Chapter 87: How To Return To Everyday Life (8)

[Saori! Three in front, and the drones behind… Hiyori, I’m counting on you!]

While C&C and Sora are holding off Toki, most of the non-combat personnel, including me, as originally planned, were climbing Eridu’s central tower under the escort of the Squad, now the Special Security Force.

Sadly… while continuing to command and running, the one who ran out of stamina first was none other than me… Yumeka is… a child in the first place, so she’s out of the question…

The elevator was still under Rio’s control, so we had to take the stairs, and even that was twisted a little complicatedly so that we couldn’t reach the top floor with a single staircase,

so the continued running and forced march was something that I, as a mere adult male, couldn’t keep up with.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about the students’ stamina and I’ve been spending time on physical training… but it seems that just that much physical training can’t overcome the inherent difference.

My stamina is lower than that of children like the engineering club or the game development club who avoid outdoor activities, so it’s probably a natural difference…

[Haa…haa…]

“…Tired, Sensei.”

“Yeah, it must have been a forced march for Sensei…”

I can’t choose the option of being carried by the students.

The children who have enough stamina and can carry me are combatants, and since the number of drones and AMAS placed inside the central tower is larger than expected,

I can’t withdraw the combat troops, and the other children are honestly a little more relaxed than me, but not in a very relaxed situation.

The second reason why I could fold it if absolutely necessary is because I think my pride will be crushed… Anyway, it’s not like there’s a vehicle like Utaha’s Thunder, and Utaha’s Thunder… was gloriously destroyed in the process of dealing with Toki.

…That’s why Utaha is following along with a slightly depressed expression… but as a child who is on the mature side, she continued to join this forced march without saying anything.

Nagisa, who is suffering from various public affairs as Tea Party, but still spends time on self-management, was at her limit, carrying Yumeka, who ran out of stamina first, on her back. Honestly, Nagisa doesn’t look very good either…

“It might be a good idea to take a little break…”

[Ha…a…hoo….no, let’s go…I don’t know how high the tower is…but…we’ve probably come halfway…]

It’s been quite a while since we started climbing the central tower… so I was convinced that we had reached a certain floor, and I began to worry about how much longer the children who were holding off Toki could hold out.

It’s not for this purpose, but starting training has been helpful.

Now I can self-assess that I’m almost close to exhaustion…

[However… I’m sorry… but I’ll have to slow down a little…]

“…I see, I understand. I don’t know the details, but the chief said that this operation wouldn’t even be established without Sensei… let’s go.”

“Sigh… Sometimes I forget… It’s a moment when I feel deeply that Sensei is fundamentally different in physical specifications compared to us…”

Anyway, it was the moment when I cursed my ordinary body and took a step forward, because I really didn’t have much left to stop.

-Boom!!!-

“Ugh?! The floor!?”

“Ugh?!”

“Sensei! Duck!”

[Ugh?!]

Boom, with an absurd boom, my head is pressed to the ground by someone.

Swift and accurate protective action, the children of the Special Security Force… it was Misaki.

[Ugh… thank you…]

“…Thanks later… in front…”

I don’t know what kind of collapse it is, but… I can guess… in the smoke from the collapse… two familiar figures were blown towards us.

“Cough…”

“Ugh…”

Sora and Neru, who were supposed to be holding off Toki below, suddenly appeared in the middle floor of this central tower.

“Wha… you?! Sora?!”

“Kuh… even those two are no match…”

However… the way they were blown away was absolutely not normal.

Bloody, the children of Kivotos are basically durable. Therefore, even in this Kivotos where gunfights are common, it is rare and uncomfortable to see such a battered student.

But…

“Ugh…”

“I told you not to overdo it!! Wait, lean on here…”

“No… sister… still… it’s not over yet…”

“Hey, you can still do it, right…?”

They didn’t give us time to be immersed in such impressions….

Even while coughing up blood from their mouths, Sora and Neru look at the smoke. As if answering to that, Toki, still in the machine, appears, breaking through the smoke.

“Alright, it’s finally recovered! Sensei! Are you still safe!?”

In the chaos, as if it were a movie, at an artistic timing, Veritas’s disconnected communication, Chihiro’s voice, began to be heard through the recovered communication.

“Sensei… what are you fighting now?”

How can the situation only get worse… no, the situation hasn’t changed. It’s just that the situation we’re in is becoming clearer.

The second round, that sentry missed us once… but this time, as if she wouldn’t let us go, she stood in our way.

“All the power and network computing functions of the entire fortress city of Eridu are concentrated on that unidentified machine…!

With this amount of data and performance enhanced by computing functions…. it’s virtually possible to foresee and confirm the near future… The drones used to fight C&C were… prototypes of that…”

“…I see… it’s an unreasonable enemy…”

“Eek… what… that’s something only a final boss would have…”

“That’s just a cheat!”

Yes, cheat… it knows what the opponent will do and acts.

It’s a game user who receives calculation assistance for all actions and produces the best movement to respond to all surrounding attacks…

We have to deal with such a thing.

“…Sensei..”

“…I have one thing I want to tell you…”

[Yuz? Yumeka?]

While I was thinking about what to do in this confrontation that could end at any time, Yuz and Yumeka spoke to me.

“I missed the timing to say it… I didn’t tell you… but when that machine jumped high… I thought the reaction was slower than before…”

“That machine… I couldn’t see it properly because of the smoke…. I’m not sure… but when it climbed up the collapsed floor… the sound I heard was unnatural… maybe… fighting in the air is impossible…

That’s… that… Sensei… I’m being presumptuous… that…. that…”

“…It makes sense, Sensei, that machine… there are no equipment such as airborne vehicles or thrusters in sight,

and there is certainly a possibility if it is a machine that collects and calculates information about its surroundings in real time, as you mentioned that its reactions seemed a bit delayed in the air!”

What Yumeka and Yuz told me was information that was more useful than I imagined.

Although neither of them said it with certainty, it was worth trying, and in fact, Yuz’s observation and the detail of her hearing were reliable information trained by numerous games,

so the advice that fighting in the air might not be impossible was worth trying.

Coincidentally, since Chihiro’s words also added weight to the hypothesis… I decide to put it into practice immediately.

[No, thank you, Yuz and Yumeka. Sora! Neru! From now on, I’ll take over the command again!]

“Ha! Sensei, I was waiting!”

“…Ugh?! Please! Hurry up!? I’m sorry?! It’s going to be tough soon?!”

Command, I start to do the action that I can probably only influence in this battle of the children of Kivotos.

The two children’s earphones are still connected to the Shittim.

A familiar screen, a familiar viewpoint, the unfamiliar scene where I am now is reflected on the Shittim.

I also put on the earphones connected to the Shittim, not forgetting.

“Yes! Sensei! I have reflected Sora and Neru’s data on the Shittim! Switching to command mode!”

[Thank you, Arona, Neru, approach Toki from behind Sora. Sora… I’m sorry, but please hold on a little longer.]

“Huh? I don’t like it, but you must have a plan?!”

“Yes, my shield is still intact? …Cough… I don’t think so, so a little faster…”

What I hear is a familiar voice mixed with a little communication noise, the voices of the students who always trust me.

Not a leisurely battlefield like the usual wanted posters or simple Sukeban suppression, but a huge gateway, so I rotate my brain at maximum speed, calculating numerous cases and possibilities.

I need to create a gap for a moment.

Divide roles. Distinguish between the child who will create the gap and the child who will pierce that gap.

Plan, I convey all the established plans to the two children.

I hear the sound of heavy weapons. Unfortunately, I don’t hear the sound of Sora’s shotgun or the sound of Neru’s submachine gun.

Sora’s wings, which were already a mess when they were blown to this floor, become more like rags.

But as both wings become more like rags, the distance between the two gets closer.

“Kuh…”

“Hey… are you okay?!”

“I’m fine! Just… do that!! Properly!!”

[Now!]

“What?!”

The plan I had established was simpler than I thought. When the distance was close enough… Sora rushed at Toki.

“Ugh…”

“Hoo… hehe… finally… you’re here…?!”

The command Sensei gave me was simple.

Toki, hold the woman in front of me and neutralize her as much as possible. Honestly, I wanted to say something to Sensei about how to deal with that, but… it wasn’t impossible because I stopped shooting and focused on narrowing the distance.

After the distance was close enough, I concentrated the remaining amount of mystique that I had consumed considerably on my legs and approached quickly.

Sensei said that my data accumulated during the battle on the ground was speed and strength without using mystique, so a sudden change in specs created an error in the calculation…

I don’t know about that, but anyway, finally, I finally succeeded in reaching the distance of hand-to-hand combat, my specialty.

In fact, on the ground, I used my mystique almost only with firearms, and since I succeeded in approaching like this, it was also a correct judgment.

“It’s not good if you don’t let go… wait… what?!”

“Hehe… I… I’m confident in my strength…?”

I pour all the remaining mystique into both arms and legs.

I have no intention of letting go. I don’t know what kind of crazy plan this is… but I grab the heavy weapons attached to both arms of the machine in front of me with both hands and don’t let go.

-Clang!-

“Haha! Junior… be prepared… you won’t say that… you can fly…?!”

Neru re-grips the MPXs in both hands and ties the upper body of the machine with a chain and goes behind her.

In front, I grab both heavy weapons and hold on, and behind, Neru pulls the body tied to the chain, two people on both sides, each doing their best, performing their respective roles.

“Ugh?!”

“Now… let’s go! Junior!!!”

-Thump!, Crunch!-

The final blow, while maintaining the force given to both heavy weapons, I kick the body of the machine and push it away.

An unpleasant sound of metal breaking and scraping is heard, and both arms of the machine,

the heavy machine guns, are torn off… and with Neru, in the hole behind her, the hole that was created when I was first blown to this floor, Toki, she falls.

“Uwaaa?!”

-Rattle! Rattle!-

[Wait?! Sora?!]

I have no intention of ending it with this. The unique sound of the MPX is heard from the pit in front of me.

It’s not what Sensei instructed… but I pick up one of the torn heavy weapons and follow along, entrusting my body to gravity and throwing myself towards the hole in the collapsed floor.

As soon as I threw myself into the pit, what I heard was that she was trying to defend Neru’s MPX even in the air.

And… struggle, it seems that she still had one more means left.

“Aby-Eshuh…. annihilation… mode… engage!!!”

“What?! You… don’t tell me you still!?”

“Ah, please… just… stop it…!!!”

-Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!-

-Ziiing, Boooooooooooooooooooooooom!!!!-

I fire the heavy weapon in my hand without even aiming.

And… flash, light flooded.

My consciousness was up to there.