"Here..."
As soon as I looked outside the station, Gregor reacted at once.
The scenery beyond was a battlefield from the Smoke War.
The soldiers who should have filled that battlefield were nowhere to be seen, for some reason.
Where there should have been nothing but noise, so loud you couldn't hear a thing properly, there was nothing to hear in a different sense.
And yet, I saw it.
A thin possibility in that silent battlefield, so thin I almost wondered if I had misread it.
I even looked closely, wondering if I'd started seeing the possibilities of objects themselves, but what I saw was a blurry yet unmistakably human-like shape.
There was definitely an enemy outside.
"Let's go."
At Dante's words, the group of prisoners who had been staring out the window since the train doors opened slowly began to step outside.
...
It was quiet outside.
So eerily quiet it felt as though nothing existed there at all.
But the train that had brought us here simply shut its doors, as if it had completed its role, and stood still.
"Um... this is kind of scary. Is there really nothing here?"
"If Mephistopheles is not mistaken, this is certainly a place to build combat capability. That means enemies exist."
"Even so, isn't there way too little here? In a barren wasteland like this, even an ambush would be..."
Before Gregor could finish, the faint possibility I'd seen began to grow denser and denser.
At this speed... no way...!
"They're coming!"
The moment I shouted, Otis quickly scanned the surroundings.
And soon, every prisoner could feel it.
That subtly altered sensation, and the enemy hiding at its end.
Only Ryoshu was smiling, as if she had already anticipated this situation.
"Oh dear, hostile contact spotted ahead!"
Clang—
The enemy's insect arm, which had suddenly lunged at us, met Gregor's insect arm with a clear metallic ring.
Was this station's opponent a remnant of G Corp? If so, this might be easier than I thought...
Krrr, krrrk...
Clang!
Thud—
"Tch..."
Damn it, Gregor was losing a strength contest?
Even though he'd been pushed to the limit in cultivation by now, and this was just combat training?
I felt the need to revise my assessment of the danger level. Roughly... if you slack off, everyone dies.
A considerable tension ran through my hands for the first time in a while.
"Enemy on the right! Watch out!"
The instant I heard Otis's warning, I felt movement behind me.
When I snapped my head around, I saw a remnant soldier just about to swing its arm.
A diagonal slash, coming down hard from above.
I can dodge that.
Whoosh!
I ducked my upper body low to evade the arm, then immediately turned and took a light step backward to widen the distance.
"Where do you think you're going!"
The remnant soldier came right after me.
But at that moment—
"What...!"
I used that very momentum to close in even harder.
After all, the inside of that insect arm was hardened armor; simply striking the arm wouldn't be enough to kill it.
"Got you."
Thud—
I felt the hard part of the arm slam into my body from the left, but I ignored it.
Because before it could withdraw and slice me open, I could turn the one in front of me into pulp.
The mantle draped over my shoulders gave off a mysterious light.
First, one blow to the solar plexus.
Then, at the same time, I grabbed its head with my left hand and drove it into the ground.
Thud! Whoosh, crash!
"Kgh..."
It seemed the one that had attacked Gregor was especially strong.
Otherwise, there was no way I and the other prisoners could be fighting this well.
Now then, the downed one... wait...!
Boom!!
Beeeeeeep———
A sudden explosion sent a ringing blast through my ears.
I threw myself sideways at the last second and avoided serious damage, but even so, that was still a devastating blow...
I cautiously lifted my head and looked toward the source of the explosion.
"......"
The former G Corp division head.
A human who had had an insect that controlled sound implanted into his body.
"Ssssss...!"
He suddenly drew in a deep breath.
"...! Everyone, cover your ears!!!"
"Aaaaaaaah!!!!"
———A thunderous blast erupted across the battlefield.
The nonstop ringing in my ears, and the melee where enemies and allies were all mixed together.
Still, the enemy was slowly being pushed back.
There were a few who could force us back with sheer strength, or who were especially tough and could endure a certain amount of punishment, but overall, we had the advantage.
That meant if I handled the variable in front of me, we'd win easily.
Good. The analysis is done. Now all that's left is execution.
Hah. Let's do this.
First, I kicked off the ground lightly and charged forward.
And the moment the enemy thrust out its right hand, I hurled my body sideways exactly as the possibility had shown.
Boom!!
Just as I'd seen, a blast rang out where I had been standing a moment ago.
I immediately corrected my stance and leapt in hard, closing the distance.
It reached out with its arm, but it was already too late.
I was right in front of it now...
"Ssssss...!"
Thud—!
"Ghk..."
"You reckless..."
I'd almost had both eardrums blown out.
Seeing it still try to counterattack even in that extreme situation, I had to admit the veteran was a veteran.
Anyway, now that I was this close, the fight was over.
Creak.
All that was left was to kill the enemy in front of me with everything I had.
"Ugh... my ears are still ringing. Just how loud was that voice?"
"It wasn't usually that bad... Is this also the influence of this place, Faust?"
"That is likely the case."
So if the enemies we'd seen before appeared again, they'd be much stronger than before...
This time, even though there was an enemy that had become stronger than us in some respects, we still won because we had the overall advantage, but what about next time...
According to the route map, there are twelve stations left after this... what a headache.
While I was letting myself rest and vaguely surrendering my body to the train, a slightly strange mechanical sound echoed through the carriage.
[The next station is Station 2, Reversion. The next station is Station 2, Reversion.]
Reversion?
Hmm... yeah, just from the station name alone, it's hard to infer anything.
I guess I'll have to see it with my own eyes again.
This bus isn't the kind of place that kindly explains who the opponent is or what the station name means.
After resting for a while, the doors to the next station opened.
Station 2, Reversion.
That place was... hmm. Aid, was it? That person will show up.
Well, of course it looked exactly like the top floor of J Corp's casino.
And as expected, a member of the Ironworks appeared in front of us.
So this time it's not an ambush. Is it because the attack is too risky?
Does that irregular attack, which burrows into a subtly altered sense of discomfort, become hard to use more than once...
Whatever.
If things proceed like this, then assuming the starting station isn't absurdly weaker than Station 2, this will be a fight with far fewer variables.
At most, one or two people will die, I guess. Since all the damage can be recovered inside the train, it's not a battle worth worrying about too much.
...
As expected, Aid was no match for us.
The only casualties were one or two people who always died because they did something reckless.
Well, the remnants of G Corp had already squeezed out every variable they could, like wide-area sonic attacks and ambushes, so in a way it made sense.
There were irregular movements, but they were all movements made with a human body.
They couldn't compare to the irregularity of insects.
Anyway, the next station was Station 3, and as the train announced it, it was [Submergence].
That was a place where something familiar, a sorrowful cry, echoed through the air.
Kwoeng, kwoeng
A giant blue-eyed toad... or was it? Hmm, let's call it an Abnormality.
Kwoeng, kwoeng
That cry was somehow... subtly irritating to the nerves.
If you had bad memories, or were usually sensitive... yes, someone like Ishmael, who was already walking forward toward it, would have reason to get angry...
Wait.
She's really about to swing at it!
"Ishmael!"
"[Ishmael, stop!]"
Thud—!
Kwoeng—
"You idiot! Hey, trash, get into formation right now— no, wait, stop!"
Ah, right... Heathcliff, who seemed to have been provoked too, and Sinclair, whose face was full of anger, followed Ishmael toward the toad.
Crack—!
And then the two of them were crushed into pulp together by the giant eyeball that suddenly moved.
They really do find new ways to be ridiculous.
"......"
Ah, please. If it's an enemy I've never seen before, can't everyone just take it slow for once?
Why is everyone always so desperate to pick a fight?
"Everyone, calm down!"
In the end, it wasn't until Dante stepped in personally that Ishmael seemed to come to her senses and hurriedly joined the formation.
I should've read the possibilities in advance. I got distracted by that strange cry and stopped reading.
Still...
No.
I have a lot to say, but I'll save it for later.
For now, I need to... hah. We have to beat down that giant toad showing hostility toward us up front.