It was not because of the oddity of the situation that they shuddered. After all, they had not even been given the time to process that oddity.
The reason for their shudder was because the voice had suddenly come from behind them.
Almost by reflex, they took out their weapons and turned around, but…
「「「Slow！」」」
The people behind them were much faster and before they could turn around, they cried out in pain and were shot down to the ground.
As the sound of their crash resounded, a small crater formed and the three students could be seen in it.
“Ku, u, w-what’s going on!? Someone seems to have gotten us from behind, but the radar didn’t show anything at all!” Youko said.
“Nee-chan, this isn’t good. Our wings got taken out. We won’t be able to fly properly…” Yousuke said.
The impact of their crash was absorbed by their exoskeletons, so they were hurt a lot less than it looked, but the attack they received from behind heavily damaged their wings.
Because of that, although they might still be able to fly, fighting in the air was no longer an option.
“That’s a problem too, but… What was that all about?”
Although Ryou acknowledged the ‘problem,’ he looked up suspiciously at the shadow above.
After confirming the enemy that the sensors couldn’t pick up, the Senba siblings looked up too, and when they saw the figure, they became shocked.
“What? But we were sent falling down at the same time in different directions, right?”
“…At the very least, our backs weren’t pointed at the same direction.”
“Right, but if that’s true, then how come there’s only
The person was wearing an exoskeleton with dark red visor and a blue-metallic armor.
The sharp design gave the impression of the military, but regardless, only one person had attacked them.
“Hmph, Earthling brats. Don’t be so full of yourselves just because you won against that little toy. Let me teach you what a real battle is like.”
The enemy that sent them to the ground literally looked down at them.
Before those evidently hostile words, the three students stood up and braced themselves.
But because of the difference in their understanding of the situation, there was a stark difference in their state of mind.
The Senba siblings were elated to be able to fight against a real soldier because they still believed this to be part of the exam, but Ryou was just nervous because he knew this was a battle against a real terrorist.
Although he’s fought with plenty of raybeasts, he rarely had mock battles with other humans.
He himself wanted to spar with other people, but his terrible behavior that stemmed from his grades gave him few opportunities to do so.
“…That’s why you want me to prioritize destroying the devices? Don’t look down on me. I’d understand running if it was against dozens of them, but if it’s just one, I can win!”
Frustrated as he recalled his lack of combat experience against other people being seen through, he yelled and lifted his great sword.
Fighting in the air wasn’t possible, so he kicked off against the ground to try and knock the opponent down too, but…
Suddenly, a scream resounded from behind, and he was forced to stop.
“Oh, no! The others!”
The three of them were too focused on the enemy before them that they’d forgotten about the rest of class 2 – B, who were cheering them just earlier.
They too had been attacked by enemies that couldn’t be picked up by the sensors.
“Damn it, Shinguuji! It’s because you had to say all that stuff!” Youko said it.
“That was an unnecessary flag,” Yousuke said.
“You’re making this out to be my fault!?” Ryou said.
Around 20 people, who’ve been hiding somewhere all this time, suddenly appeared and attacked their classmates, who were equipped only with simple exoskeletons.
Because the three people that could be called their representatives were suddenly shot down, the class of 2 – B panicked and they couldn’t react fast enough. As a result, they were now completely on the defensive.
“Nee-chan, we need to hurry up and provide cover for them!” Yousuke said.
“Hey, hey, don’t forget about me,” said a voice from the side as their enemy sent out an attack.
Yousuke immediately blocked it with his Tekkou, but the attack went through it and he was sent flying.
“GAH!?” Yousuke said.
“Yousuke!!” Youko said.
“That’s why you shouldn’t be looking somewhere else in the middle of a battle,” the enemy said.
But Ryou and Youko weren’t even given the time to swallow their breath. It was true that the siblings were near each other, but it was still too fast.
That enemy, who’d just sent Yousuke flying with a Hammer-Type weapon, was suddenly standing beside Youko with a blade.
” ‘Prote—‘ ”
“Too slow!”
She tried to use a defensive skill, but it couldn’t make it in time before the enemy’s sword drew a stroke.
“KU!!”
She managed to receive that attack with her own blade, but the attack was so strong that she only ended up being pushed.
She stepped firmly into the ground and maximized her exoskeleton’s output to resist, but she still couldn’t stop it, and just ended up leaving marks on the ground as she was carried by the enemy’s blade.
Her Strength of AA+ was good enough even for Garesto’s military, so the only reason why she was being so easily pushed around could only be because of the difference in the specs of their exoskeletons.
“Hah! Good reactions, but what can a model two generations old even do!?”
She could feel through her skin that the enemy was raising the output of his exoskeleton as he said that, so she abandoned the sword in her hand and jumped out of the way. In the next moment, her blade broke.
“You bastard!”
Seeing the enemy about to keep attacking, Ryou slashed down with his great sword, but the figure before him suddenly vanished, causing his great sword to accomplish nothing but stab the land.
“What!?” Ryou said.
“Shinguuji, behind you!” Yousuke said.
“Hmph! Is this all you can do, Earthlings!?” The enemy said.
Still shocked by the enemy’s sudden disappearance, Ryou shuddered again.
Although his attacks were strong, he had a tendency to be predictable, and the opening he left after attacking with his great sword was big.
Having to turn around with that bulky weapon wouldn’t do since the enemy’s voice was too close, so instead…
“Take a flight, you bastard!”
“What!?”
With his great sword still stabbed into the ground, he maxed the output of his thrusters.
This much output would normally be used to fly up quickly or make a sudden turn, but Ryou used it to shower the enemy with the fire from his propulsion system to make him totter and lose the timing for his attack.
Immediately after, Ryou pulled out his great sword and swung it as he turned around, but the enemy was already gone.
“In the sky!” Yousuke said as he got up and looked at the sky.
“Damn it! What is with that speed!? That’s not something you can get just with a difference in specs or Status!” Ryou said.
It was easy to guess that the enemies were likely using a stealth function that was preventing their sensors from seeing them. Probably a kind of Optical Camouflage that they weren’t privy to.
And while it wasn’t hard to quickly reach the altitude that the enemy was floating at right now, even then, the enemy still appeared there too quickly.
“Could he be teleporting using Short Land?” Ryou said.
“Don’t be stupid. The textbooks clearly say that the only one who’s been able to make it work in actual combat is Teacher Doneju!” Youko said.
While the two of them were arguing with their eyes on the enemy, the enemy disappeared again.
They braced themselves for the next attack, but as it turns out, the attacks that came from unpredictable directions were actually really strong.
Unfortunately, it was only after they were sent flying from the side that they realized that.
“Nee-chan! Shinguuji!”
All too easily, the two students were sent flying and landed before Yousuke.
To Yousuke it looked as though they were sent flying at exactly the same time.
Just how fast did someone have to be to be able to do something like that?
“Uu, gu… But either way, he sure is strong. I don’t even know if he’s just fast or he’s teleporting…” Yousuke said.
“So this is a soldier’s true power. I know he’s a former soldier now, but still… Ha ha, beating this guy is definitely going to be worth it,” Youko said.
Despite falling into a predicament because of the mysterious teleporting abilities of the enemy, the Senba siblings were eager to fight.
Of course, they had no idea how they could even begin to win, but it was precisely because it was a difficult battle that they burned with an even greater desire to fight.
“Ignorance is truly bliss… So this is what they were aiming for.”
Ryou looked at them enviously as he realized what the point of making this whole incident into an exam was.
It was not just to avoid the students panicking, but also to make them fight the enemies with all of their strength.
Maybe it was just the stubbornness of being a normal class talking, but even the normal students of 2 – B at the back had gotten themselves back up, assumed formation, and were properly fighting back.
If they’d known the truth from the start, they wouldn’t have been able to do any of this.
Whoever came up with the proposal to turn the terrorist attack into an exam successfully eliminated excess panic and fear, and even turned the students into a usable war force.
“I don’t know who it was that suggested it, but he really knows how to work people hard. Just like a certain examiner… Seriously, I wish he’d give me a break already.”
That scheming smile of his superior every time he was given an annoying order.
For some reason, when Ryou remembered that, he grumbled and shook his head.
“What have you been muttering to yourself all this time?” Yousuke said.
“Don’t start complaining now just because you got caught up in this. Those guys won’t discriminate between students,” Youko said.
With their assailant back in the sky, the three got themselves back on their feet and turned their backs against each other.
At the same time, the siblings mistook Ryou’s grumblings for him complaining.
“That’s not it at all! In the first place, you guys— Hah? Hey, I’m busy right now, call me late— What!?”
“Shinguuji?”
“10 minutes? And you’ll— Wait, don’t just hang up!!”
Ryou’s attention was suddenly taken up by something else, so the siblings were taken aback for a moment, but they were already used to it. They could tell that someone had called Ryou.
But as far as Ryou was concerned, someone had suddenly started a conversation with him and then just as abruptly ended it.
“…Hey, you two, which do you want to hear first? The bad news or the vague news?”
Ryou asked with a sullen face that he hasn’t shown until now.
That was enough for the siblings to know that something was wrong, but the way Ryou talked was still too ominous.
“Uh, normally wouldn’t there be a good news too?” Youko asked. “But whatever, give me the bad news!”
“…Ah, yes, the stereotypical order. Okay, I’ll make this short.”
It was curious if it was because the three of them had stiffened up or because 2 – B was resisting harder than they’d expected, but the enemies seemed to be waiting for something and weren’t making any big moves.
To avoid losing sight of them, the Senba siblings urged Ryou to finish saying his piece while the enemy was idling.
“The use of skills within the fields is going to be prohibited right about now.”
After a moment of silence, the siblings screamed.
“You’re kidding—!?!?” Youko said.
“I-Isn’t that too much of a bad news!? Why!?” Yousuke said.
“As if I’d know! If you have a problem, then let the examiner who decided this hear it! He said you can’t use it anymore!” Ryou said.
“Ah, it’s true. I can’t even open a communication screen anymore! We’re not even allowed to use skills in this situation? This is even worse than last year!” Youko said.
“Now as for the vague news… Apparently, if we can just hold for about 10 minutes, help will come,” Ryou said.
“…Apparently? About 10 minutes? That really is vague,” Youko said.
All the support systems and various attack methods were done via skills.
Most of the combat methods that they’ve learned revolved around skills, and yet they were now being prohibited from using them.
On top of that, they were given a half-baked time and an equally unreliable notice of reinforcements.
It was certainly a bad news and a vague news, the older Senba could only laugh in disbelief.
But that expression didn’t last long before she showed a completely different expression.
“So, in other words, we just need to endure for the next 10 minutes, right? Then let’s do it,” she said optimistically, and the boys wryly smiled.
‘This was definitely his decisive and stubborn older sister,’ Yousuke thought.
Meanwhile, Ryou, despite knowing that she didn’t understand the real situation, made a fed-up face and said, “You make it sound so easy.”
“Let’s start the timer then. That’s 10 minutes to go. Come on, guys. Let’s endure this with the rest of 2 – B too.”
With a simple goal to aim for, Yousuke started the timer.
As he left the gradually decreasing time at the corner of his vision, the older Senba and Ryou rejected his proposal.
“Hah! I’ll take that guy down before any help comes!” Ryou said.
“Obviously! Let’s go!!” Youko said.
With a clear time limit before them, regardless of whether it was merely a bluff or enthusiasm, the older Senba and Ryou became heated up. Unfortunately, their enemy had disappeared again.
Regardless, it was in this way that the 10 minutes of the terrorist with a mysterious teleportation ability and the three students began.
Destruction of the Abnormal Dimensional Energy Convergence Devices──50% Complete
Assistance of Class 2 – B and the Mixed Class──Battles Have Commenced
Time Until Possible Rescue──9 Minutes and 50 Second Remaining
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