entire bodies were being eroded into nothing.
[Ah, so that old man's here too. Still has terrible taste.]
Lexus muttered.
His gaze turned toward none other than the Yellow Fixer, Raymond.
Standing proudly at the center of the sandstorm with his face wrapped in a turban, he resembled a desert nomad.
Watching the scene through the window, Airi couldn't even close her mouth.
“What exactly is that sandstorm……?”
“[That's not sand. It's nanomachines.]”
Silence immediately answered, apparently familiar with it.
Lv.5 Arcane Module, [Locust].
Countless flying nanomachines decomposed enemies down to the cellular level.
Afterward, using the enemy's mana, cells, or any nearby organic matter as an energy source, the nanomachines endlessly replicated themselves, increasing their numbers.
Just like a swarm of locusts.
“[I never thought I'd actually get to see it in person.]”
While Silence continued admiring the spectacle, the sandstorm...
Or rather, the nanomachine storm...
Which had grown thick enough to blanket the sky, rapidly poured into the massive wound Aaron had created.
WOOOOOOOOOONG—!
Behemoth let out an ear-splitting scream of agony.
It sounded as though the horn of a cargo ship had been amplified thousands of times over.
Unable to endure the pain any longer, it began charging toward the city.
Immediately, the communication channel became noisy.
[Damn it, it's heading toward the city!]
[If it gets any closer, we're in trouble.]
[Then I'll sever its legs.]
The voices belonged to Lexus, Kara, and Aaron, respectively.
The moment those words were spoken, a flash of light streaked across the battlefield.
Black blood erupted from two of Behemoth's six legs.
Even so...
It wasn't enough.
Staggering, Behemoth continued moving forward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
After taking only a few steps, one of Behemoth's front legs had already crossed over the wall.
The Railgun Batteries fired desperately, but all they managed to do was leave a few shallow scratches upon its hide.
As Behemoth advanced, the vehicles carrying the Special Class members climbed to a higher altitude.
At the same time, Aaron's voice echoed through the communication channel.
[Vladimir. Yamato. Stop it.]
[Do not order me around.]
[Understood!]
Just beneath the descending foot...
A gigantic energy barrier unfolded.
The instant Behemoth's front leg touched it, tremendous sparks exploded outward.
Its foot was scorched black, causing the monster to recoil in surprise and lift its leg back up.
At that moment...
Someone waiting atop the wall deployed a module.
What had initially been a human figure instantly expanded dozens...
Hundreds of times larger...
Taking the form of a colossal fortress.
Mounted upon its shoulders were cannon barrels so enormous that even the City Defense Force's Railgun Turrets looked like toys.
Cannons and gun barrels protruded from every inch of its arms, legs, and body like countless spikes.
[Yamato, fire all weapons!]
With a voice burning with excitement, every muzzle erupted simultaneously.
The resulting shockwave was so tremendous that cracks spread across the E-Sector Wall beneath him.
Rumbleeeeeee—!
An immeasurable bombardment of shells detonated against Behemoth's underside, blasting a gigantic hole straight through it.
Unable to withstand the impact while balancing on one raised front leg, Behemoth slowly began toppling backward.
[O-Oh! It's falling!]
[I'll finish it. Dragon, assist me.]
[……Tch. It can't be helped.]
[Everyone, retreat!]
Everyone fighting upon Behemoth's back immediately leaped away toward the city.
Only Aaron...
And one unidentified individual remained atop the giant beast.
Leaving his [Tech Blade] embedded in Behemoth's back, Aaron sprinted straight toward its head.
The other individual, addressed only as “Dragon,” transformed one arm into that of a gigantic reptile through an unknown module before driving it into Behemoth's hide as well.
Unlike Aaron, he ran in the opposite direction.
From the waist...
Across the back...
Past the neck...
Through the skull...
Then from the waist again...
Across the pelvis...
Along the tail...
All the way to the end of its enormous trunk.
The two crossed Behemoth's colossal body in opposite directions before escaping at the very last instant, just as it completely collapsed.
BOOOOOOM—!
Behemoth's castle-sized body crashed against the earth, triggering a violent earthquake and an enormous dust storm.
[Tch. Tough as ever. I wore down my claws.]
[It's still alive. I'll finish it properly.]
Suspended in midair, Aaron swung one hand.
At that instant, countless threads materialized beside Behemoth's body.
Normally, [Cloud Spider]'s threads were so thin they were invisible.
But this time...
Their sheer number made them impossible to miss.
Hundreds of millions...
No...
Likely hundreds of billions of threads.
The countless strands simultaneously latched onto both sides of Behemoth's body before beginning to pull in opposite directions.
[……!]
Aaron himself showed no expression...
But everyone could see his hand beginning to tremble.
At the same time...
Behemoth's body slowly began splitting apart.
Rip!
Ripppp!
Already riddled with countless wounds, Behemoth's body tore apart far more easily than expected.
Lying helplessly on its back, it had no choice but to accept being ripped in half.
The enormous quantity of blood pouring from its wounds soon became raging rivers that flooded the Fallen District and the surrounding wastelands.
Riiiiip! Craaaack!
The sounds of flesh...
Muscles...
Organs...
Even bones being torn apart echoed with horrifying clarity.
To those who didn't know what they were hearing, it would have sounded like strange noise.
But those who understood that it was the sound of a monster's body being torn in two...
Could only stare in utter shock.
Not long afterward...
Behemoth stopped struggling.
Where it had once writhed upon the ground, only a gigantic corpse split cleanly into two remained.
[Seriously, you always kill things in the most disturbing way.]
[Shut up, Dragon.]
The final two standing atop the battlefield casually exchanged words as though nothing extraordinary had happened.
Everyone else...
Including the members of the Special Class, Kara, Lexus, Raymond, Yamato, and everyone present...
Could only let out empty sighs.
As though speaking for all of them, Lexus muttered in utter disbelief.
[Damn it... what kind of monsters are those guys…….]