Chapter 173: The Battle Has Already Begun (1)

The following night. In front of Colt’s hideout, we decided to split the group into two units as planned. Colt, Eich, engineer Caron, and Father Luke went directly to the casino. Seiya, Celseus and I were supposed to head to the sniper point on the hill.

About 15 minutes ago, Colt and the others got in their car and left the garage. After that, I waited at the hideout until Seiya gave the OKAY signal, and then I opened the gate with a shortcut that would take us to the sniper point.

…All was good for now…

I thought about it as I exited the gate. As a goddess, I was reluctant to participate in the assassination of the town mayor, Bunos, as part of a group of terrorists. However, I remembered the poorly dressed children I saw yesterday, and repeated in my mind that we had to save this twisted world. Somehow, I convinced myself.

「Let’s go. Celseus, you go first. 」

「Ye…yes…! 」

At Seiya’s request, Celseus, who had strengthened up, moved his own wheelchair, and went through the gate. Seiya and I followed suit.

A cold night wind was blowing on the deserted hill. Even though there were no lights, the area was bright because the huge casino in the distance was shining with magical lights.

The combination of this night breeze and my own nervousness made my body tremble.

「Hey, Celseus. Aren’t you cold? 」

「I don’t know exactly since my body is rock-solid. 」

「I see. That’s good. 」

「What…? Why do you think it’s good? I can’t move because I’m rock-solid, so how is that good… Hey, are you listening? Hey? 」

I ignored Celseus and looked at Seiya. Perhaps Seiya was also cold since he covered his body with the cloak of the earth wizard, something that was common from Exfolia. When I said to him, 「It’s cold, I wish you could share your cloak with me. 」, he looked at me like dead-fish looking eyes and replied, 「Shut up. There’s no room for you. 」 How was there no room for the two of us, c’mon!

Seiya set the rifle that Colt entrusted to him in the designated position and began to prepare for his sniper job. Meanwhile, I looked up at the casino’s rooftop. My eyes, which had better eyesight than humans, could see dozens of people dressed in gowns and tuxedos. They were probably wealthy people living in the Principality of Galvano. They were chatting around the table, unaware of the tragedy that was about to happen.

Next to me, Celseus was also observing the casino’s rooftop.

「I’ve been wondering…how does Bunos looks like in the first place? 」

「Based on Colt’s information, Bunos looks like a big, fat guy. 」

If Duke Leon, the head of the Principality of Galvano, was truly the Grand Leon we knew from Exfolia, then Bunos was his subordinate, the pig beastman Bunogeos. Yes, Bunogeos was the hateful pig beastman who tried to eat me after capturing me and managed to say something like, 「This goddess…Why do you smell so sour? 」, meaning that if Bunos was truly that hateful beast, then it would be a little more comfortable to accept him as the assassination target.

As I was thinking about this, I suddenly noticed that Seiya was taking his eyes off the scope of his rifle.

「What’s wrong, Seiya? 」

While Seiya remained silent, I heard a cracking sound from behind. The sound of trampling on the grass could be heard from all directions!

「Eh, what!? 」

「Wha…what!? 」

The surprising voices of both Celseus and I were muffled by the sound of wild, roaring laughter.

「Buhabuhahaha!! I’m not on the rooftop of my casino no matter how much you search!! 」

Blood rushed from all over my body! The man who appeared in front of us was so huge that I thought he was 200 kilometers tall! The expensive-looking tuxedo looked like it was going to burst open. His greasy, disgusting face reminded me of the pig beastman Bunogeos I once saw in Exfolia.

「Mayor Bunos!? No way!! 」

I screamed out loud. Furthermore, around him were roughly ten men wearing black suits and holding firearms that resembled machine guns. We were surrounded before we knew it.

「Why!? Why are you here!? 」

Seeing Celseus in dismay, Bunos laughed happily.

「You damn terroristsssss! Your plan has totally faileddddd! 」

Bunos pointed at the night sky with his thick index finger. Then, with a sound of insect wings, a black object flew from the sky and landed at Bunos’ feet. Bunos’ mouth distorted into an evil grin in front of a machine with a small propeller.

「Buhabuhahaha! It’s a small, unmanned scouting aircraft that I’ve developed! 」

「Dro…Drone!? 」

「Seriously!? 」

I shouted along with Celseus. The…There were even drones in this world!? No…Bunos had said the words “I’ve developed”!

「There’s no way we wouldn’t notice you! The latest scouting weapon, which has not yet been used in combat, watched your movements from above! 」

「Then, that means you monitored our actions yesterday…! 」

「That’s right!! The battle has already begun when you guys were leisurely planning your strategy right here last night! 」

Bunos let out a loud voice filled with extreme joy. And I was horrified.

Did he say, 『The battle has already begun』!? Bunogeos…no, I couldn’t believe Bunos read our movements in advance! But this was a twisted world with a SS+ difficulty level after all!!

I glanced at Seiya while breathing heavily. As usual, he wasn’t too upset. I could see the reason why. It would be worrying if these people got bullets embedded with the Chain Destruction, but we had the hardened Celseus. Daunting Pose could protect us from enemy attacks.

…But in a situation where we were surrounded by many people, could we block all of the machine gun’s bullets…?

「Uhhh…! 」

I couldn’t help but groan. In any case, the plan failed. Bunos didn’t seem to doubt his superiority and looked at the rooftop of his casino while humming.

「You guys can turn into a beehive at any time, so I’ll snipe the idiots from here first! 」

After hearing Bunos’ words, a man in a black suit holding a rifle took a step forward. Unlike the other guys in suits, this particular man had scopes on both eyes.

「This guy has bat abilities! He’s an amazing sniper who uses ultrasonic waves to narrow down his aim and increase his accuracy! Ahahah! 」

This…This was the worst! Beyond ourselves, Colt and the others were in danger!

「It’s so idiotic to be targeted by a sniper when you are a sniper yourself! Ahahah! 」

After hearing Bunos’ laughter, the sniper raised his mouth with a smile and walked over to the sniping point where Seiya was once preparing.

But on that moment! A single gunshot rang out through the night on this hill! I trembled, thinking that someone from the enemy had opened fire, but…

「Wha…wha…what!? 」

Bunos was also shaken and looked at the sniper who held bat abilities. The sniper, who was trying to aim at the casino’s rooftop, collapsed on the spot and didn’t move.

「Huh!? Blood!? 」

Celseus noticed it and raised his voice. There was heavy bleeding from the man’s head. Moreover, his eyes visible under the scopes had dilated pupils.

「Is…is he dead!? …Kyahhh!! 」

A series of gunshots rang out, and I instinctively put my hands on my head. When the gunshots stopped, I looked up and saw the men in black suits lying on the ground.

…Wha…what on earth was going on!?

「…I wonder who’s the one who got shot down first. 」

I heard a familiar voice and turned around. My eyes widened when I saw Colt standing with a gentle smile on his face but holding a smoking gun in his hand.

「Brother, they called us idiots. But who is the idiot now? 」

Eich also showed a smile while holding a gun. Furthermore, Caron and Father Luke were also there, holding guns like Eich and Colt. Bunos let out an angry voice.

「Ah, you bastards!! Weren’t you supposed to be in the casino right now!? 」

I also didn’t understand why they were here.

「That’s right!! Weren’t you guys supposed to lead Bunos inside the casino? 」

「Yes. We had that plan just moments ago. But…」

I was shocked to see a pseudo-creature peeking out from Colt’s chest when he spoke.

「An…An earth snake!? 」

The earth snake that Seiya had often kept in my body when I was in Exfolia was now sitting in Colt’s chest like a pet. The earth snake had a piece of paper in its mouth.

「I’ve got a message from Mister Seiya. It says, 『There’s a risk of information leak. Change of plans. Everyone gather at the sniper point. 』」

Bunos heard Colt’s words and raised his deep voice.

「You were aware of our presence!? That’s impossible!! My latest scouting weapon is something no one knows about!! How do you know it’s taking aerial photographs!? 」

Then, Seiya finally opened his mouth while staring at Bunos with cold eyes.

「Drones are common in the world I live in. I always thought about the possibility of aerial photographs. 」

「Ah, that’s right! Seiya has Automatic Phoenix! So, you flew it into the sky and confirmed there was a drone spying on us! 」

I suddenly had that idea and professed it out loud, but Seiya denied it immediately.

「The Automatic Phoenix is a good preventive measure, but if the enemy’s drone had already started taking aerial shots, then the Automatic Phoenix would end up being useless. Therefore, I didn’t use the Automatic Phoenix. 」

「What…? The…Then, did you make a change of plans just because of a “possibility”? 」

「That’s correct. 」

I was stunned when I heard this hero’s words. No, no, wait a second…what would he do if there was no drone in the first place…?

I couldn’t help but feel that Seiya had some sort of illness or delusion. But the drone was actually real. And, thanks to Seiya’s quick thinking, all the men with black suits and machine guns were defeated, and Bunos was surrounded by Eich and the other members of our party. The situation of the battle suddenly changed in our favor.

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