"Still no leads at all?"
With a casual strike, Utsunomiya Taiji took out a Gastrea that got too close and asked the others on the team in a low, heavy voice.
They'd been inside the Unexplored Area for so long, yet the mission still hadn't made any tangible progress. It was only making Utsunomiya Taiji more and more impatient.
"You three—have you even been taking this mission seriously?"
"If you're so pissed off, then you do it yourself!"
Takatsukasa Eika snapped back without the slightest fear. Status-wise, she was about the same as him—both of them were "tools that happen to be pretty useful," so she had no reason to be intimidated by Utsunomiya Taiji.
With nothing turning up this whole time, Eika was even more anxious than he was. Anyone with eyes could tell how seriously the people upstairs were taking this incident—four precious mechanized super soldiers had been sent out at once. If they couldn't produce results, there was a huge chance they'd be judged as failures and discarded.
"Hmph! The assignment is what it is. Even if you don't like it, it won't change." Utsunomiya Taiji raised his chin and spoke down at her. "We may both be 'New Humans,' but I'm a new-generation model with integrated search-and-combat functions. I'm not the same as you old-generation units!"
"Heh."
Eika felt nothing but contempt for that.
These super soldiers were actually test subjects of the "New World Creation Plan." And though the predecessor of the "New World Creation Plan" had been called the "New Human Creation Plan," Eika wasn't about to treat herself like a "New Human" the way Utsunomiya Taiji did. In her eyes, they were nothing more than experimental products from before "New Humans"—"tools that happen to be pretty useful," driven around at someone else's whim.
All of these super soldiers were equipped with ultra-high-precision instruments. But what they were facing was Nursery Rhyme, who could erase existence and memory outright. Against a "fairy tale" that didn't obey reality's physical laws at all, even the most precise instruments would only become scrap.
So Nursery Rhyme chose to appear before them herself.
"Welcome, strangers. What do you want with Nursery Rhyme? Do you want to play with Nursery Rhyme?"
Her sudden appearance startled them.
One of the mission targets had shown up on her own?
Eika and the others compared Nursery Rhyme's appearance with the intel they'd received earlier and confirmed her identity.
"Hahaha! First time I've seen a target this stupid." Utsunomiya Taiji clenched his fist, loosened it, then clenched again. His modified mechanical eye had already locked onto Nursery Rhyme. "Coming out by yourself—saves us the trouble of searching…"
"Don't act rashly." Otagawa Yuya—the last super soldier—stopped Utsunomiya Taiji and reminded him in a low voice. "Don't forget: she's only the secondary target. We still haven't even seen the primary target."
Utsunomiya Taiji frowned. "Take the secondary target first, then get intel on the primary target out of her mouth. Isn't that fine? She's just a little girl."
"Try other methods first. If that doesn't work, then we do it your way."
On the other side, Takatsukasa Eika had already started engaging Nursery Rhyme.
"Onee-san, you're really pretty."
"Mhm! What a sweet mouth you have, little girl. You're really cute too. I'm sure when you grow up, you'll be even prettier than me."
Eika put on a gentle smile meant to close distance quickly and asked Nursery Rhyme warmly, "Why are you here, little one? This forest is dangerous, you know?"
"Because you're looking for Nursery Rhyme, right?" Nursery Rhyme's eyes sparkled, as if the stars of the night sky had all fallen into them. "I saw you staying near our home and not leaving, like you were searching for someone. Are you looking for Nursery Rhyme? Are you kind onii-sans and onee-sans who want to play with Nursery Rhyme?"
"Near your home?"
A flicker of confusion passed through Eika's eyes.
Wasn't this the Unexplored Area? How did it turn into "near your home"?
They'd searched around here with this many people for so long, and they hadn't seen anywhere suitable to live—no signs of people living here, no traces of human activity at all.
If humans had been moving around or living nearby, there was no way the traces could've slipped past the devices implanted in their bodies.
Those doubts were pushed aside in an instant. Eika didn't let anything show on her face.
"But actually, we didn't come looking for Nursery Rhyme. We came looking for Scorpio-chan—a little girl with long aqua-blue hair, about your age. Have you seen her?"
"Huh? You didn't come to play with Nursery Rhyme?" Nursery Rhyme frowned a little, putting on a pitiful expression. Then she continued, "Scorpio-chan… are you people Scorpio-chan knows?"
"Yes, yes!" Eika nodded hard, overjoyed. "Can you take us to her?"
At that, Nursery Rhyme looked troubled again.
"But I still don't know whether you're good people or bad people. Lots of people have taught Nursery Rhyme that she can't let bad people into the house."
"How could we possibly be bad people?"
"But… you won't even play a game with Nursery Rhyme."
Eika turned her head to glance at Toyama Hiroki. Seeing him shrug, she faced Nursery Rhyme again and asked gently, "Then if we're willing to play a game with you, you'll take us to see Scorpio-chan. Okay?"
"Mhm! Okay…"
Nursery Rhyme nodded with an innocent smile.
But Utsunomiya Taiji didn't agree.
His patience had been worn down to nothing.
"What the hell?! We're noble 'New Humans'! Why should we play games with some brat? 'Bald Eagle'—do you even know we're on a mission right now?! You're wasting our precious time on something this pointless?!"
Utsunomiya Taiji didn't want to keep playing house with them and wasting time.
His boots pounded the mud as he suddenly lunged forward, one big hand reaching out to grab Nursery Rhyme.
All at once, Toyama Hiroki's mechanical artificial eye seemed to catch something, and he hurriedly warned Utsunomiya Taiji as he closed in fast.
"Watch your step!"
Toyama Hiroki's and Utsunomiya Taiji's tactical-support artificial eyes weren't that different in performance. The difference was their raw reaction speed. The moment Hiroki's warning rang out, Utsunomiya Taiji also spotted the anomaly beneath the soil through his eye.
BANG!
A hand suddenly shot up from the ground.
Because he'd noticed in time, Utsunomiya Taiji didn't let his leg get grabbed—he stomped down hard instead. Muscles reinforced with carbon nanotubes boosted that stomp's force to a terrifying level.
Utsunomiya Taiji was completely confident—let alone a hand, even an armored vehicle would be badly deformed under that kick!
But in reality, his strike was stopped.
The gauntleted hand and Utsunomiya Taiji's blow locked for only an instant. Then, because he lacked a solid point of leverage, Utsunomiya Taiji was lifted off the ground by that hand and shoved back.
He stumbled back several steps, shock written all over his face.
And under everyone's gaze, a knight in imposing black armor crawled up out of the earth.
That absurd entrance, and that medieval armor completely out of place in modern society—some of them almost thought they were looking at an undead soldier summoned by a necromancer.
And… catching a super soldier's reinforced kick with a bare arm and coming out unscathed clearly wasn't something a normal person could do, either.
"Meow~~"
A cat's cry came from somewhere—eerily out of place in the dim surroundings.
Then, a group of soldiers emerged from the bushes around them.
They were all rectangular flat boards with hands and feet stuck to the four corners. Among them were ones holding spears, ones holding bows, ones with spiked clubs, and ones with sword and shield.
While the black knight drew everyone's attention, these soldiers approached Nursery Rhyme respectfully, shielding her behind them as they leveled spears, swords, clubs, and arrows at the group.
"Let's play a game together. Beneath this bright and pitch-black sky, atop mountains piled high with candy and skulls, let's play hide-and-seek—until only one person remains. No matter how painful it gets, you're not allowed to stop moving…"
From behind her ace soldiers, Nursery Rhyme spoke with a smile. Her voice was lovely, like a cheerful oriole on a branch, yet some indescribable, uncanny presence seemed to seep into the air—sending chills down spines and raising gooseflesh.
"I cordially invite you to join this cycle of mad love, this fairy tale of black salvation. Guided by the green fairy, go to the end of despair and search for me (Alice)…"
"This is hide-and-seek—just for me and you~~"
"As long as you can find me (Alice), you'll be the winners of this game. And when that happens, every prayer you've ever had, I will grant for you. Every beautiful dream you've ever dreamed, I will make it come true."
After saying all that, Nursery Rhyme turned and prepared to leave.
Once they snapped out of it, there was no way they were going to let her go.
"What the hell are you even babbling about?! You creepy little brat, acting all mysterious—I'll make you pay!"
Utsunomiya Taiji roared as he charged forward, like sheer aggression could drive away the swamp-deep insecurity in his chest.
The black knight swung his greatsword, stepped in front of him, and engaged him head-on.
One of the organization members traveling with Toyama Hiroki's group raised a handgun, aimed at the departing Nursery Rhyme, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
BANG!
BANG!
There were two blasts.
The first was the gunshot—the gunpowder detonating, the high-temperature, high-pressure gas driving the bullet out of the muzzle.
The second was an arrow knocking that bullet aside—then continuing on to blow open the shooter's skull.
Staring at the ace soldier who had fired that arrow, the people of Goshoukai instantly blue-screened.
Bro, did you just swat a bullet away with a bow? And the arrow still had enough momentum left to blow up a normal person's head?
Did we just get isekai'd into a fantasy world or something? We didn't even see a big delivery truck earlier!
Meanwhile, the longer Utsunomiya Taiji fought the black knight, the colder his blood ran.
This freak's raw strength was only slightly worse than his, but that refined technique—he was better by who even knew how many leagues!
Used to crushing opponents with brute force—one power shattering all—Utsunomiya Taiji felt an extremely terrifying pressure in this fight… the kind where one moment of carelessness meant getting your head cut off.
"You three! Someone help me! This tin can's a tough one!"
"Hold on yourself!" Eika's reply came from not far away. "We can't spare hands over here either!"
Eika was currently fighting several ace soldiers, two short swords in her hands flashing into arcs of light.
She'd wanted to go straight for Nursery Rhyme, but these ace soldiers—while their raw stats didn't compare to the black knight—worked together with tight coordination. Eika couldn't break through them to pursue Nursery Rhyme at all.
Otagawa Yuya and Toyama Hiroki had also each engaged several ace soldiers. In one-on-one fights, these ace soldiers crushed the ordinary organization members who'd come with them; only mechanized super soldiers like them could take on multiple at once.
If they didn't take out the ace soldiers in front of them, forget grabbing Nursery Rhyme—they couldn't even support the others.
After defeating the ace soldiers before them, Eika, Otagawa Yuya, and Toyama Hiroki finally had an opening to support the remaining organization members—and Utsunomiya Taiji, who was barely holding on under the black knight's fierce assault.
In the end, Utsunomiya Taiji, Otagawa Yuya, and Toyama Hiroki worked together and defeated the black knight.
Otagawa Yuya used the same repulsion force field as Hiruko Kagetane to block the black knight's attack. Utsunomiya Taiji and Toyama Hiroki seized the opening and slammed in with two heavy punches at the same time. The black knight was launched back, crashed through several trees, and collapsed onto the ground—never rising again.
When the fighting was over, two-thirds of the ordinary organization members had been killed by the ace soldiers. Of the four super soldiers, only Utsunomiya Taiji had taken some injuries.
"You actually made me bleed… I'm going to tear that bastard to pieces! Grind every bone in his body down, bit by bit!"
Utsunomiya Taiji walked toward the motionless black knight, intending to vent his rage on him.
The next second, the black knight on the ground suddenly "burst" apart.
"Meow~~~"
"Meow~~~"
"Meow~~~"
One kitten after another crawled out from inside the black knight. Under Utsunomiya Taiji's stunned stare, they scattered into the dense woods, vanishing in the blink of an eye—leaving only a suit of black armor lying on the ground, empty.
So the powerful black knight they'd needed three super soldiers to take down… wasn't a person, but a bunch of kittens?
What kind of joke is that—?!
Toyama Hiroki's pupils suddenly shrank. He snapped his head toward the ace soldiers lying collapsed around them.
The next second, scorching flames erupted across those ace soldiers—and in an instant, they were reduced to piles of ash.
"Damn it… what the hell is this?!"
A series of impossible things had happened right in front of them. A strange, indescribable sense of wrongness settled over their hearts, and the anxiety lurking deep inside kept swelling.
But they didn't abandon the mission.
Otherwise, how were they supposed to report back to the higher-ups paying attention to this operation? That the black knight who could press super soldiers was actually a bunch of kittens? Or that a bunch of playing-card-looking soldiers, with outdated bows and spears and spiked clubs, had slaughtered them?
They'd be treated like lunatics.
So they could only follow the direction Nursery Rhyme had left in and keep searching.
They left the ordinary organization members behind. If enemies like those ace soldiers appeared again, those normal members would only be dead weight.
Maybe because she hadn't left long ago, the traces she'd left were remarkably clear. Following the trail, Toyama Hiroki and the others made their way to a cave.
A nauseating stench of rot filled the cave. The deeper they went, the stronger it became.
"Are we sure this isn't a mistake? Did that little brat really go in here?" Toyama Hiroki asked, pinching his nose.
"Don't ask me. I can't stand this smell more than you can." Eika spoke with a grim face. "The equipment in my head shouldn't be wrong—and besides… this is our only lead. Did we find any other traces along the way?"
All at once, the four of them stopped and shifted into fighting stances.
They'd all heard something. In a sealed environment like this, even the smallest sound was amplified several times over.
"Rats," Otagawa Yuya said.
"A lot of rats!!" Toyama Hiroki added, his face turning ashen as he looked at the rat swarm charging toward them.
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T/N: there 2 chapters, courtesy of eigo :D anyway ummm really unconfident about my translation idk if anything is correct...
(THATS PAST ME AGAIN, I BARELY READ COMMENTS! I WONT BE ABLE TO CORRECT ANYTHING UNLESS U YELL AT ME ON DISCORD OR PATREON)