*Whoooosh—*
A fierce sandstorm descended, violently rattling the windows of what was once the annex of Abydos High School but now served as its main campus. Apart from the main building, the grounds were already a wreck, buried in sand.
*Rumble, rumble, rumble—*
With a roar that seemed to shake the heavens and the earth, the window frames began to clatter as if in an earthquake. A girl, tapping away at her laptop while monitoring the view shared by a drone, let out a deep sigh.
The drone's vision was severely hampered by the sandstorm, but thanks to its thermal imaging camera, she could just barely distinguish a few important figures.
"Hoshino-sunbae... the desert monster has appeared. Its size is..."
[Now, now, Ayane-chan. Don't tremble so much. We have to do something about it, right?]
[Mm. I'll go in with the intent to break it.]
[No, no, Shiroko-chan. That might be a little too much, don't you think~? *Cough!* Ptooey! I'm wearing a mask, and it's still like this. I can't see well because of the sandstorm, but I think taking on a monster this big by ourselves will be a little tough.]
Beyond the sandstorm, a colossal shadow moved. Okusora Ayane, the girl at the laptop, confirmed that high-temperature energy was concentrating at one point and shouted urgently.
"High-temperature energy reading confirmed! Hoshino-sunbae, it's dangerous!"
[Whoa?! Nonomi-chan, get behind me!]
A heat ray, powerful enough to momentarily part the sandstorm, shot out. Beyond the cleared dust, a steel serpent revealed itself, its head positioned as high as a skyscraper, firing the beam.
Hoshino planted herself in front of Nonomi, her shield raised. And then...
*Zzzzzzzzzing—*
As the heat ray beat against Hoshino's shield, Nonomi, crouching as low as she could behind her, braced Hoshino with all her might to keep her from being pushed back, feeling the searing heat all over her body.
The intense heat melted the surrounding sand. Shiroko's drones fired at the head emitting the beam, but the serpent, as if merely tickled, didn't even flinch and continued to fire relentlessly at Hoshino.
[...It's having no effect.]
[Kgh. Still, I can hold out somehow... More importantly, how long is this laser going to keep firing?! It's insanely hot!]
"Fortunately, the energy reading is starting to subside. But how on earth are we supposed to drive away a monster like this..."
Just as Ayane was about to bite her nails without realizing it, Hoshino's voice cut through her thoughts. The senior in the most difficult position was comforting her junior.
[It's okay, Ayane-chan. This old man is going to get a little serious, so don't worry too much. Besides, it can't just keep firing a laser like this endlessly, right?] (TN: Hoshino refers to herself with "ajeossi/ojisan," a term for a middle-aged man, reflecting her lazy but experienced persona.)
The moment the heat ray stopped, Hoshino roughly wiped the sweat from her brow and ordered Nonomi to move to the side. Then, she started running forward at full speed.
Ahead of her, beyond the sandstorm that was beginning to obscure her vision again, the giant serpent... no, a dragon, was attempting to vanish, exuding an overwhelmingly intense presence.
[...I'm always grateful to you, Hoshino-sunbae.]
[Wh-What?! Saying something so embarrassing all of a sudden... Shiroko-chan, this old man finds this kind of atmosphere really uncomfortable.]
[That's why I won't send you alone.]
Belying her determination, Shiroko's eyes widened as she faintly saw a barrage of missiles being fired from the serpent's back. But even as she used her drones to try and shoot down some of the missiles, Shiroko also dashed forward without hesitation.
Nonomi, who had moved slightly to the side, took a position and fired at the serpent's head. She was within effective range, but the strong sandstorm cut her accuracy to less than half of what it usually was.
It was Shiroko who first climbed onto the massive body of the thing, which was hard to tell if it was a machine or a serpent. Noticing this, the serpent began to twist and thrash wildly to shake her off.
Hoshino, doing her best not to be thrown off while continuously pumping several shotgun shells into its body, saw the serpent's head begin to burrow into the ground.
[Shiroko-chan, get down!]
Hearing Hoshino, Shiroko quickly leaped off the serpent's body. The serpent moved at high speed, disappearing underground, only to burst out of the ground again a short distance away.
"Another high-temperature energy reading! Nonomi-sunbae, dodge!"
This time, the situation was doubly dangerous as Hoshino wasn't there to block the attack, but fortunately, Nonomi's reaction was swift. Dropping even her machine gun, she ran and threw herself to the side at the last second, escaping the heat ray's path.
[I-I'm okay!]
Taking this as an opportunity, Hoshino successfully got onto the serpent's body. Glancing at the serpent's attack aimed at Nonomi, Hoshino shoved her gun into a gap in her harness, returned her shield to its original form, and began to run at full speed toward its head.
Her odd-colored eyes, usually relaxed and full of leisure, now shimmered with a cold light.
[Draw its attention for a bit, Shiroko.]
[Okay. Got it, Hoshino-sunbae.]
Paying no mind to Hoshino's chillingly calm voice and her change in address, Shiroko raised the altitude of her drones as high as possible to attract the serpent's attention. Taking advantage of the opening, Hoshino ran without pause until she met a steep incline, but her charge did not stop.
Even after reaching a slope too steep to run up, Hoshino took a few more running steps and began a difficult climb.
Meanwhile, another heat ray was fired at Shiroko, who was doing her best to draw its attention, directly refuting Hoshino's earlier statement that "it can't just keep firing a laser like this endlessly." Fortunately, Shiroko managed to escape safely, and in the process of firing the beam, a path with a runnable incline was created right in front of where Hoshino was clinging.
The path that opened before Hoshino, who had been repeatedly clenching her teeth and pulling herself up, breaking her nails and bleeding as she forced her way up a section with few handholds, was bad news for the serpent but a blessing for the Foreclosure Task Force.
Finally standing on the serpent's head, Hoshino hung on to the edge of its head with one hand. The serpent's eye finally turned backward, recognizing Hoshino's presence.
[Get lost.]
With her free hand, Hoshino drew the shotgun she had wedged into her harness and aimed it at the serpent's eye.
In the blink of an eye, four consecutive shots struck the serpent's eye directly.
*Kieeeeeeeeeeeek—*
"H-Hoshino-sunbae!"
As the giant serpent thrashed, shaking the very earth, Shiroko kicked off from where she stood and ran. She pushed her legs until her heart felt like it would burst, heading toward the spot where the precariously clinging Hoshino was falling.
And, barely managing to catch Hoshino, Shiroko took a couple more steps, staggered, and collapsed onto the ground.
Behind them, the serpent's colossal body vanished as if it had never been there in the first place. Leaving a rhythmic tremor in its wake, it moved away from Abydos High School... and from the not-so-distant city center.
"The desert monster... is retreating. To think they succeeded in repelling it with just three people..."
Looking at the evidence of what had just transpired before her, Ayane muttered in disbelief. It was that surreal of a sight.
[Ouchie... You're amazing, Shiroko-chan. This old man was really counting on you.]
[Mm... *cough*.]
With the desert monster's retreat, the sandstorm subsided just a little. But the storm would soon begin again. Recently, the greatest threat to Abydos was nature itself.
Thinking of Serika, who had gone to her part-time job and gotten stranded by the storm, Ayane felt relieved that things hadn't taken a strange turn for the worse. If Serika had encountered that monster, it would have been a true disaster.
But things couldn't go on like this. They had managed it once, but they couldn't guarantee a second or third time.
Recalling the rumors that had recently begun to spread about the 'Federal Investigation Club, SCHALE,' Ayane slowly began to write a letter.
[Shiroko-sunbae, let's hurry back and get some... Kyaa?! Sunbae, let's go treat your hands first!]
[Uhe~ Trading a few fingernails to drive off that monster seems like a pretty good deal, don't you think? Good work, everyone.]
This was the first encounter between the Abydos Foreclosure Task Force and Binah, the Third Prophet of the Decagrammaton.
***