Hero Party After the Nuclear War

Chapter 12

"Are you all set?"

With one foot propped on the steering wheel, Raven, who was leisurely waiting for Eris to finish getting ready, asked his fairy while biting down on a cigarette.

"Yes. We can leave right away if you want."

After checking over Elizabeth's condition, Raven turned on the radio once Eris climbed into the passenger seat, adjusted her seat with his hand, and calmly backed the truck while looking behind.

Now that it's been 200 years since the nukes dropped, things like driver's licenses and such systems have completely disappeared, so there was nothing to vouch for Dante's driving skills.

However, the experience and knack that showed through the simple act of turning the wheel, the way he smoothly pulled the vehicle out of a tight parking spot, and his adept use of manual gears were enough to suggest he had professional driving training.

After pressing the clutch and shifting gears, he turned the wheel again, pointing the truck's nose toward the gate leading out of Neo Kyoto, and slowly pressed the accelerator.

He spit the cigarette he had been biting onto the ground outside, closed the window, and turned on the radio with his right hand. Tuning it to the frequency that always played his usual channel, Elizabeth proudly rolled forward onto the rough, nearly unpaved road.

"So, did you find the assassin who was after Dante?"

"I did. Just as I expected, it was an old associate. He previously worked at Raven's Logistics. His name was 'Hanbae.' He's from Neo Kyoto, and not a Demonic Samurai, but a former ninja."

"Nin. NINJA...?"

"There's a rebel group inside Neo Kyoto that doesn't like the current Shogunate. They're mostly assassins... and people call them ninjas. Anyway, the current Shogunate treats all Kyoto residents who oppose them as targets for purging, so they have to operate in secret.

So unlike samurai who wear heavy armor and wield large blades, these guys wear light armor and use a variety of weapons, from throwing tools and concealed arms to guns. Apparently, most of their bodies are replaced with cybernetic tech. There's more machine than human left."

"And then?"

"One of the mandatory things Raven's Logistics checks during recruitment is magical aptitude. Whether you can handle Servants or have the innate ability to use magic. That's usually what they look for.

In Hanbae's case, it's the former. Seems like he found a summoner in an ancient ruin. He attached the summoner's circuit board to a cybernetic prosthetic on his left arm. Like me, he uses spirits as Servants—he's a summoner."

"A summoner..."

With some memories of battles alongside the Hero still intact, Eris had basic knowledge of Servant battles. Not all summoners were Heroes, but all Heroes were summoners who could command Servants.

"In Servant battles, the key is to strike at the weaknesses of the opponent's Servants. If we have information on Hanbae's Servants, we'll have the upper hand."

"Of course. You think I wouldn't know that? But that bastard Hanbae deleted nearly all his info when he left Raven's Logistics. What's left in the database now is what Logistics managed to recover. There's nothing left about the Servants he used."

"That... that's kind of a big problem."

"Yeah. While fighting the Demonic Samurai in Kyoto, I already revealed three of my Servants—Skaark, Jack O'Lantern, and Leviathan. And we've got no info on his side. We'll need to proceed carefully."

Saying that, Dante gripped the wheel and began driving down the highway toward the Underground Ruin that McKinsey had mentioned.

Though many sections of the road were damaged, the number of vehicles had drastically decreased since the nukes fell, so driving wasn't a major problem.

Constantly checking for landmines while driving was a pain, but it was still much faster than walking.

"That Holy Sword thing."

"Yes. I'm listening."

"If someone manages to wield it properly... what happens?"

Ravens are strictly forbidden from showing curiosity about their delivery items.

They must never treat what they're delivering as a 'MacGuffin' or try to peek into it—this was the ironclad rule of being a Raven.

But a weapon used by a Hero 200 years ago? As Eris said, if it ends up in the hands of the wrong person, it could very well turn the entire world upside down.

"If you can use it... you can wield power on par with a Servant. I don't know the details either. Just that it's an ultimate weapon made to defeat the Demon King."

"Power on par with a Servant, huh. So it could fight spirits like Skaark on equal footing. Still, I doubt the world would change just because of that."

"Even so, I have a duty to oversee it. I'm... the Hero's fairy. Drawing and wielding the Holy Sword means that person has earned the qualifications of a Hero. As the Hero's guide, I must make sure the Hero walks the right path."

"I see."

With his hands on the wheel, Dante asked casually.

"If... hypothetically. If I were to draw the Holy Sword and gain those qualifications..."

"Yes? I didn't catch that?"

"...Never mind. Let's keep going."

* * *

"So that's why the guy kept singing about security, security."

Using the summoner's navigation function, Dante let out a sigh as he pointed to the location where the Holy Sword was said to be buried.

"Isn't this overkill? Seriously. How many turrets are installed here? There are zombies crawling all over the place. I can't see them right now, but I think there are also several spirits roaming around."

"...This place."

"This place... what?"

"This place used to be the headquarters of the Hero's guild."

Eris, who retained memories from 200 years ago, was shocked to see what was once the Hero's 'home' now half in ruins.

The once-glorious Hero's guild headquarters... was now rusted and, except for the areas where magical barriers were still active, had completely collapsed due to the effects of the nuclear bomb.

The Hero, herself, the Hero's lover who was a Mage, the Warrior who never took off his Magic Armor, and the Ranger who, though a bit crude, always lifted the mood.

They used to celebrate the end of their adventures here with toasts and washed away the pain of their journeys. Without realizing it, she wiped away the tears that had welled up from nostalgia.

"I know the overall layout. But... whether the Holy Sword of the Hero is actually buried here... I'm not sure either. The security system here was made by the Mage. There are lots of golems and spirits."

"What about the turrets?"

"...That was the Ranger's taste."

"Can't be helped."

After getting off Elizabeth, he jumped into the cargo hold at the back and began gathering various pieces of equipment to break through the Hero's guild headquarters.

"Before we go in, I need to swap out a few of my Servants."

"Swap your Servants?"

"Yeah. Hanbae knows my current Servant lineup. Gotta mix it up. I can only carry four Servants at once. My body... well, it can't handle the Maso output from the summoner."

Saying that, Dante connected the summoner to a large terminal in the back and started fiddling with it. Then, grunting, he pulled out a weapon hanging on the wall that was nearly the size of a mortar.

"Wh-what is that?"

"Barret M82A1. Best thing for taking out turrets."

Proudly wielding the anti-materiel sniper rifle, he slung it over his back, climbed up Elizabeth using a ladder, and took an aiming position. He planned to eliminate the machine gun turrets guarding the entrance one by one.

"ACS, engage."

[Aiming Assist System activated.]

Bringing his eye to the scope and going prone, he placed the turret guarding the gate—about 800 meters away—within the crosshairs.

"Oh right, Eris."

"Yes?"

"You might wanna cover your ears."

KABOOM!!!

Holding his breath and calmly pulling the trigger, a heavy recoil followed as a .50 BMG casing ejected from the side. The long-distance sniper shot pierced the machine gun turret cleanly before it could even activate properly, causing it to explode and scatter debris across the ground.

After a few more shots, he managed to eliminate all the turrets guarding the entrance. According to Eris's memory, once the turrets were destroyed like this, the automated defense system installed by the Mage should activate, and golems inside should come crawling out...

But perhaps because of the direct nuclear strike, the security system was broken. There was still no sign of golems emerging from the entrance.

"Nice shot."

Praising himself, he smoothly climbed down from Elizabeth, loaded the sniper rifle back into the cargo hold, pulled out an assault rifle instead and slung it over his back. He also drew a machete, a melee weapon for emergencies, and slid it into the sheath on his lower back. Then he packed grenades, various bullets inside his bulletproof coat, and strapped on a gas mask at his waist.

"The Maso inside is too dense. If you go in unprotected, your skin will start to rot. If you want to keep your skin smooth, you'd better wear this."

Dante also handed Eris a gas mask and shrugged his shoulders as he started walking.

"Alright then. Let's search the Hero's guild."

* * *

Tick. Tidik. Tidididik. Tidik. Tididik.

The rising sound of the Geiger Counter came through the summoner. Dante didn't even need to check the summoner's meter to know how thick the Maso concentration here was.

Though it was so badly damaged that it was hard to tell what its original form had been, Eris said this place once looked like a grand mansion.

Now, it had crumbled so completely that there was no trace of its former glory, and it had become a haunt for wild spirits.

The goal was to find the Holy Sword of the Hero. According to Eris, she could faintly sense traces of the immense power once wielded by the Hero. And that presence was now detectable underground.

So the problem was figuring out how to get underground...

But before they could even worry about that, something blocked Dante's path.

From the rubble of a collapsed building, a nearly rotted human hand suddenly shot out. If this had been nighttime instead of daytime, it would've looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie.

"Wh-what... what the... what is that?"

"What's there to see?"

As if he had seen this kind of thing countless times, Dante pulled the safety pin from a grenade on his belt and threw it like a baseball.

Shadows don't appear during the day. So anything visible now can at least be hit with bullets or magic. That's why Dante, unafraid of whatever might appear, frowned as he looked at the summoner.

"...Spirit reaction."

Right after muttering that, he quickly retreated from the grenade's blast radius. The pile of rubble exploded, and the buried presence within was revealed.

It was...

"A zombie...?"

But zombies don't roam around in the morning. Just as Eris thought that, Dante aimed his M4 with a grimace.

"A spirit's latched onto a Nightwalker. That's why it can move around during the day. I don't know what kind of spirit it is, but I'm sending it straight to hell. Eris, prep your magic."

"Okay."

Just as Eris was preparing her magical bow,

she saw the figure of the 'zombie' crawling out of the rubble.

And she was struck by a shock like being hit in the head with a hammer.

Because the clothes that zombie was wearing...

".... Ra... Ranger... sir?"