Hunting Preparations - Part 2
“All registered?��
“Yes!”
When I installed the chips the seniors had handed out into the training device, each pilot’s personal unit appeared on the mech selection screen. I chose the Black Fairy and connected to the training server.
「First, try moving the unit. They say it was built according to each machine’s specs, but the controls might feel different.」
「Understood.」
Just as Rendel said, I moved the Black Fairy. The field of view was noticeably lower than the eight-meter Aind-class I usually used in virtual training, so it felt a little awkward. Maybe it was because of the lack of Nimust-class data. In real life the correction systems kept the view from feeling this cramped.
“Hmm.”
Beyond that, the Black Fairy in virtual space performed quite differently from the real thing. The flight system must not have been fully implemented, because once I climbed past a certain altitude an error screen popped up. The optical camouflage function we’d only recently succeeded in transplanting wasn’t implemented either. That one was still being kept secret, so I could understand it, but the other functions also felt half-finished—like playing an unfinished game. It was unsatisfying in many ways, yet I had to be grateful that a Nimust-class had been implemented at all. Until now I had only ever piloted the smallest Aind-class during virtual training.
「If you notice anything that needs improvement, organize it after we’re done and pass it on to Ran. Anyway, shall we decide on a few formations before we start training?」
Carson showed us several pre-made formations. The basic one followed the current pattern of the CT Club’s second-years: a close-combat specialist, a rifleman, and artillery, with me added as a scout and sniper hybrid.
「Savian will take the central role and move with Mikhail. Yui, position yourself where you can provide artillery support. Luna, stay in a spot where you can support both Yui and the other two at the same time.」
I moved to the position Carson assigned. The seniors told us to wait a moment, then formed up at a distance before slowly advancing toward us.
「Huh? Are we fighting the seniors right away?」
“Looks like it.”
Whether it was a light skirmish or a full battle, they clearly meant business. Savian let out a sigh at my words, then turned to Mikhail, who stood silently beside him, as if remembering his own role.
「Mikhail. Can you hold off Senior Rendel?」
「For a little while.」
Mikhail’s unit, the Grunbel, drew the sword at its waist.
「They’re still that far away and you’re already pulling a sword? You should shoot first.」
「Even if I shoot, I doubt it’ll reach the seniors.」
It was true—Mikhail’s marksmanship couldn’t honestly be called decent. Rendel would just slip aside after seeing the muzzle flash, and Carson would lightly deflect it with his shield. Still, giving up on shooting entirely felt wrong.
“Using suppressive fire as a deterrent is better. Mikhail, just pull out something and shoot.”
「…Got it.」
Mikhail answered in a slightly dissatisfied voice. He kept the sword in his right hand and drew a submachine gun with his left.
「Yui. You didn’t just bring a bunch of bombs like last time, right?」
「U-um. Since this isn’t a test like before, I brought live-combat specifications.」
「Good. Mikhail will take point, I’ll stay a little behind him. Yui, aim at the coordinates in front of us and fire the moment you can. Luna, keep the seniors from circling around us and provide covering fire. And shoot when you get the chance.」
「Okay.」
「Yes.」
“Confirmed.”
Savian calmly directed the squad. It was a better response than I’d expected. I wasn’t sure how the results would turn out, though. Since there were no fairies in the virtual training ground, my hands were going to be even busier.
I flew between the hill where Yui had positioned herself and the flat ground where Savian and Mikhail stood, watching the seniors’ advance. The two squads—identical except for me—finally collided.
Mikhail sprayed bullets at the White Fang, but it accomplished almost nothing. In return, Rendel landed a few precise shots that damaged the Grunbel’s shoulder armor. Savian tried to support Mikhail by aiming at the White Fang, but Carson’s interference forced him to take cover.
“Yui!”
I shouted in place of Savian, who was too distracted by the fight. Yui let out a sound that could have been a battle cry or a scream and fired a full salvo of multi-launch rockets and missiles. She had aimed properly, right? It looked way too close to our own team.
BOOM—!
The barrage was so close it nearly caught Rendel, who had been crossing swords with Mikhail. It was strange that Mikhail right in front of him was unharmed, but that was probably just a quirk of the virtual battlefield. In reality, it would have easily triggered a danger-close warning.
Thanks to the artillery, Rendel’s White Fang lost its balance for a moment. Mikhail, who had been pushed back, seized the opportunity and began pressing the attack. Savian stayed behind cover, exchanging fire with Carson, but smoke was already rising from the left side of his unit—he must have taken several hits.
I raised my rifle—not the sniper rifle—and pulled the trigger toward Carson’s rear.
「Lu-Luna! What are you doing? Use the sniper rifle!」
Savian’s voice sounded like he was about to pass out, but considering this sniper rifle’s reload time, using it now would be a mistake. Because…
Wee-oo, wee-oo.
A “LOCK-ON WARNING” message flashed on the top-center screen, accompanied by a loud alarm. I had been waiting for this. I immediately switched to the sniper rifle and swung the barrel toward Muri, who was aiming missiles at me.
In a forest full of tall trees, the Trooper 01 was hard to spot with the naked eye. The most reliable way to catch it was to counter the moment it fired. Since it deployed so many decoys that radar tracking was useless, I had to offer a tasty bait in the sky.
A Nimust-class floating in the air.
“Yui! That way!”
I didn’t expect a single sniper round to take down a Vivald-class. Especially not in a virtual battlefield where Vivald-class defense was already overrated. The tracer round I fired drew a bright red arc like a comet, revealing the Trooper 01’s position. Yui, to her credit, didn’t panic at the sudden change and immediately sent artillery fire in Muri’s direction.
But the barrage, fired without proper coordinates and relying on eyeballing it, landed quite far from the tracer’s impact point. I watched several missiles streak toward me and slammed the flare launch button.
Pop-pop-pop!
I fired the flares and tried to retreat, but I couldn’t evade all the missiles. Light tremors shook the cockpit as impact warnings lit up across the screen. The Black Fairy’s left shoulder was blown apart, and its flight capability was lost. Fortunately the altitude hadn’t been too high, so I managed a stable landing. Still, the Black Fairy’s strategic value had dropped sharply.
Even so, since I was on a hill, if I used the sniper rifle properly…
「Luna, are you okay? Ah!」
My half-baked plan was shattered by Yui’s short scream and the barrage of rockets and missiles that came flying in.
Defeat
“Good work. That was our first time trying to coordinate, but everyone did pretty well.”
“Seniors, that was too much.”
Instead of my silent, head-hanging classmates, I—who was closest to the seniors—stepped forward to voice our complaints. I crossed my arms and even pouted a little. Rendel laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.
“Haha. It’s kind of a tradition in our club. We can roughly gauge a new batch’s ability by how well they respond.”
“How did we do?”
“Pass.”
Surprisingly, the answer came from Senior Muri. When Rendel and Carson looked at her in mild surprise, she met my eyes and gave a small nod.
“Luna’s counter-shot was chilling. If Yui had followed up properly, I would have been the first one taken out.”
“Ah, we were too busy fighting in front so we didn’t see it, but there was a huge fireworks show in the back.”
Muri’s carpet bombing had been terrifying. The fact that Yui and I had been taken out almost simultaneously meant she had poured out enough firepower to equally destroy both a fragile Nimust-class and a sturdy Vivald-class. The only consolation was that Muri had wasted so many shells that Savian and Mikhail lasted a tiny bit longer. Though it was probably only a few extra seconds.
“Ugh. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. Even I couldn’t have fired instantly in that situation. It would take me about three seconds.”
“Three seconds?”
Muri dragged the surprised Yui back into the virtual training room. A new room labeled “CT Club Artillery Training” appeared on the list on the classroom screen. That one probably wouldn’t end anytime soon.
“Do the rest of you want extra training too?”
“Yes!”
Mikhail and Savian were full of enthusiasm. It would feel wrong to sit out, so I decided to join them for a while.
“Mikhail needs to focus on improving his shooting before close combat. Rendel’s marksmanship is incredible, you know.”
“Ahem.”
Rendel cleared his throat awkwardly at Carson’s praise and turned to me.
“Carson. Train Mikhail and Savian for a bit.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to study how to fight a Nimust-class.”
Who said anything about having a date in the virtual training room? Rendel really meant to train.
Carson looked back and forth between me and Rendel, then smirked and turned his head.
“Got it. Alright, you two, come this way?”
“Yes.”
After confirming the three of them had entered the virtual training devices, Rendel waved the chip containing White Fang’s data.
“Shall we go too?”
“Yes, Senior.”
I had some things I wanted to talk about anyway, so I might as well keep him company for a while.
Ping— A bullet sliced through the air and struck the wall of the ruined building. White, blurry shapes darted between the asphalt fragments that flew up with a crunch, then everything flashed white.
That was the end.
I took off my helmet and knocked on the door of the device right next to mine.
“Senior. Are you really doing this to me?”
“Ah, sorry. I can’t go easy when my opponent is Luna. I feel like I’ll lose if I do.”
Rendel offered an embarrassed excuse. He had asked me to be his Nimust-class sparring partner, yet the number of times I had been destroyed without landing a single hit was too many to count on both hands. He might as well have just attacked a Nimust-class target dummy. My self-esteem was taking a serious beating.
…And I really hadn’t expected him to only do actual training.
“Want to take a break?”
“Mm. Just one more round.”
“Oh. Nice.”
As expected of a battle maniac, Rendel immediately reached for his helmet. I grabbed his arm before he could put it on and whispered quietly in his ear.
“I have something to say in private, so please don’t attack right away this time.”
“Huh? Uh, okay.”
After connecting to the training room Rendel had created, I removed all the default weapons. Once I met the unarmed Rendel, I sat down on a hill with a peaceful view while still in Aindium form. Since you couldn’t exit the Aindium in the virtual training ground, it looked a bit strange, but it couldn’t be helped.
To prevent anyone outside from overhearing, I used the device’s built-in messaging function. It converted small spoken words into text automatically, so we could have a quick conversation without typing everything out.
Mistake? Rendel’s reaction was a little strange. Special attributes were rare, but not nonexistent. And mine was even the easily misunderstood darkness attribute.
Rendel seemed to ponder for quite a while before sending another message.
An undiscovered attribute. In the original work, most of the main pilots’ attributes had been revealed—except for the first series protagonist, Black Wolf. Come to think of it, everyone had simply assumed Rendel was wind attribute, but it had never been properly confirmed.
Even if the White Fang’s attribute was slightly different, he could still use acceleration abilities without major issues. Still, to safely get through the events coming up, some preparation might be necessary. And the very next event would let me obtain those preparations.
The most famous mineral in the Aindium series—Ellydium. It was a mysterious metal no longer mined anywhere on Galaxia. Because of its ability to block mana interference, most of the world’s known deposits had been used to build orbital elevators. The chance to obtain that legendary metal had arrived.
However, to secure a sufficient amount, the story would need to diverge from the original work. In the original, the amount used was only enough to forge a single blade for Rendel.
Creating that divergence was now my job.