Rooftop Clearance
"Clear." The moment the word left my mouth, the sticky, ominous air that had been pricking at my skin began to slowly dissipate. Like a clogged sewer finally draining, the stifling energy escaped, and cool night air rushed in through the broken windows to fill the space.
I switched on the comms in my helmet. "HQ, mid-tier monster neutralized."
[Understood. The team that was sealing the entrance will enter from the first floor, so hold position.]
"Copy. Over."
The moment the call ended, I yanked off the suffocating helmet and set it on the floor. The trapped heat escaped, and cold night air slipped between my sweat-dampened strands of hair. The breeze brushing against my cheeks felt surprisingly pleasant.
Whoa~ This could make for a pretty dramatic scene.
A battle-worn warrior standing amid the ruins after a fierce fight, letting the wind cool her sweat-soaked body. It had the kind of lethal atmosphere you'd see on a noir movie poster or in a photoshoot. I tilted my chin up slightly, savoring the solitary, beautiful moment.
Of course, the realistic backdrop in front of me ruined the mood. The monster's corpse, riddled with bullets and reduced to a ragged mess, along with the unrecognizable chunks of red meat it had been gnawing on. No matter how hard my looks were working, the gore-fest background wasn't exactly photogenic. Posting this on social media would probably get me reported instead of liked.
"M-Mama... is the situation over?"
A timid voice crept up from behind. I turned to see Spica. The rest of the team had already removed their helmets to cool off or were calmly checking their weapons, detaching magazines with practiced ease. Felis was brushing dust from her ears, and Sirius was rolling his stiff shoulders to release tension. Our rookie, however, was the exception. He still hadn't relaxed, gripping his rifle like a lifeline with both hands, his face pale and frozen like a statue.
I approached the rigid Spica and gently pressed down on the muzzle he was pointing at nothing. "Whoa there~ You shouldn't go waving guns around like that."
At my touch, the tension finally left him. His trembling hands loosened, and he nearly dropped the rifle. "Hah! Y-You're right... haha..."
Cute. He hadn't even realized he'd been half out of it. At this rate, he'd make a mistake, so a little shock therapy was in order.
Maybe I should push him a bit to help him unwind.
Normally, monster corpses were off-limits for preservation and research reasons, but right now, my teammate's mental state mattered more than protocol. Bracing myself for an earful from the higher-ups, I plopped down on the mid-tier monster's head sprawled across the floor.
"H-Hiik?!"
Spica yelped and stumbled backward, dropping his rifle with a clatter. Seeing me casually sitting on the corpse of the monster that had been charging like a demon moments ago must have been quite the shock. Still, the effect was immediate. His shaking hands stopped trembling. His legs, however, were now quaking like leaves.
"Pfft... Hands are fine, now it's the legs? Face next, maybe?"
"Ah...! No! I did my part! I even fired my gun!"
His face flushed as he protested indignantly. I pretended not to notice and called out loudly to the resting team members. "Haha, really? Hey, guys, did our Spica empty even one magazine?"
My playful question prompted the quick-witted members to chime in.
"Of course~ He was blasting away like crazy during the monster takedown!"
Felis nodded, her cat tail swishing, while Sirius perked up his dog ears with a grin.
"Yeah! He did great!"
"You guys are too soft. Always taking the weakling's side."
I smirked at their reactions and pointed to the calmest member of our team. "Belphe, you'll be the most accurate. What do you think?"
Belphe, who had been dusting off his tail in the corner, looked up in surprise at the sudden callout.
"M-Me? Ah, yes. Spica, for a newbie, you did pretty well. Your shooting stance was solid too."
With Belphe's approval, I stood up and walked over to Spica. "Hear that? The kids say you did good. So you did good."
I gave his shoulder a couple of encouraging pats. Spica looked up at me with a cautious yet earnest gaze.
"Th-Then... did it look good to you too, Ma— I mean, not Mama! Did it look good to you?"
"Me? I was only looking forward, so I wouldn't know."
"Ah..."
Spica's expression instantly turned sullen. I'd been teasing with a smile, but he seemed to take it seriously. His big eyes looked ready to well up with tears, so I poked his forehead with my index finger.
"Just kidding, kidding. As long as you didn't shoot me in the back of the head, you did fine."
"...!"
"Yep. You did well enough for Charon to vouch for you, rookie."
I grinned at the dazed Spica, who was rubbing his forehead. His first real mission, in this kind of hellish scene, guarding the team leader's back without a single misfire? That deserved praise. Our newbie Spica's successful debut was complete, and right on cue, the support team arrived.
The healer and retrieval teams from upstairs, along with Team 2 who had lifted the seal and entered from below, were heading our way. I waved them over.
"You guys show up after all the work's done? Perfect timing as always."
"Heh... When Big Mama's on the move, it's safer for us to just stand back and watch, you know?"
Team 2's leader removed his helmet and flashed me a grin. Sweat-dampened hair, rough stubble. A veteran uncle's battlefield smile.
Ugh... Not charming at all.
I recoiled inwardly and turned away. Only my cute little ones deserved to call me Mama. From now on, if anyone outside Team 1 called me Big Mama, I'd have to give them a little healing on the shoulder. Or make them wear animal ears. Fluffy tails would be even better.
I forced myself to ignore the dreary uncle's face and asked, "So, nothing happened on the way up?"
"Nope. The ones waiting downstairs all went upstairs and got wiped out. Thanks to that, we basically strolled up here."
"Survivors? We sent down a wolf girl earlier."
At my question, Team 2's leader shook his closely cropped head with a bitter smile.
"She was the only survivor."
"......"
"The others... even if we saved them, their condition was too far gone. The rampage had completely consumed their bodies. It would've been kinder to let them go peacefully."
"Ha... If only they'd listened..."
I idly kicked the mid-tier monster's head with the tip of my combat boot. The Team 2 members who had come to collect the body flinched in shock.
"Mama! Are you trying to get yelled at by the higher-ups again?"
"If you damage it, we'll have to write reports too!"
"Ah, fine. I won't kick it."
I grumbled and pulled my foot back, then pointed at the crude weapons scattered on the floor—pipes wrapped with kitchen knives, baseball bats studded with nails.
"These toys... weren't made by the rampaged ones?"
"Yeah. Demi-humans have better physical abilities than regular people, right? So they probably thought that if they banded together, they could take down a monster or two. That's why they ignored the evacuation order and stayed."
"Ha... Safety complacency, that's what it is."
I clicked my tongue. It was bitter, but this wasn't the first time. I'd seen an old man once, waving an antique shotgun and boasting about his glory days, only to end up as a monster's meal. Confidence and arrogance were separated by a single sheet of paper, after all.
"We can head down now, right?"
"Yeah. Go feed the kids something. The newbie's face is paler than yours."
Team 2's leader chuckled at Spica.
"Heh... Thanks for that. Let's go down, everyone."
"Yes~"
Instead of the usual stiff military response, the team answered in their typical drawn-out way. Their voices, like pets following their owner, made the corners of my mouth curl up involuntarily.
This is why being Team 1's leader is worth it.
To hide my escaping smile, I pulled my mask up slightly and headed toward where Team 2 had entered. Leading the team down to the first-floor lobby, we found the situation in its final stages. Association-branded body transport vehicles were lined up, and black body bags containing the victims' remains were being loaded one by one. Perhaps because it was a remote area, there were no reporters swarming like hyenas or onlookers with smartphones in sight.
"Whew~ If the reporters had shown up, I would've been sweating bullets~"
I opened the shotgun's chamber and removed the remaining shells, glancing around. Besides the police setting up the perimeter, there wasn't a single civilian in the lobby. Normally, a scene like this would draw crowds, but it was too quiet. Had some terrifying monster appeared in the middle of the city?
"Hey~ Officer? Not many spectators today, huh?"
I approached the nearest young patrol officer and spoke. He yelped, shoulders shaking, and backed away with a hand on his holster.
"I'm not gonna eat you~ Why so jumpy..."
"H-Haha... You appeared without a sound..."
At my scolding, he lowered his hand from the holster and laughed awkwardly. No matter how intimidating I was, a police officer protecting citizens shouldn't be this timid.
"So. Was there something more interesting happening in another neighborhood?"
"No. This is the site of the rampage phenomenon. Rumors about it being contagious kept everyone away."
"Ah..."
Now it made sense. If going berserk spread like a disease, regular people would be too busy running to gawk.
"Wow... Back in the day, reporters would've charged in with cameras even in the middle of a warzone for a scoop. Times have changed."
As soon as I said it, I regretted it. Shoot, that sounded old-fashioned. Talking like some "back in my day" geezer wasn't like me at all. If I got called an old fogey while working hard on my looks, that'd be unfair.
"Well, good work~"
I quickly ended the conversation before any more old stories slipped out. I gave the officer a light wave and headed toward the Association's small truck where the team was loading equipment. If the job was done, disappearing cleanly was a virtue. Time to clock out.