66. Ancient Ruins (2)

※Below was translated by Sephallia. Thank you very much.

What appeared looked something like a flattened cylinder, or perhaps multiple round trays stacked on top of one another. On the front, facing us, there was a part that seemed to serve as its eyes and additional holes on both of its sides.

“Lambert-san, would I be right in thinking this is an enemy?”

“Yeah. It’s a self-operating maintenance and guard robot.”

The word robot sounded familiar to me. I’d heard Mother Rei mention it before. Apparently in the Science Loop, they had similar shaped machinery that would automatically clean for them. Cleaning robots colloquially referred to as roombas, or something.

“Wait… weren’t y’all saying that they wouldn’t come after us if we didn’t trigger any traps!?”

“S-Simone-chan, step back and stay with Lambert-san!”

Both Lily-sama and I stepped forward to confront the enemy, I made sure to keep my guard up.

“Might there be any chance you’d simply let us through?”

“Verifying… Unable to match with registered staff. Unauthorized guests, you must leave at once.”

“Unfortunately we have business further in.”

“Warning. If the unauthorized guests do not leave, the use of force will be deemed necessary.”

“Hah, you say that, but that one shot at us earlier, no questions asked.”

When I mentioned that, the sound of an explosion could be heard deeper in the corridor.

“The unit which violated protocols has been discarded. This is your second warning. Leave at once.”

“Even if you say that…”

When I brandished my sword, holding it ready, a high pitched screech pierced the air.

“―!?”

It seemed that screech acted something like a horn being sounded to alert the rest of a fort to trouble. We watched as a gap formed in the wall and like-shaped enemies poured out one after another.

“This is your final warning. Leave at once.”

“… Lily-sama, are you ready?”

“L-Looks a little tough, but yes.”

“Then… Let’s do this!”

“Right!”

I leaped forward.

“Hostile action detected. Eliminating threats.”

With that, the robots fired bullets one after another. Taking evasive measures I dodged some of the bullets while cutting others down with my sword. I managed to close the distance and slashed at one of them.

However―

“How frustrating!”

Lambert-san said they were like bows that operated automatically. Fighting them now, I could see he was exactly right. They weren’t alive, so they didn’t possess a will or intentions. That meant they also could not possess murderous intent. To make things even worse, they didn’t have an obvious wind-up like a bow would either. All of these factors made their attacks awfully difficult to read.

“Lily-sama, it looks like I’ll have to rely entirely on sight. Don’t let them in our blindspots!”

“R-Right.”

In a fight with other humans, being able to detect their presence could allow me to react even when attacked from a blindspot, but that didn’t apply to this enemy. When being shot from a blindspot, if the shot was made far enough away, I could react to the sound and dodge… but that wasn’t possible from a close distance. As a result, the only sense I could rely on here was my sight.

That said, Lily-sama and I both had lots of combat experience. Using that, we rapidly adapted to these robots as well. While dodging these bullets would be impossible for a normal person, Lily-sama and I both possessed nearly supernatural reflexes and control of our bodies. As we continued to fight, we not only relied on our sight but also the subtle displacements in the air and sounds. With that, we avoided direct hits while cutting down robots one after another.

At first, the feedback we felt from our cuts also just felt dull and hard, but as we adjusted we started aiming for the connecting joints on their armor or thinner sections in general. The only concern was whether or not we'd be able to maintain our concentration and stamina throughout the fight.

“Alea-chan, hold out for just a little more!”

“Dad!?”

Lambert-san made a rush for the wall and seemed to be operating some sort of device.

“Do you have a plan―?”

“I might be able to stop them!”

I didn’t understand what Lambert-san was getting at, but I had no choice but to trust him. No matter how many of them we seemed to cut down, more and more poured out from the walls replacing them. There was no doubt we’d lose in a battle of attrition.

“Analysis complete. Priorities have been reassigned. Concentrate attacks on specimen #1, provisional identifier: swordswoman.”

“!?”

“A-Alea-chan!”

The enemy’s movements starkly changed. Up until now they’d divided their attacks evenly among the four of us. It seemed they’d determined that wasn’t getting them anywhere, so they decided to concentrate their attacks on just me.

“Lambert-san, could you please hurry!? I won’t last much longer!”

“Just a little more!”

Their bullets were beginning to land, but I was still managing to just barely defend my vitals. Unfortunately, that also meant I was now entirely on defense.

“Suggestion raised… acknowledged. Changing from physical bullets to magical bullets.”

“―!”

This meant I couldn’t rely on the sound of the bullet being fired anymore. If, just if, I were able to rely on my colorlessness, there wouldn’t be anything to worry about but―!

“Alea-chan, swap positions with me!”

“I won’t make it!”

“Dad!”

“It’ll be okay, just finishing up―!”

With that, Lambert-san hit one last button and the enemy robots all came to a complete stop. The area had become exceedingly quiet, as if the conflict that had just taken place had never happened.

“I-I’m saved…”

“T-That was close…”

Quite honestly, if Lambert-san had taken just a few seconds longer, there’s the chance both Lily-sama and I would’ve gone down. While Lily-sama could heal herself with her own magic, she couldn’t have sustained herself in a fight like that for very long.

“Lambert-san you really came through.”

“W-We owe you our lives…!”

“But dad, what did you do?”

“It’s a technique they call hacking, but I managed to steal the privileges to control them.”

Hacking…?

“Is that a kind of magic?”

“No, it’s a technique invented in the Science Loop. It doesn’t require any magic, and is primarily a physical phenomenon.”

“B-But it seemed even more magic than using magic itself.”

“Dad… you’re so cool…”

We couldn’t quite wrap our heads around what the technique was, but Lambert-san said it operated on a similar principle to Manaria-sama’s Spell Breaker.

“That said, the control key is different for each floor, so I’ll need Alea-chan and Lily-sama to buy me the time I need to crack it.”

“That’ll be no problem for us.”

“L-Lily will do her best too!”

Just as our conversation seemed to settle,

“Feels like I’m the only one who’s no help… sorry.”

Simone said that while forcing a smile.

“Just what are you saying? Simone there’s a huge job only you can do waiting for you at the end, right?”

“T-That’s right. Simone-chan, if you weren’t here with us, we wouldn’t have been able to put together our plan to explore this dungeon in the first place.”

“Sure, sure, maybe that’s true, but I can’t help but think… If only I were stronger…”

I could understand what Simone was saying, I could, but…

“It’s all about having the right person for the right role, Simone.”

“Alea…”

“We often find ourselves relying on you. Like with studies or for our day to day stuff at the academy. Mei’s not here with us now, but I’m sure she’d agree. In our group of four, you’re often the one taking the lead for us.”

“… Is that really how it was?”

“Your modesty isn’t doing you any favors in this scenario, you know? Looking at it from the other angle, the only thing you seem to lack is combat strength. Simone, you have plenty of strengths that are solely yours.”

“T-That’s exactly right!”

With Lily-sama and I both in clear agreement, Simone’s expression seemed to soften slightly.

“Argh~! This isn’t like me at all!”

With that, she slapped each of her cheeks.

“Sorry! I just wasted our time on something I shouldn’t have even brought up! Anyway, simply put we’ve gotta explore the dungeon and pick up the core. My stupid sense of inferiority doesn’t matter.”

“… I see, so even you struggle with a sense of inferiority sometimes.”

“Just what do you mean by that!?”

“T-That’s right, Alea-chan, Simone-chan is a sensitive individual.”

“W-When put like that, that’s also embarrassing in its own way…”

As the three of us just about wrapped up that conversation,

“We should get moving. Like I said I’ve hacked the robots, but the effect will only last for so long. I’d like to move on to the next floor before control is restored.”

“Understood. Alright everyone, let’s keep our guard up and press on.”

“P-Please leave our rear to Lily.”

“Please do, Lily-sama.”

As we settled into a formation, Lambert-san rejoined Simone and said,

“You’ve made some good friends.”

As he spoke, he smiled at Simone and in response,

“Yeah, they’re the best.”

Simone smiled back.