Dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans, sneaking his way into restricted zone 2C was easy enough for Archer, it was one of the less guarded areas. It made sense considering that this was supposed to be a meetup that even low-ranked students could reach.
Glancing around what was once a section of a bustling city, Archer could see multiple buildings, some completely reduced to rubble while others still stood tall and abandoned. This area hadn't been inhabited by people for the last number of years.
Archer could eliminate some areas that wouldn't be very good for a meeting or an ambush but he couldn't see everything. Seeking one of the sturdiest and tallest skyscrapers, he checked the time. If his estimation was correct, he would have about an hour before Rosaline and the other students arrived.
Him using his passive intimidation ability meant that he was free to walk through the area without encountering anything. Though he doubted that this skill would work if he had to head in deeper inside. There was a reason why the meetup was in the outer area, he supposed.
I guess I can set up a small camp. Archer thought as he selected his building. It was once a large shopping center that was suddenly abandoned. Testing out the elevator, it predictably didn't turn on. Shrugging he then proceeded to move up the stairs.
With a pause he heard rustling and out from a burrow of junk climbed out what looked to be a car-sized gopher. It stared at Archer for a brief moment before quickly slinking away from him. With an amused smile, Archer then climbed the stairs.
Every few flights he would pause and explore the floor looking for anything intriguing. The place being abandoned for decades at this point was structurally sound, no retaking of nature, just plenty of dust.
He briefly explored a couple of restaurants and grocers and unsurprisingly found tons of rotted food. Though passing through one mall, he did find an old gas-powered generator that still functioned along with fuel. On the next flight he found a working microwave, batteries, some silverware and cleaning supplies.
Taking these items he then passed through an abandoned clothing store there he perused around a little bit more. With a happy smile, he found himself a nice-looking jacket and after dusting it off, donned it. He then decided to take a mannequin with him for the heck of it.
Finally after all his trips, he made his way to one of the top floors and set up his camp. Using some old junk, he made a makeshift seating area and sat on watch. A few minutes later he spotted his targets. Thankfully he had very good eyes, or he might have missed them.
Sneaking through the darkness Rosaline and three other students slowly and cautiously made their way down the dangerous streets. Rosaline seemed to be wearing a hoodie with it fully pulled up. Thankfully, with Archer already being in that area earlier, the lower-tier monsters gave the area a wide berth, meaning it was unlikely that they were in any immediate danger.
Archer frowned a bit. He recognized two of those students as F-ranks who talked Rosaline into joining them but didn't recognize who the third student was. It was too far and dark for Archer to recognize any rank on him. But he walked with a lot more confidence compared to the others, so Archer assumed that he was a higher-ranked student, maybe the group leader.
Still they were armed, in their combat-reinforced school uniforms, and cautious which was a good sign. Though if something big did attack them, Archer wasn't sure if they would be able to do much aside from the leader. Looking around Archer soon spotted the people they were meeting.
They were far harder to spot, located at what once was an outside basketball court. Though that was expected, what was more interesting was the individuals themselves. The one who looked to be in charge was dressed in a very expensive-looking suit. He was the main reason why Archer managed to spot the group. The clothing stood out compared to the others, who were dressed in simple black.
Speaking about the others, they were equally interesting-looking. One was a large man who dwarfed the other two and held in his hands a bulging suitcase by his side. From this distance Archer could only make out that he was dressed in all black and seemed to have a long beard on his face.
The last person in this group looked to be a woman with long red hair that ran all the way down to her legs. Her face, however, was completely covered with a silver comedy mask. It sort of made Archer nostalgic. On her waist was a blade, a long and slender thing clung to her side.
This group were all standing in one place waiting. Archer assumed that this was the meet-up point and quickly removed the large windowpane that pointed towards the group. He then grabbed his rifle and set up a sniping range.
The mysterious group wasn't really expecting someone to be watching over them, so they made no effort to scout for anything that wasn't a monster. Now getting a closer look at the group through the scope, he could see that only the woman had her face completely hidden. Even her blade bore no obvious markings.
Clearly she wanted to be completely incognito, while the bigger guy with the suitcase didn't bother to hide his face. The leader was simply dressed to show off his money and fashion sense. To whom in this case, was a wonder. Was this really all to try and intimidate a few high schoolers?
Well his questions were going to be answered soon, as a few minutes later the two groups met. Archer through the scope was able to make out what they were saying through lip reading.
"We're here." The student leading them called out.
"Ah, good. You brought all three of them here. Were you able to make it here safely?"
"Yeah, we managed to sneak past without running into any monsters." The student replied.
"That's really lucky, or maybe there's some skill behind them." The leader said with a wide smile, "Maybe the ranks aren't the most accurate huh?" He said before turning his back to where Archer was watching.
He seemed to say something to the masked lady who then replied with something unpleasant as the students suddenly looked agitated.
"So the pay will be given after we bring them in, alright." The leader said turning his head back towards the students.
"Works for me." The student that brought them here said with a casual shrug.
"What? What are you talking about?" The boy yelled out panicked as the other one turned to try and run, only to have the masked lady block his way. Archer quickly at this point aimed his scope and began to select his targets.
***
"Don't you dare run, it'll only cause more of a mess." The student, Sun, a mid-level second-year B-rank student who betrayed the rest of his group warned. It had been a bit of a laborious task gathering the three of them here.
Plenty of lies and pretending to be friends with a bunch of bottom-feeder trash. It was annoying, but hey, it paid well, and these losers were desperate and easy enough to trick. All he had to do was get these losers over to this weird gang leader and trade them in for cash. What they were used for he really didn't care.
"Man, you kids are funny." The leader chuckled, "Look you can follow me with your own volition or we can force you, and I don't think you will want that." He said as he motioned for the larger man.
Without so much as a word from the massive human being, he simply placed down his suitcase and opened it. Out from the suitcase came emerging a gigantic four-legged creature covered in orange fur. It had a large mouth filled with several rows of gnashing teeth and looked to have no eyes on its head.
The size of the creature was several times the size of the suitcase it crawled out of. It seemed to sniff the air a bit before it slowly crawled its way closer to the three cowering kids.
"If you don't behave, don't blame me if it takes a bite out of you." The leader warned.
"Hey, you better not dock my pay for injuries you cause." Sun complained.
"Don't worry, we won't."
"Why are you doing this Sun?" Rosaline cried out as she pulled out a shortsword and held it up with trembling hands.
"Because you guys are a load of pathetic nobodies." Sun said laughing, "So be useful once in your life and help me out will ya? We're friends aren't we?"
"My brother will-"
"Your lazy, good-for-nothing addict of a brother won't even remember you in a few days." He laughed.
"Don't talk about Dominic like that!" She cried out.
"Hah. You really do care for your good-for-nothing brother don't you? No real brains behind that face of yours, huh?" Sun taunted.
"What are you going to do to us?" One of the other students fearfully asked, Ignir was his name.
"Easy we're going to take you all and head deeper into the zone." The leader said casually.
"That's suicide!" The other kid, Messi cried out.
"Okay, less complaining please." The leader said.
Come to think of it, Sun didn't know the boss's name. Not that it was really important to, but he had dealt with him a couple of times now. Ah well, if he needed to know who he was, he would ask.
"If you try to resist, the furball will bite off one of your legs. Okay? Okay." The leader said with a laugh as he motioned for the big man to sic the monster on them. However as he raised his hand, an echo of a shot rang through the ball court, and a massive monster slumped onto the floor.
Sun stared at the now slain monster, not sure what he was looking at. A second later, another shot rang out, and the large man who had the suitcase fell. Everyone now looked around the place.
Meanwhile, Archer on top of his rooftop was having a merry ol' time. He hadn't actually fired a rifle in over a year. It was never part of his standard equipment. Staring down the scope, he then picked his next target.
"Big dog down. Big dude down. Four more non-lethal shots left." Archer hummed out to himself, "Next let's get the big boss." He decided as he fired for a third time.
However this time his shot didn't hit as intended, as a shimmering golden blade sliced the shot in two before it hit the gang leader. Archer looked through the scope surprised as he saw the masked woman had drawn out her blade and stared directly down his sights.
Oh, she found me. Archer thought, impressed, as she vanished from his scope. Pulling away from the scope Archer saw that she was already scaling up high-rises and closing in the distance.
"Oh dear. Of course I only brought six." Archer said as he waited for her to pop up from behind a building. The moment she did he adjusted the scope and fired at her again. Once more the blade deflected the shot away from her.
"Yep." Archer said as he turned on the generator, and as he kept an eye on the rapidly enclosing swordswoman, he opened up the microwave and stuffed the grenade that was gifted to him into it.
As he began to pour the cleaning products into it, he noticed that she was now less than halfway away from him. Quickly he shifted his rifle back to the original point and saw that everyone had now scattered. Good, Archer could deal with that mess later.
Looking back towards the swordswoman, she was fortunately now in the open, and Archer fired another shot at her, "One more." He muttered to himself as the shot was deflected for the third time.
Archer then threw in as much silverware as could fit into the microwave and closed it. As he placed the microwave atop the generator, he looked down at his jacket sleeve and took a deep breath. It's not even mine to begin with. He argued with himself as he took it off.
As he finished the last of his preparations, he then turned to see that she had reached the building right next to his. It was several stories shorter than his, so he quickly aimed down and fired one last shot as she leapt into the air.
Without hesitation, she immediately sliced the bullet in twain, getting a bit tired of this game. Soaring towards the other building, she dexterously landed on the glass window and began to run up it vertically.
In a few quick bounds she reached the top floor where Archer was firing from and immediately spotted the man holding the rifle. Faster than in the blink of an eye, she vaulted past him and sliced the gunman in two.
Turning back around to admire her work, she paused as she realized that what she cut was not a person but a mannequin with a dumb jacket on. She had been played, and that realization distracted her long enough to realize that there was a microwave currently on and buzzing. More than buzzing, it was sparking.
Within the mask her eyes widened as she realized that she just walked into a trap. As she readied herself to leap away, everything became very bright as the room exploded.
Archer as he walked down the street, heard an explosion above him. Casually glancing upwards, he saw a figure manage to leap out of the exploding building. Thank goodness, she's alive. Archer thought, relieved, his assumption of how good she was seemed to be accurate.
Though if he guessed correctly, she probably wouldn't be taking part anymore tonight. Archer looked around and thought for a moment. He could probably find Rosaline and the other students pretty easily, but so could monsters then. That explosion definitely got some unwanted attention.
But there were still three others to worry about. The unconscious one he needed to get immediately. Unlike the others they had no chance of surviving. Taking a deep breath, he headed towards the basketball court.
Quickly making his way there, he picked the currently slumbering giant up, but not before donning the man's large jacket. A bit too big for him, but it would work for now. Next up, he went to find his fellow student. That B-rank that was oh so kind as to lead his classmates to their demise.
Then he can handle the big boss himself, and afterwards he'll make sure his schoolmates make it home safely. Time was ticking so he was going to have to do this quick. Adjusting the man that hung on his shoulder, he proceeded to move forward.