The FOX Squad members who roped down immediately raised their rifles and scanned their surroundings. I thought it was a bit of an overreaction, since it wasn't like the enemy was going to pop out from on top of the containers, but you can't argue with the manual.
Saori and Azusa have loosened up a bit recently, but they still have a habit of constantly scanning their surroundings. It just goes to show how scary that level of ingrained training is, where your body moves before your brain.
"FOX 5, there is no need to be overly burdened."
"…Ahaha. Right, yeah."
Think rationally. With this body's durability, as long as I don't land on my head, a 20-meter drop should be no big deal. I've never tried it, but I'm pretty sure that's how it works.
No, but seriously, why won't they lower the altitude? The containers block any clear line of fire, and even with a rocket launcher, they'd be lucky to hit us…
Ah, I guess at that point, it doesn't make a difference whether it's 20 meters or 10 meters. There wasn't really a reason to go lower.
Still, I wish it had been under 11 meters, the height at which humans supposedly feel the most fear. I'm confident I could just jump from that height without a rope.
"Sigh, what a life."
I grumbled to the end, but eventually, I grabbed the rope and began my descent. One-handed, I slid down the rope at high speed. I remembered Niko's explanation that crossing your feet to grip the rope could hinder your allies in certain situations.
She had told me that since this was my first time fast-roping, it would be safer to use my feet, but I had my pride as a former-non-military, current-military-high-school-girl. Anyway, relying solely on my arm strength, I slid down the rope and landed neatly on top of a container.
Honestly, besides being a little scared of the height, the rope itself was no big deal. If anything happened, I felt like I could just stop by gripping the rope harder. What was so dangerous about it?
The military boots I had temporarily borrowed landed on the container with a loud clang. I immediately stepped aside to make room for Yukino, who was coming down behind me.
"FOX 5, you can take off the gloves and discard them immediately. And as for the one-handed descent…"
"After I went through all the trouble of teaching you the proper form, how could you just brute-force it like that?"
"Honestly, descending while holding a gun in the other hand looked pretty cool. Maybe I'll try it next time."
"…Otogi, you? What's the point of descending with an anti-materiel sniper rifle?"
"It looks cool."
"That's enough chatter. Is everyone clear on the ship's interior layout and the operational procedures?" Yukino asked, quickly cutting off the conversation between Kurumi and Otogi before it could drag on.
"Of course. Yukino-chan and Kurumi-chan will enter the bridge, and Otogi-chan and I will neutralize the mercenaries inside the ship and free the captive Odyseia students, right? I have the interior layout completely memorized."
"Well, more or less?"
"FOX 5, during the operation, please refrain from expressions other than affirmative or negative. From this point, we will move to our designated operational points. If the Fox of Calamity is not found, we will regroup at the bridge, restore control of the school ship, and resume the search."
As soon as she finished speaking, Yukino and Kurumi turned and ran toward the bridge. Niko gestured for me to follow her, since the stairs leading into the ship's interior and the spot where I was supposed to cause a commotion to draw out the mercenaries were relatively close to each other.
"Mika-san, are you really going to be alright on your own? Rather than acting as bait, it would be better if you entered the interior with us…"
"Don't worry about me, Niko-chan. I know this might sound a little arrogant, but… I could fight these mercenaries all day and not break a sweat."
"It might have been an exhibition match, but if she can fight on par with Gehenna's Prefect Team president, I'd call that confidence, not arrogance. Anyway, look how many there are. How much money did they spend hiring all these guys?"
When we reached the edge of the stacked containers, the situation on the deck below was even more intense than I had expected.
At a glance, I could see multiple rocket launchers, several machine gunners, and even guys in the front line holding body bunkers.
It seemed they had spotted the SRT helicopter and quickly assembled their forces, but their numbers weren't that large. Even if there were twice, or even more, than what I could see, I could handle them on my own.
"Hmm. The stairs are over there. Niko-chan, I'll clear a path for you, so get inside quickly."
"Oh, right now? It would be better to neutralize the forces here first and then…"
With a now-instinctive ease, I created a cluster of stars and sent them flying toward the stairs before leaping off the mountain of containers.
"…Oh my?"
"Wow. Can people really do stuff like that with a straight face?"
The mercenaries, who had clearly not expected me to jump, stood there dumbfounded. There were a few who had the presence of mind to pull their triggers, but my airtime wasn't that long, and as long as I covered my face with my arms, I could tank the rest with my body.
"What is that girl?! Is she insane?!"
BOOM!
As the mercenaries near where my stars had landed were momentarily disoriented, I broke through the hail of bullets and landed squarely on the body bunker of a mercenary in the front line.
"She's not insane, she's SRT! Suppressive fire, take her down!"
Come to think of it, I had been rushed here in my swimsuit and was now wearing a spare uniform I'd borrowed from Yukino. It was no wonder the mercenaries thought I was actually from SRT.
But would even SRT normally do something like this?
The mercenary behind the shield blinked, looking up at me. I aimed the muzzle of my gun at his forehead.
"W-Wait."
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
It had been a while since I'd been in a real fight, and I was so excited that I accidentally fired one more shot than usual. Hmm, what a waste of a bullet. Three shots to the head was usually more than enough to knock them out.
As the mercenary's halo faded and he collapsed, I gently hopped down and snatched his body bunker. It should have been heavy, but I could lift it easily with one hand.
Hmm, I kind of like this.
"What the hell is… urgh!"
I swung the body bunker in a wide arc, knocking the mercenaries on either side of me off balance. The ones in the back who had been aiming at me flinched and took a step back.
After putting a few bullets into the now-exposed mercenaries, I glanced to the side and confirmed that Niko and Otogi were running for the stairs.
Alright, now it was time to cause as much chaos as possible so they wouldn't look that way.
I spun the body bunker in one hand and then threw it at the group of mercenaries. They scrambled, diving to the ground or throwing themselves to the side. As a result, two of the mercenaries further back, one with a rocket launcher and one with a machine gun, were hit by the flying shield and knocked out of commission.
Alright. Shall I try this one's next?
There were usable body bunkers scattered around like toys. I would unleash all the pent-up frustration of missing the epic match I had been looking forward to right here.
Thinking back, I had always been a big fan of the captain in those hero movies who used a shield as his main weapon. So, for one day, wasn't it okay for me to benchmark him?
In that spirit…
Ah, this heavy, yet not-at-all-cold sensation.
In this moment, I am Captain England.
"W-Wow, she's a total monster…!"
Hey, it's not 'monster,' it's 'Captain England'!
After giving the mercenary who had made that impertinent remark a small lump on his head with the body bunker, I held the shield up and charged forward. My first priority was the guys with the rocket launchers.
The mercenaries had probably formed up to effectively counter an SRT special forces team, but unfortunately for them, their formation was thrown into a chaotic brawl by a single wildcard, which only ended up tripping them up.
"Damn it! Spread out, create some distance! We can't counter that body bunker when we're all clumped together!"
"It's not like we can counter it if we spread out either! Forget it, just call for backup! We can't stop this thing without our employer!"
Of course, this was only possible because one person had the insane strength to go on a rampage in the middle of that brawl, so from the mercenaries' perspective, it must have been an incredibly unfair situation. It was even worse for them because they had been paid, so they couldn't just run away.
Crackle—
[This is the recreation area! We need immediate support—kyaah!]
[Enemy spotted at the bridge entrance! Engaging—]
My, my. From the sound of the radio traffic, it was chaos everywhere. But in a situation like this, I had to wonder who would actually come to their aid even if they called for support.
"Employer, we need help on the deck!! We're going to be wiped out if you don't come…!!!"
Ah, so they weren't just calling for reinforcements; they were calling for Wakamo.
I'd be happy if they could lure Wakamo here, but I doubted she would bother to show up.
Hmm… well, let's just make all these guys kneel first and think about it later.
With today's MVP, Sir Body Bunker, by my side, I had nothing to fear. It was such a great weapon that I was thinking of commissioning a prettier version from Millennium later.
And this is important, so I'll say it again: it's not a shield, it's a weapon. A throwable one.
"…This is a bit of a problem."
In one of the Nereus's two bridges, the one that served as a control room, the fox-eared girl, Kosaka Wakamo, blinked as she watched the chaos unfolding on the ship's CCTVs. She fidgeted with the mask she had taken off, then scratched her cheek as she watched her forces on the deck being systematically dismantled.
"Captain, what is the distance from here to the coast?"
"Approximately 67 nautical miles…"
"Oh, come now. That's not what I meant. Captain, there's a much more understandable unit of measurement, isn't there?"
"…About 124 kilometers."
"Fufut. So, we are within effective range?"
Placing the mask she had taken off back onto her face, Wakamo let out a small laugh.
"Fire. Right now."
"Understood…"
As she imagined the flames that would soon engulf the festival being held by the two academies, Wakamo shivered slightly. The vision of the ecstatic scene of destruction flickered before her eyes.
The captain of the Nereus prepared the ship-to-surface missiles without much resistance because he had already surmised, from the fact that SRT had infiltrated the ship, that Odyseia's Aegis was on standby and ready for interception. Unfortunately for Wakamo, she did not know this.
Crackle—
[Employer! You're listening, aren't you!!!]
"…"
Wakamo, who had been about to reach for the radio, turned her gaze back to the screen. The scene on the CCTV monitor showing the deck was, in a word, pandemonium.
'You know, I think it would be better for my health if I just fired the missiles and then surrendered.'
…The devastating scene on the screen was so gruesome that it was enough to momentarily extinguish even Wakamo's own fighting spirit.
◇─◇───◆─◈─◆───◇─◇
Want to read up to 50+ chapters in advance? Join me on Patreon at
[patreon.com /ArtumTL]
And you can also support me by giving power stones, as it helps a ton.