Chapter 56
I ended up taking a photo by accident...
I checked the photo I'd taken in front of the first car's cockpit monitor.
While I was at it, I went ahead and completed the trade post the constellation had put up first.
With this, there shouldn't be any more extra victims risking their lives just to take photos of another race.
[Alcohol and Music bursts out laughing at the photo that captured your quick actions and face in full.]
[He smiles as he gives you a sheet of paper with coordinates written on it as a gift.]
"A sheet of paper with coordinates?"
I decided to leave the paper that fell from the sky in one corner of the cockpit.
I decided to check the reward later and, for now, focus on this rescue mission.
The elf's white fingers filled the screen as she prodded at the scout drone's camera lens and tiny propeller blades.
"...She won't break it, right?"
The scout drone wriggled as if throwing a fit, buzzing furiously, but it couldn't budge an inch.
The elf's slender fingers were gripping the drone tightly.
Once its body was pinned like that, the drone had no way of escaping.
"Kyaek-!"
That was when it happened.
A scream that seemed ready to tear the eardrums burst out overhead.
The drone's camera pointed at the sky through the gaps between the elf's fingers.
Swoosh-!
A massive shadow swept over the rooftop.
It was a bird-like monster with a yellow beak; even its wings were larger than an adult man's, and its wingspan looked to be several meters wide.
It bared its sharp claws and launched a fierce assault at the elf.
"...!"
The elf's eyes changed in an instant.
She let go of the scout drone she was holding and, without hesitation, threw herself to the ground and rolled.
KWAANG-!
The giant bird's beak slammed into the spot where the elf had rolled, shattering the concrete-looking floor.
Barely avoiding the attack, the elf used the momentum from her roll to snatch up the wooden bow lying on the floor and sprang to her feet.
"...So this is the rooftop?"
With the drone camera, freed from the elf's grip, showing the standoff between the elf and the giant bird, I could finally tell it was the rooftop of a building.
From the drone's point of view, the elf looked infinitely frail compared to the giant bird monster.
Even the outfit that barely covered her chest and shoulders was only light equipment, a mix of fluttering cloth and thin leather.
If that enormous beak pecked her, it didn't look like it would end with just a minor injury.
"Kyaaaak!"
The giant bird flapped its wings once more and thrust its beak toward the back of the elf's neck.
But the elf didn't panic.
With elegant movements, she rolled to dodge its charge again.
Then she kicked off the ground, using the rebound to widen the distance in an instant.
Creak-!
Tension filled the rooftop as the elf drew her bowstring.
Boom-! Fwiiish!
When she let the string go, there was a bursting sound, followed by the whistle of an arrow cutting through the wind.
The arrow that left the elf's hand pierced straight through the giant bird monster's forehead, like a guided missile.
Crack! Thud!
With that single shot, the giant bird monster collapsed onto the rooftop floor.
The situation was settled with a single arrow.
"Were arrows always that powerful...?"
I marveled.
If the drones ever ended up fighting that elf, they might all turn into heaps of scrap.
The scout drone filmed the elf hunting for a moment, then as soon as the monster was dealt with, it plunged down from the rooftop and fled back toward the train without hesitation.
"##$%!#$%!!"
The moment the drone moved away, a strange, beautiful voice I'd never heard before briefly came through the monitor speaker.
Was the elf calling after my fleeing drone, or calling out to something else?
Either way, there was no time to waste.
"Come in."
Ssshh-!
After recovering the scout drone, which had safely returned to the train, I immediately got moving.
Right now, rescuing those nine people was the priority.
"Guide me to the building where those nine people are hiding."
The guy must have had it rough, but the scout drone led the way as if telling me to trust it.
First, we moved along the alleys of the city that had turned into a forest, keeping as hidden as possible.
The commercial building where the nine people were hiding wasn't far, but even in that short stretch there were plenty of monsters roaming around.
It was the aftermath of the dungeon break.
"...Did they spot me?"
Since they were monsters shaped like wolves, leopards, boars, and the like, their hearing and sense of smell were sharp.
Every time I moved, their ears perked up and their noses twitched.
Thinking we'd already been found, I tightened my grip on the spear—
But on closer look, that wasn't it.
Thud. Thud.
"...Ah."
Every time the heavy steel legs of the artillery golem behind me stepped on the asphalt, the nearby animal-type monsters' ears all perked up and turned this way.
The golem tilted its body as if asking what we were looking at.
'Hmm...'
Come to think of it, trying to move stealthily while dragging the golem along was impossible to begin with.
I patted the golem's sturdy outer shell and nodded, then whispered quietly toward it.
"Could you draw their attention?"
The golem gave the cannon on its back a little shake, then dashed out of the alley without hesitation.
A golem would be great at drawing attention, and if monsters attacked it, it would probably hold out pretty well.
Its shell was just that tough.
It stomped around the neighborhood as if advertising itself, thumping the ground and making all the noise it wanted.
The animal-type monsters, stirred up by the noise, all charged fiercely at the golem at once.
Then the golem, despite its massive frame, began climbing straight up the side of a building with its legs.
Even if it couldn't fly, having the ability to climb walls was a huge help.
Woof!
Most of the beasts barked below the wall the golem was climbing, and only the cheetah-like one that looked agile managed to chase it all the way up.
Then the golem leaped from the rooftop, glided, and landed lightly on the wall of the neighboring building.
The enraged monster pack, as if possessed by the golem's actions, chased after it like mad.
"Now...!"
Thanks to that, using the gap left by the emptied street, I moved quickly with the scout drone guiding the way.
Soon, the familiar commercial building the scout drone had filmed came into view.
Thud!
It was definitely inside here, but in the short time we'd been gone, they'd gathered scrap and built a barricade, completely blocking the back side of the glass door.
Knock, knock-
The moment I knocked on the door.
A hand shot out through the gap in the barricade, hurriedly opened the door, and someone yanked my sleeve, pulling me forcefully into the building.
The arm that pulled me had a tattoo clearly inked on it.
"...Huh?"
"Huh?"
I met the eyes of the tattooed woman who had pulled me inside.
Perhaps she remembered seeing me once before, because she stared at me intently.
The others who had run out from inside after hearing the commotion also looked at me with surprised expressions.
And those already wide eyes widened even more.
Viiing-! Swiiish!
Because the drones smoothly flew through the doorway that had opened behind me and floated up beside me.
"Those drones..."
"No way...!"
They all knew about the girl who traveled around with drones as her escort.
Since they all used the gallery diligently and had come here because of it, there wasn't a single person who didn't know that rumor.
One of the survivors let out a trembling voice.
"Blue sub-manager?"
"..."
In any case, it wasn't something I could hide.
I lightly rested my spear on the floor and awkwardly lifted the corners of my mouth, saying,
"Yes... I'm the blue... sub-manager."
Yeah, if you thought about it positively, becoming a sub-manager meant I didn't have to say my nickname, so it was a little less embarrassing.
"There's no time to waste. We need to get out of here fast."
"Oh, come to think of it, the beast sounds seem a little farther away..."
"L-let's get out first! If it's this person, they'll have that train too."
"Ah! Right!"
"Trust the blue sub-manager!"
At my words, the nine people hiding behind the barricade tightened their grips on their weapons and stepped out of the building with tense expressions.
It seemed the reputation I'd built up in the gallery and my train skills had earned their trust.
The threat right in front of them seemed to have sharpened their nerves.
...So there really is someone who calls me blue sub-manager.
Swish-!
The moment we burst out of the building, a horned rabbit shot out like a bullet, as if it had been waiting, and leaped for the back of my neck.
But before my spear could even move, the jungle machete in the tattooed woman's hand beside me sliced through the air.
Slash-!
"Phew..."
The rabbit was split cleanly in two in midair and rolled to the ground.
The tattooed woman casually shook the blood off her machete and took the lead.
She looked like a completely different person from the one I'd seen in the gallery.
The survivors following behind us gasped at the sight, but there was no time to hesitate.
Around us, the beasts that had given up chasing the golem were gathering.
"Let's finish them off quickly and go."
"Yes."
The rest of them were survivors who had been through all sorts of hardship and made it through the brutal apocalypse.
They each used their skills and weapons where they were needed, taking down the animal-shaped monsters as they popped up.
As if they'd noticed the commotion, a pack of hungry wild dogs from far away began circling us, growling low.
"Take care of that pack of wild dogs."
At my command, the combat drones and the sniper drone floating in the air all turned their muzzles at once.
Rat-tat-tat-!
Precise, rapid fire.
The combat drones fired exactly two shots per wolf, punching through their heads and chests with flawless accuracy.
The sniper drone didn't even need to fire twice.
One shot was enough to blow their heads apart.
"Phew..."
"I feel a little sorry for the monsters...?"
"Hey, look over there! What is that?!"
Then someone pointed toward the end of the alley with a finger.
There was my artillery golem, the one that had volunteered as bait and run out earlier.
Surrounded by dozens of beasts, it stood completely still.
"Kyaaaak! Crack, grrk!"
The beasts with sharp teeth were trying desperately to bite through the golem's legs and pincers, but they couldn't inflict any damage on the sturdy golem made of steel.
Crack-crack-!
Instead of biting in, it almost sounded like I could hear their fangs breaking all the way over here.
'As expected, sturdy.'
The matchup was favorable.
But it was taking the bites calmly without counterattacking.
It looked like it was carrying out my order to just draw aggro well, but—
"You can fire now!"
The moment my voice reached it, the cannon on the golem's backplate opened and lightly fired a small sphere beneath itself.
Plop.
"Is that also a monster?"
"But it doesn't seem like an animal... It kind of looks like a machine..."
"Huh?"
"Didn't something come out?"
I stopped the nine people who were trying to come closer and looked at the sphere.
Soon, a massive flash and a thunderous blast swallowed the area around the golem.
KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM-!
"Wh-what...!"
"It just suddenly went boom...!"
The ground trembled, and thick smoke blocked my view. The people, startled, stumbled back or clung to one another.
The tattooed woman also wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
Then, dull metallic footsteps rang out from within the smoke.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
From the center of the explosion, the golem strode out leisurely, its smooth steel body gleaming without a single scratch.
Around it were the remains of the beasts that had been biting it, turned into bits of meat.
It came over to stand beside me as if nothing had happened and clicked its foot.