Chapter 13: Surprise Attack

The number of Monoz a person could contract with averaged around ten.

From that perspective, even though I could contract with twelve units, I was still technically in the majority. Shinzo, on the other hand, was overwhelmingly in the minority.

Two.

That’s how many Monoz Shinzo could contract with.

Quantity is power. The number of Monoz you contracted with could easily surpass individual ability. But sometimes, the battlefield told a different story. The battlefield needed heroes.

And the conditions for a hero were—

“I have Piloting: 4. You’re at that same quality-over-quantity line as me.”

“I see.”

We’d figured that out during the skill check. Apparently, that’s what it meant.

From now on, whenever I see a strong person, maybe I’ll try going, “Tch! Level 4, huh?!”

Anyway. I was getting off topic.

Zenki and Goki—those were the names of Shinzo’s two large Monoz. Their roles were like the front and rear wheels.

Forward, backward, side to side, diagonal—his ball-wheel type bike could maneuver anywhere. Mobility was Shinzo’s greatest weapon.

Recently, I’d finally gotten mobility of my own, but his battlefield maneuvers were clearly on another level from someone like me who’d just gotten it. If mobility itself was your weapon, then… yeah. You didn’t need numbers.

“…”

If that’s the case… then what was this?

I looked right. Eye contact. They ran away.

I looked left. Eye contact. They glared.

I looked ahead at the small child sitting on Shinzo’s lap. They smiled sweetly at me. Kids around that age were hard to tell gender-wise, I thought.

There were kids. Lots of them.

Who were they? I wondered. Sensing my gaze, Shinzo answered.

“There’s thirty-two in all. The oldest is twelve. Youngest is five.”

“Are they your siblings?”

That couldn’t be. I knew it couldn’t be, and yet the question slipped out. As expected, Shinzo gave a wry smile.

“No blood ties. But close enough.”

“I see.”

Sleepers.

When he muttered that word, I kind of understood. These kids were duds.

Time erodes records. Like me, many Sleepers from the past now have unclear purposes in this era. Thawing out someone like me or Shinzo, who is somewhat mature, is half due to the hope that we are hits and half for use as soldiers.

But for kids this age, the expectation is solely that they are hits. If they are misses, then…

“As someone who grew up in peaceful times, the phrase ‘human rights issue’ crosses my mind.”

“Ha! Human rights, huh. That’s a nice one. If you find some of those lying around, pick ‘em up for me, will ya?”

“Sure. I’ll keep an eye on the ground when I walk.”

A wry smile.

I had no idea what form human rights would even take, but if I saw them, I’d pick them up.

I was thinking that when the kid from Shinzo’s lap waddled over to me. They pushed my hand aside—move—and without a word, climbed onto my lap.

“Not quite right,” they muttered, dissatisfied with the seating, and clambered back over to Shinzo’s side.

“…”

I felt like my heart had taken unnecessary damage.

Our eyes met. And for a moment, we both chuckled.

“If you’re saying you’re making them fight, then I’d have to despise you.”

“Don’t worry. If I told these kids to fight, I’d despise myself too. They’re supply support,” Shinzo explained.

Well, since they had Monoz contracts, they could probably manage self-defense at least. Still, they’d likely be accompanying me, a sniper, more often than Shinzo, a cavalryman. I’d have to keep an eye out for them.

As I thought that, the bone necklace I was touching felt… just a little warm.

***

“When you see it like this… it’s a strange feeling.”

The canyon walls rose steeply on both sides. But what flowed through this gorge wasn’t water, it was bubbles.

Not flowing, but pooling. A stagnant river of bubbles.

It stirred complicated emotions in me.

Among the participating Dub C employees in this operation, our assignment, Shinzo’s and mine, was to block the advance of the front line in the mission to destroy the Bubble transport convoy. It was an important position, so we’d been hyping ourselves up for it but—

“Kind of makes you wonder what that struggle last time was for, doesn’t it?”

Honestly.

My job was simple.

I’d snipe the cores of the pink transport-type Bubbles at the head of the convoy, forcing them to drop their rare items.

The dropped rare items would make the Bubbles stop moving to recover them, making it easier for other teams to tear into the stalled convoy’s flank.

We’d chosen to stake out the canyon precisely to limit their movement.

The Bubbles were completely clogged up.

In this situation, the only thing I really had to worry about was a direct attack aimed at me.

“A1 to S1. We’re going to launch an attack in five counts.”

“S1 copy. S1 to S2. Start sniping at count 3. Target B2. …Set.”

Five, four, three—go.

I pulled the trigger. The pink Bubble I aimed at popped.

A moment later, a hole opened in another pink Bubble slightly closer. That was S2’s shot. Looks like they missed the core.

At 300 meters, I’d estimate a 90% hit rate. Close, but not quite. As I mused on that, my hands kept moving. I heard the clink of spent shells hitting the ground, held my breath, and fired. Hit B2. Same moment—count zero.

As the Bubbles paused to recover the dropped rare items, A1, led by Shinzo, burst out from hiding and slashed diagonally into the convoy’s front, aiming to further delay them.

Their tools: water guns for spraying chemicals, and grenades.

Shinzo zipped around spraying chemicals across a wide area, using his mobility to full effect.

Meanwhile, four Monoz centered around Dog Unit hurled grenades into the Bubble swarm. Their throws were a bit rough, not quite as precise as I’d like. But the effect was solid.

The Bubbles dissolved by chemicals couldn’t regenerate. The grenades scattered shrapnel and shockwaves, blowing Bubbles away. Their cores were mostly unharmed, but the Bubbles shrank under the dispersing winds. Good enough.

They didn’t have the luxury to send an attack my way.

“…”

I exhaled and reloaded two rounds.

Suddenly, a message came through my headset.

[Thank you: for covering the missed shot.]

It was from S2 Leader, Snake Unit.

For some reason, Snake Unit had grown a sniping skill lately, so I’d paired them with Rabbit Unit and assigned them a separate sniping position from me. It seemed they felt guilty about occasionally missing shots, so they’d sometimes send messages like this.

Honestly, they were doing plenty well with an unfamiliar sniper rifle.

I replied, [I expect even better next time.]

I sent that back with a wry smile.

Having ambition was a good thing. Still—

“A1 to S1. Requesting supply resupply.”

“Roger. S1 to C1. Send out Ox Unit. Target point… Rat Unit, guide them.”

Team ops were easy but a hassle; a hassle but easy.

That’s what I thought, watching Rat Unit—overheating as usual—sorting out the rendezvous coordinates and additional assignments for B1 and B2.

Team operations were easy… for us. And a hassle… for Rat Unit.

“…”

Honestly—sorry.

That’s what I felt, as I patted Rat Unit. They were hot to the touch.

***

The operation, which had started at 9 a.m., came to an end at 9 p.m.

The Bubble transport convoy was annihilated. Our side’s losses were minimal, but it seemed a few in the assault teams had been killed. But for our blocking team—me and Shinzo—apart from Rat Unit collapsing from exhaustion, there’d been no harm to the kids either. A good outcome.

As I thought that, it also made me wonder: what was that desperate fight last time even for?

“Bubbles are weak to strategy and numbers. If you prep right and hit ‘em head-on… well, as long as you don’t force ‘em to get serious, it’s like this.”

So said Shinzo.

In short: if you have the chemicals, grenades, and enough people, this is the result. That’s how it was.

“But,” he added, “if it turns into a straight numbers fight, we lose. There’s at least a hundred Bubbles in a swarm. If you run into ‘em without enough people, just run.”

“What if… I went in alone?”

“Then you’re an idiot. You’d die.”

That’s how it was.

I scratched my head, the idiot that I was, and shifted my gaze elsewhere. I saw Shinzo’s siblings loading supplies onto sleds pulled by Monoz, hauling them inside.

We were at a mining site that had been occupied by Bubbles.

A facility designed to create conditions for high rare-item yields, extract them, process them, and transport them. But for the past six months, it had fallen into the hands of the Bubbles.

In the meantime, another mining site had been built elsewhere. Most of the rare items here had already been dug up by the Bubbles. In short, this place was now obsolete.

We’d retaken it partly for appearances’ sake, but the facility itself had no more use.

Even so, the supplies were still usable, so we were hauling them out.

The Bubbles showed no interest in human food, and didn’t use weapons. So those kinds of supplies were left untouched. The buildings would be crushed down by the Monoz and reused as ingots or construction materials.

Transporting these supplies was the kids’ job.

Meanwhile, me and Shinzo, the combat team, were on break.

I sat there watching, eating boiled sausages with consommé soup.

At first, I’d thought of helping too, but Shinzo had stopped me. That was their job. And right now, resting was my job. That’s what he’d said.

The mining site, built in a hollow surrounded on three sides by cliffs and Tree Crystals, looked like a strong defensive position. But thinking about how the Bubbles had attacked and captured such a place…

I found myself shifting from “what a threat” to “how would I attack it?”

Bit by bit, my thinking was turning more violent.

I couldn’t help but let out a wry smile at that fact.

***

It came while I was riding Horse Unit, doing laps around the outer perimeter of the mining site to work on my Piloting skill.

A Monok.

Unlike Shinzo’s style of using two Monoz, I’d attached armor and a pilot seat to a single Monoz, creating a simple but effective ride. As with all ball-wheel type vehicles, it had high mobility despite the simple structure.

Based on a blueprint, all my Monoz had pitched in to build it, finishing in just fifteen minutes. And since Horse Unit had volunteered to be both the engine and the wheels, that’s how it got its name.

Even though my piloting was still unskilled, Horse Unit responded without complaint.

I trusted it.

And then—it came.

The ground swelled. The ground cracked. A monster burst forth—

An ant worker.

A grotesque figure leapt from the direction I was heading.

I reacted by opening the throttle.

In other words, I ran it over.

Without slowing down for an instant, I slammed mass, hardness, and speed into it. The black exoskeleton of the ant cracked. Transparent body fluid sprayed out.

I braked. Tilted the frame. Dragged the side along the ground, and turned.

When I looked back, there was a gaping hole. Atop it, the crushed ant’s body still writhed.

Was it still alive? That crossed my mind.

No, it wasn’t.

That was—

“Dog Unit, Monkey Unit! Close combat—go! Rabbit, Snake, Rooster—prepare to fire! Rat, Ox—rendezvous on me!”

A breath.

“Insectum ambush!”