Chapter 160 – Dark Night Taki

I ask the five members of the Battlecry to escort the Calmon family while Myrril and I go downstairs.

The ground floor of the filthy inn reeks of blood, sweat, dust, and gunpowder. I lower the night-vision goggles receiver on my helmet and turn it on.

“This is another spectacular job. What is this, another homemade bomb?”

“No, it’s a claymore, a military anti-personnel mine.”

“Land mine?”

“It’s like an IED that can be used to cut up a swarm of enemies. Ordinary mines are buried in the ground and blown off their feet, but the Claymore instead shoots a large number of iron balls at the enemy, which breaks the human body into tiny pieces.”

“Hou?”

I’m aware that I’m not explaining things well enough or even wrong, but I can’t think of any other way to convey it.

And to be honest, I’m not in the mood for that right now.

“Gyahh… ah…ah!”

“My leg, leg…leg!:

“Hey, I can’t see anything; I can’t see…”

Is this what they call agonizing cries? I saw 11 people at the front and eight at the back door.

“Are there any other claymore in there?”

“No, just two. No more problems approaching the door.”

“Then I will check outside to see if there are any more enemies. Call out to me when you go in.”

“Okay, be careful.”

With my MAC10 at the ready, I checked the front side for enemies. Among the incoming attackers, the front group was killed instantly because they had just passed through a narrow doorway in a long line. The middle row was seriously wounded and was breathing like an insect, while the back row had only been hit by stray bullets.

It was the back row who was crying the loudest. Whether it is a stray bullet or a well-aimed bullet, if it hits you, you will die. In fact, it was obvious that those in the back row would not survive.

The iron balls that were shot out penetrated through the soft-iron armor without difficulty. The front row was a literal beehive.

“…Ku, aaahhh!”

“Well, well, aren’t you the captain of the guard?”

I approach a middle-aged man who is lying in front of the door at the end of the line, blood spurting from his head. He is trying desperately to hold it back, but I can tell just by looking at him that it is too late.

“I was wondering if you were going to let your subordinates rush in and watch from a safe distance. I’m sorry your plan didn’t work out. You’re going to die.”

His blurry gaze turns toward me and widens slightly. It seems that he finally recognized me by my voice. Perhaps he is no longer blind.

“Y-you bastard… what are you…”

“Oh, you mean our purpose? We’re here to kill the bandit guild. You guys are just along for the ride.”

“Don’t… fuck… with…”

With a roar of rage, blood spurted from the side of his head, and the captain of the guard died.

The front side troops were annihilated by this. I stowed away all the dead bodies and peeked outside. When I opened the door, the old hag, who had been frozen in a posture with her hand on the knob, fell back, twitched, and convulsed, and then she died. There were no external injuries, so it appeared to be a shock death caused by the sound and shockwave.

“I guess her attachment to life was not as strong as her attachment to money.”

“Takifu.”

After a few gunshots, I heard Myrril’s voice calling out.

Something was wrong. I went back inside and headed for the back door. There was another body lying there, also eaten to pieces by an iron ball, and behind it was Myrril, holding a UZI. She is looking out the door, but I don’t see anyone beyond that point.

“Are there still enemies?”

“They are the exclusive observers. There were two of them. The other is hiding behind a hut.”

“Stay here.”

I teleported out the back door and onto the hut.

When I turned around, I saw a dead body in front of the hut. This must be the one Myrril killed. At the end of the bloodstains, a small man in a white winter coat crouched down. He was leaning against the wall at the back of the hut, breathing out short, heavy breaths. He had been hit in the left elbow, which seems to have injured a large blood vessel, and is bleeding heavily. Clearly, he does not have any more time to live.

“Hey.”

I called out to him from the top of the hut, and without a moment’s pause, he sent a throwing knife flying at me with his right hand. I dodged and teleported to the man’s side in a short-range teleport and shot him in the right shoulder with my MAC10. Even though I’m not a good shot, I wouldn’t miss if I could reach him.

“Gahh…”

The particular atmosphere of thin, quiet, and the yet awkward atmosphere was familiar to me.

“I was wondering if you might be the exclusive observer to whom I sent a message on the way up the hill?”

There was no answer to my question. He only looked at me with his clouded eyes. He was just like the little man I had seen in the prison of Sarz, Helgin, or something like that. After a lifetime in this particular line of work, they may all end up looking the same.

“Did you get my message?”

“…Do you think… you’ll get out of Roses alive…”

“Don’t worry about us. Twenty people are dead except for you. You, too, will be dead soon. But you won’t be lonely. The rest of your friends will soon follow.”

“…Kuh.”

The man’s head is blown off when his body shakes as he tries to move.

He tried to thrust it out with his crippled arm, and it rolled out of his left hand, a slender concealed knife similar to a kunai.

“Takifu, are you alright?”

“Of course, Mir. I got the other one, too. Let’s go inside.”

“Something’s coming from down the street.”

“Alright, let’s go around the front.”

I stowed all the bodies on the back side along with their equipment, and I took a couple of knives and slammed the back door shut with such force that it wouldn’t open.

“Tig.”

I went to the bottom of the stairs and called out to the Battlecry guys who were guarding the second floor.

“Takifu, are you alright?”

“Yes. The first group of 21, we killed all of them. The second group is coming, so please continue to guard Calmon and the others.”

“…O-ou.”

Myrril moved to the front side of the building and looked down the street from the side of the entrance.

“Is it the enemy?”

“It looks like it, but something is wrong. They stopped at about a hundred yards.”

About 30 meters, huh? They probably don’t think we can see them that far down the street, where there are no streetlights.

“Give me the M700.”

“Roger that.”

A sniper rifle with night vision and a silencer. After receiving it, Myrril aims it at the end of the street, holding it with only her arm strength, not even using a bipod.

“This is a weird story, Takifu.”

“Hmm?”

“I thought the residents might hear the commotion and come out or something.”

“Was it not?

“No, as far as I can see, they are residents. The problem is what they are holding in their hands. Those people…”

Myrril stared into the darkness with expressionless eyes and spat out in a low, cold, horrified voice.

“They use women and children as shields.”