Chapter 50

[IMAGE: p-xxx.xhtml]

"Reiwa's Number One" leader O-Ran stepped onto the harbor and stared at the factory into which the enemy sniper—Shiki—had fled.

"We took out Sheena. Now it's just small fry left."

Beside O-Ran stood her teammate Akane.

"Let's wipe 'em out in a jiffy, de gozaru!"

"...Sigh."

"Eh? Why the sigh, de gozaru?"

"Aka... that 'de gozaru' bit is embarrassing, so stop it... I've told you plenty of times..."

'Ran-chan, now's not the time to be saying that,'

the sniper Aoi said over the comm.

"That girl Sheena just recruited—letting our guard down is NG."

"...True."

Yet O-Ran was indeed letting her guard down. If there'd been no contempt she wouldn't be scolding her ally's speech patterns in a situation like this.

(Frankly, I think that one was just padding the numbers.)

The vacant look Shiki had shown the instant Sheena fell still lingered in O-Ran's mind.

"...Anyway, let's crush them quick. Coming, Akane."

"Aye, de gozaru!"

"Aoi, where's the target now?"

'Middle of the factory—'

Gunfire rang out twice from the factory in front of them, cutting off Aoi's words.

"What? Who did she shoot?"

The next instant Aoi's icon vanished from the map.

"Aoi!? What happened!?"

'...Got hit suddenly from below...!'

Aoi spoke from the operator room.

(Aoi was on top of the factory two buildings back from the one in front. So the enemy shot through several walls and a ceiling. With an ordinary laser sniper rifle the beam should have lost power on the barriers and lacked the force to reduce Aoi—the target—to zero durability by the time it reached her...)

So Shiki fired twice. The first blast punched holes through every obstacle; the second passed through those holes and drilled the target without any loss of power. The interval between the shots was under half a second—no ordinary feat.

(How on earth did she get Aoi... No, save the analysis for later.)

O-Ran's carelessness vanished.

She had more than enough proof that the enemy sniper was formidable.

'Close the distance fast! From range we're dancing in their palm!'

"Roger that, de gozaru!!"

"Chi!!"

The two charged into the factory. Then—

"Wha—!?"

Workbenches were lined up inside.

The sniper they'd been hunting—Shiki—was standing on a workbench in the very center.

"H-hello there~... ehehe."

She greeted them with an awkward, carefree smile.

Why she was in such an obvious spot was a mystery.

For now the two gripped their assault rifles and tightened their fingers on the triggers—

"!?"

The instant they tried to fire they were shot from behind.

(Another enemy!? No—!!)

They spun around. Six Bullet Pieces hovered there.

(She looped Bullet Pieces from the opposite entrance to flank us!! Or maybe she'd hidden them behind the building... Standing in that conspicuous place was to draw our attention...!)

But Bullet Pieces weren't that powerful. O-Ran's lightly-armored right ankle was destroyed; otherwise she was fine. Same for Akane.

They turned their attention back to Shiki in front—too late. Shiki was already swinging her saber down.

(At this distance!? No way!!)

O-Ran ducked; Akane flew straight forward. There was no time to stop her. Shiki activated high-output mode and slashed. The extended saber bisected Akane's torso from twelve metres away.

"The saber can stretch that far!?"

(I knew it—an all-in extension saber!! I'd seen it once so I could just react!)

Akane was down. O-Ran snapped her head up and poured assault-rifle fire straight into Shiki.

Shiki grinned and advanced on O-Ran while Slide-Stepping to evade the shots.

(A sniper closing in on her own!? And her evasion is perfect!!)

"Bullet Pieces."

Shiki scattered Bullet Pieces left and right. They halted five metres away on every side of O-Ran.

"Guh...!?"

Shiki continued spraying with the assault rifle in her right hand.

"Chi!!"

O-Ran decided to take one of the Bullet Piece hits. She planted her feet and walled herself in with Shield Pieces on every side.

Like a turtle in its shell. Shiki drew a G-AGE with her free left hand and fired. O-Ran, focused on all directions, reflexively caught the bullet with a Shield Piece. She had no time to wonder why Shiki used live ammo here.

Crack!! The Shield Piece shattered and the bullet pierced O-Ran square in the chest.

(I never even had a moment to plan...!)

From the instant the Bullet Pieces flanked her until now, O-Ran had had no real time to think.

Trick after trick. Always on the back foot, her composure whittled away, she'd never imagined the 'anomaly' of live ammo.

"...Splendid... total defeat."

Reiwa's Number One—eliminated.

Shiki checked the drop items from Reiwa's Number One.

Repair Kits ×3, EN Cans ×2, Smoke Grenades ×8.

The assassination-specialist Reiwa's Number One had focused on smoke grenades for blinding. Looking at the loot, Shiki smiled thinly.

"...Nice."

---

Including Shiki, ten Space Girls remain in this shipyard.

All except Shiki are moving in teams of three. And all three teams are maneuvering to surround the factory Shiki is in. The target is Shiki.

Why is Shiki being targeted? Because Shiki performed radar sniping against all three teams. Each shot was blocked by Shield Pieces. But after repeated wall-penetrating and roof-penetrating sniping, the other teams had every reason to be wary. An easy-to-eliminate solo piece that's also terrifying cannot be left alone.

One team sets up at the east factory entrance, one at the west entrance, and one near the north windows. After confirming each team's positions on radar, Shiki opened fire on all three teams using an assault rifle and Bullet Pieces.

Wall-penetrating shots struck all three teams. Yet each team guarded with Shield Pieces and began to breach.

However—

"W-what is this!?"

A Space Girl who had just entered shouted.

The factory was—filled with white smoke.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.