Chapter 66

"Is it almost over? Hero, oh hero."

(What a presumptuous attitude)

Alba, who deliberately made a loud voice to be heard by the surroundings—more accurately, by himself—while provoking the enemy, made Ruffina, the female demon who was with him, sigh inwardly.

Indeed, it is tough to continue watching a child’s play that holds no interest. Not only is a rigged battle uninteresting, but the sight of children aiming guns and swords at each other is not amusing either.

(Why does he have to barge in like this!)

As Kaita and Shizuka predicted, Alba was merely a disposable pawn brought by Ruffina to evaluate the new model and the hero of Japan.

Naturally, to Ruffina, Alba was someone who could die without any concern.

Therefore, Ruffina had no intention of complaining even if Alba lost a one-on-one battle or was beaten up by a group after achieving the purpose.

She might even have praised him, saying, "You did your best, didn't you?"

But that would only be after the purpose was achieved.

This is also as Kaita predicted, but Alba did not appear here as planned.

According to the original plan, Alba was supposed to appear after the exhibition match, after the rumored new model and the hero had fought other students and their performance had been sufficiently investigated, to confirm how far they could go in a battle against demons, not just a game with students.

(But this is it, isn't it? Impatience is a demon's weakness. Well, it can't be helped, I suppose.)

While the human qualities of the original person are a factor, those who become demons tend to lose their restraints and become arrogant in various ways.

One could say they become more faithful to their instincts, but as a result, they often lose their patience and become like wild boars that can't endure.

Therefore, Alba is not particularly worse, but from Ruffina's perspective as a marquess, Alba's actions are still too rash.

(Because, you know. It's good that the other side came out, but normally it would be a beating from all directions.)

If it were the originally planned large-scale battlefield, an escape route could have been secured, but fighting in this narrow arena is insane.

(I wonder what he plans to do from now on...)

Ruffina couldn't even imagine how Alba planned to survive.

Perhaps he thinks Ruffina will save him in a pinch, but to Ruffina, he is truly expendable.

Moreover, the current Alba, who has violated the orders of the absolute authority and started a battle on his own, is a fool. It would be harder to save him.

(But, he has achieved more than expected.)

In terms of the performance of the new model, which she originally wanted to see, the current situation, where she can observe it at a much closer distance than expected, is not bad.

In that sense, Alba's recklessness has indeed worked to Ruffina's advantage.

(I admit it, in hindsight.)

From the appearance of the new model to its mobility, the existence and power of its various weapons, and the avoidance and spatial awareness skills of the pilot, the initial investigation has been more than sufficient.

"Is it almost over? If you have no more tricks, I'll come over!"

"..."

Even though he couldn't control his impatience and rushed out, Alba seems to have not forgotten his original purpose. His constant provocations to thoroughly test the opponent's capabilities are not bad.

Not bad, but...

(The real issue is that the performance I really want to see hasn't been demonstrated.)

Ruffina, one of the eight high-ranking nobles on the continent, came all the way to Japan not just to evaluate the performance of the new model. She wanted to see how much the new model could do in a full-scale battle, in other words, the limits of the new model's performance.

(What good is data from a close-range battle with a long-range attack model?)

Indeed, the avoidance performance and mobility of the new model, as confirmed in this incident, exceeded expectations. Just seeing that was a gain. However, the crucial "threat level when used correctly" has not been measured.

"..."

"That main cannon won't hit!"

Ah, right. The 88mm armor-piercing shell is a threat. If it hits a vital spot, it can defeat a large monster in one shot, and it can even penetrate a demon and the vehicle it is riding. Of course, it would be fatal to anything smaller.

(But, it's meaningless if it doesn't hit.)

"..."

"Make the machine guns more powerful if you want to crush us!"

The 40mm machine gun, which can be swung one-handed while moving, unlike the conventional type, is a threat to medium-sized targets. A direct hit could be dangerous even if controlled by a demon.

(But, it's over if you defend.)

"..."

"Try burning us!"

The 80mm incendiary grenade, which attacks with heat and shock, is a vicious weapon.

(But, a demon who can freely deploy magic can block the heat scattered around, so it's not a big deal unless it hits directly.)

"Come on!"

"..."

Alba is clearly superior in close combat. There's no need to fear close combat, as Alba is not particularly skilled in it among demons.

(Maybe the hero controlling the new model is not good at close combat, but... no, if that were the case, they wouldn't use the exoskeleton for urban warfare. Then, the machine is not designed for close combat.)

From this, the conclusion is that "the new model is not a threat to demons."

(That's the conclusion, but only from this perspective.)

All the premises mentioned so far are based on the assumption that "all attacks are visible."

Only because the opponent is in front of you can you see what kind of attack they are preparing.

Because you can see it, you can deal with it.

Also, the opponent must maintain a certain distance, so they can't focus on shooting.

This is the current disadvantage.

Without these disadvantages, if you are sniped from a distance without noticing, you will die.

Even if you manage to avoid the first shot, you can't close the distance due to the difference in mobility.

Therefore, the opponent can keep a distance and repeatedly snipe, effectively sealing Alba.

(Of course, demons are not that easy to be sealed. But they will have a tough fight.)

They can also launch long-range attacks like large targets, so they won't be toyed with, but they will still have a tough fight.

Ruffina wanted to see the full performance of the new model in this sense.

By confirming the performance and productivity of the new model, she could determine how many monsters to send to Japan to apply appropriate pressure.

(For that, I came all the way to Japan, and that fool...)

He has done the minimum job, but he has not followed orders.

"Ha! Too weak, too weak!"

Alba dodged the 40mm shots and closed the distance to attack.

"!"

"Oh? You can do that? But what a pity!"

Alba dodged the attack by jumping sideways and fired an incendiary grenade, which exploded just as the 40mm shot hit it, thanks to the hero's quick reaction.

If the hero had not dodged by a hair, the damage would have been unavoidable, but Alba, being Alba, confirmed that the hero would not fire the grenade without a plan and did a backflip to take distance, dispersing the explosion with magic.

(Heh. You can use different weapons with both hands. Clever. Did you hide this to make Alba careless? But, unfortunately, a musclehead is also highly sensitive to danger.)

Ruffina, who was surprised by the new model's dexterity and caution, praised and belittled Alba, who had dodged the attack.

You might think she is not on either side, but in fact, Ruffina is on the side of the new model.

After all, her purpose is to investigate the new model and the hero, not to kill them.

Ruffina even thinks that the higher the abilities of the hero and the performance of the new model, the more they can support the Second Division, which suffered heavy losses in the last major offensive.

By reporting the results of the investigation to the [King], she can plan for the future. If this series of events goes well, it will make up for her previous mistake.

(I don't want to be sent to a hot place!)

For her, this is the only important point. However, the evaluation of the hero and the new model is already complete.

(Although I couldn't get the long-range data, I got more than enough of the rest. The next step is to investigate the production capacity and whether the mobility is possible only by the hero or by others. Also, why don't the Japanese send reinforcements? To avoid interference? Is the joint training not complete? Why is it a one-on-one battle? Do they want to kill the hero? ...It's possible. I don't know and don't care about the humans' intentions, but this place is over.)

The hero, who has no chance of winning after the last surprise attack was dodged, has lost Ruffina's interest. She decided to focus on how to investigate the deployment and training of the new model and how many forces to send to create the right pressure.

It would be too harsh to call this Ruffina's carelessness.

"Enough is enough! I'll end this soon!"

At this point, the audience, who had mistakenly thought Kaita was attacking one-sidedly, and those watching on monitors, realized that Kaita's attacks had all been countered, and Kaita's defeat was inevitable. Moreover, Alba, who was facing Kaita, was confident of victory.

"Principal, this is enough!"

"Ah!"

Just as Shizuka, who was certain of Kaita's defeat, was about to intervene with her team, the internal microphone of the mass-produced model picked up Kaita's mutterings.

"I see. I got the gist of it."

"..."

"Huh?"

Alba, Ruffina, Shizuka, the classmates, the audience, and even the irresponsible superiors, everyone who was watching the battle, would finally understand why Kaita was hailed as a [Hero].

"If you want to end it, that's perfect."

As the ancient psychologist said, when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

Ruffina and Alba were not the only ones evaluating the performance.

Kaita was also evaluating Alba's performance.

The presence or absence of preparatory movements before action.

The speed of the step.

The reach of the strikes.

The reaction time to attacks.

Whether the avoidance is to the right, left, up, or down, and the ratio.

The habits when defending.

How to move in response to a surprise attack, etc.

All these evaluations are now complete.

"I will show the former human, who has lost his humanity, what it means to hunt humans."

Therefore, what is about to begin is not a battle.

"...Know the hunt of humans."

It seems Kaita's tension has risen, and a switch has been flipped.

Thank you for reading.