Combat and Fighting - 5

"Heeh~ So that's the story, Serika-chan?" "What? Why would a student from Gehenna fight for us?!" As Serika said, I was a student from Gehenna, and there was no reason for me, a Gehenna student, to act for Abydos. But even so, I wanted to do something for Abydos. "I didn't want to stand idly by any longer. I don't want to turn away from injustice." It was just a shallow sense of justice, but it was enough to make me act. "If I choose to stand still here, I think I'll regret it later. Could you please make it so that I don't regret it?" "Ugh...... F-Fine, do whatever you want!" "Thank you, Serika-san." "Tch...... What a weirdo." When I made a sincere request, Serika reluctantly agreed, and when I thanked her, she got embarrassed and said something harsh. She was the perfect example of a tsundere who couldn't be honest until the end. "Now then, since Serika-chan gave her permission, let's go together, Line-chan~" *** "We have entered the area known as the base of the Helmet Gang. Multiple signals from the Helmet Gang are detected within a 15km radius." As we entered a specific area, Ayane started the operation. Since Ayane remained at the school, unlike us, the operation was conducted via hologram. It was a rather unique feeling to communicate through such futuristic technology as holograms. "The enemies probably noticed that we're here. From here on out, it's a show of force!" Ayane's words made me realize once again what kind of situation I was in. The battle starts now. Gunshots rang out. *** The gunshots, which started from someone's trigger, instantly turned the street into a battlefield. The once-still air was filled with dust and smoke as gunshots filled the street, and the students moved in an orderly fashion under Sensei's command, taking down the enemies. And that included me. When I pulled the trigger, unlike other students, an unusually large amount of white smoke came out of the muzzle along with a small flame. And a small, black object faintly appeared, and the moment it disappeared, the enemy fell. With each shot, I had to perform complex reloading operations such as retracting the bolt, pulling the charging handle, inserting a paper cartridge into the barrel, pushing the charging handle, tapping the charging handle to ensure the chamber was properly closed, and advancing the bolt. But as time went on, I became more proficient and faster. However, this complex reloading still forced me to act calmly. "......" Shiroko looked at me with a surprised expression as if she was watching a strange trick, but I tried to ignore it. Anyway, under Sensei's excellent command, the battle went smoothly, and we gradually advanced, occupying and destroying the Helmet Gang's main bases. Before we knew it, we were only one street away from the enemy's last base. "Uhe, there's not a single piece of cover on this street." "Shiroko, can you use your drone to attack a building and create some cover?" "Yeah...... Leave it to me, Sensei." When a wide street with no cover appeared, Sensei ordered Shiroko to create cover with her drone. A missile from Shiroko's drone directly hit an old, abandoned building on the street, and the building collapsed, causing concrete chunks to fall onto the street. "Wow~ We have a great cover now." "Heeh, Sensei's pretty good, huh? Good job, Shiroko-chan." Nonomi and Hoshino lightly expressed their admiration and then took the lead towards the cover. The rest of the group followed, and just as I was about to reach the cover. I heard a sharp sound of air being cut right next to my ear. "Everyone, be careful! There's a sniper!" "Line, are you okay?" "......Yes, I'm fine." I was startled. The moment I heard the whooshing sound right next to my ear, a sense of foreboding surged, and my heart started pounding. '......So it was the sound of a bullet.' After hearing the sound of the air being cut, I quickly moved towards the cover and hid, but I was half in doubt whether it was really the sound of a bullet. However, when Serika shouted that there was a sniper, I became certain that it was a bullet. When I realized that a bullet had just grazed past me, I became scared. But soon, I realized that this was not the time to be scared and that I had to calm down this fear. So, I started to compose myself by swallowing my saliva and taking deep breaths. '......Water.' While swallowing, I thought that drinking water would help me calm down, so I took out the water from my bag and drank it. As I gulped down the water, the full bottle of water was already half empty. I must have been quite thirsty without realizing it. After drinking the water, I calmed down to a certain extent and started to assess the situation. "Uhe, even for me, snipers are a bit tricky. If they focus on shooting the parts that can't be covered by the shield, even I'll have a hard time." "Hmm...... If only we could know their location......" Everyone, including me, was hiding behind the concrete chunks, avoiding the sniper's attacks. None of the students here seemed to have a clear solution against the sniper. I turned my head towards Sensei. "......" Sensei was thinking with his right hand on his chin. 'His quiet contemplation for the students is admirable, but it's a drawback that it takes so long.' Even at this moment, the enemies would be fortifying their base and increasing their forces. The longer it took, the more advantageous it would be for the defending side. 'If only we could know the sniper's location, as Shiroko said......' I turned my head upwards to the right while keeping my gaze fixed on the front, and carefully raised my head above the cover to look at the enemy's base. I could see some Helmet Gang members moving around, but I couldn't see the sniper. I slowly turned my head to the left to look at other parts of the base. Then, something black faintly appeared in my sight. '......Huh?' I felt an impact on my left temple, and my head rang. Soon, a great pain overwhelmed me. "Aagh!" I grabbed my temple with my hand and fell to the ground. People around me were shouting something. But I couldn't understand what they were saying because of the pain. Then, I started to feel something wet on the hand that was holding my temple. I carefully removed my hand from my temple and looked at my palm. A clean palm with nothing on it greeted me. "......" I opened my eyes wide and examined my palm closely. But my palm was still clean, with nothing on it. Even when I put my palm back on my temple, the result was the same. I wasn't bleeding. 'Ah...' Only then did I realize that the feeling of wetness was just a delusion. And then, I wondered why I felt like it was wet, and at that moment, I felt an uncomfortable feeling as if something was stuck in my chest. "Line! Are you okay?" Sensei had come to my side and asked me if I was okay. The great pain in my temple had already subsided to a dull ache. I opened my mouth to answer Sensei's question, but no words came out. I closed my mouth again and grabbed my gun that was lying nearby with my right hand. "Line...?" Sensei called my name in confusion, but I didn't answer. I was okay, but I wasn't okay. I couldn't figure out how to express this situation, and I had something else I wanted to do rather than answer, so I didn't answer. "Line?! What are you doing?! It's dangerous!" Serika shouted at me from behind, surprised by my sudden action. I was walking towards the enemy's base with my bayonet pointed forward. I kept walking, taking one big step at a time. No bullets flew. But as I kept walking and got closer to the base, I started to hear gunshots. Once the gunshots started, the enemies seemed to realize the situation and started shooting at me. Most of the bullets missed me and hit the ground. But some of the sharp bullets hit me accurately, and they gave me the pain of being punched hard. And that was it. Those bullets gave me pain, but they didn't wound me or harm me. They couldn't do anything. No matter how much they fired, they couldn't stop me from moving forward, and they could only helplessly watch what I was doing. And once again, a bullet hit me. This time, it was stronger than the ones before. The bullet that hit the center of my chest gave me great pain, and for a moment, my body swayed, and I had trouble breathing. But in contrast, a smile appeared on my face. 'There you are.' I looked in the direction the bullet came from. Then, I saw the sniper, who still had his gun pointed at me with his eyes wide open. The sniper tried to shoot at me again, but it was already too late. My trigger was faster than the sniper's, and unlike the sniper, my trigger didn't give the enemy a second chance. "Aagh! Shoot! Shoot!" When I took down the sniper, the agitated enemies started firing wildly. The enemies were already close enough to hear them shouting, but in contrast, their accuracy was extremely low. I stopped in my tracks and aimed my gun at the enemies in the base. Then, a boom I had never heard before was fired from my gun. I instinctively knew that this bullet contained my power. The boom, which was like a simultaneous firing or a cannon, had the same power. Several enemies in the base fell from the shot. I loaded the next round and immediately ran towards the enemy's base. When I jumped into the base, the surprised enemy fumbled, and I stabbed such an enemy with my bayonet. I felt like I was stabbing something with a blunt stick, and the enemy lost consciousness with a choking sound. "Aaaagh! Run away!" When I charged, the enemies quickly lost their will to fight and scattered in all directions. But now they couldn't dare to run away, and it didn't take long until they were all dealt with. The battle was over. The fight was over.