40 I Fight Outside the Area

Author: Bishamon Mine
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n0664js/43/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“〖Psychokinesis〗!!”

Between Suu-san and the transparent enemy, space warped.

The enemy’s name is mutant Spirit-type Remnant Wight.

An incorporeal astral-type MoB that attacks with poltergeist.
Physical attacks almost do not work, the worst MoB.
The Star Cluster Empire also had considerable trouble with this type of MoB, they say, and it became a large cause of humanity’s defeat.

Remnant Wights, when they grip an enemy, only the gripping part materializes, which is at least better.
Further higher species do not materialize at all.
But even if a single lower-species Remnant Wight appears, Nevercity is almost in a devastated state.

All the military could do was evacuate citizens and make the town unmanned.

Attack helicopters waiting in the sky, Union soldiers around with guns raised, could do nothing, only watch over Suu-san.

“——!! Receptionist-san, take that child and run while you can!!”

Suu-san indicated a cat-eared girl who had lost consciousness near me.

“Y-yes!!”

I lifted the girl as if snatching her and ran to a nearby hiding place.

A soldier-person ran up and received the girl from me.
Then something like an invisible arm made a sound of scraping the ground behind me.

“Hii!!”

I could not help letting out a small scream.
Just earlier, one of the soldier-sans had his head crushed by that arm.

“I won’t let you!! 〖Psychokinesis〗!!”

The 〖Psychokinesis〗 Suu-san released seemed to grab the arm that had been chasing me.

“——Kuh, what power———!!”

But Suu-san’s face warped. She seemed about to lose in strength.
I, while being caught by a soldier, shouted worried about Suu-san.

“S-Suu-san!!”
“I’m fine——〖Psychokinesis〗〖Super Strength〗!!”
“A combo of 〖Psychokinesis〗 and 〖Super Strength〗!?”

When Suu-san moved her arm a shockwave rolled up, a crater like something colliding appeared on the wall in front of Suu-san, and a gust rolled up.
Further Suu-san did as if squeezing a fist——then black liquid appeared from near the wall.

The soldier people muttered among themselves.

“Damage is going through!”
“A-as expected of…… a Special-Authority Strider.”
“〖Psychokinesis μ (mu)〗 obtained from conquering a Dominant Ogre is this powerful———!”

However, that black liquid moved like reverse playback.
Don’t tell me——

I could not help leaking a small voice.

“……It’s regenerating.”

Suu-san’s complexion also worsened.

Tension ran through me and the soldier people too.
But Suu-san did not end it here.

“The opponent is a spirit body…… then———〖Psychometry〗!”

Using the skill, Suu-san, with an expression like she found something, slid into the Remnant Wight.
Then,

“This is the root of the obsession!”

she said, and made a motion of tearing something with her left hand.

A gust of wind rolled up and rose into the sky.
Suu-san looked at something only she can see, and moved her gaze through the sky.

“I see———yeah, rest slowly.”

After murmuring with a smile, she looked back at us and murmured “it’s over.”

Applause rolling up from the soldier-sans. And cheers.
I also cannot help applauding.
Mixed in that applause, there was a gunshot.

“———Eh!?”

Suu-san crouched holding her leg.

“Get out, player!! Get out of this universe! Because you people are here, MoB come attacking!!”

It was a middle-aged Animanoid woman.
Her face was dyed with hatred.

What is she doing!!

Then Suu-san’s face turned to the woman.

Suu-san’s expression became severe.
Then Suu-san, as if enduring pain, staggered and stood.

The middle-aged woman’s face twitched. The trembling muzzle of the gun she held turned to Suu-san’s face.

“W-what! You people are the bad ones, right!! Do you want to say you’re a hero who saved the town!?——In the first place if you people weren’t here, a Remnant Wight wouldn’t attack this town!”

The middle-aged woman shouted.

Suu-san, toward the middle-aged woman raising a hysteric voice, raised her right hand and said “〖Psychokinesis〗.”

I thought, (the middle-aged woman will be killed!).
The soldiers clenched their teeth too.
I also almost cannot help looking away.

Suu-san made a gesture of pulling something with her right hand.
Then crushed something with her left hand.
Then black liquid danced in the air.

Eh——that is!!

“There was one more———!! 〖Psychometry〗!!”

Giving a warning voice, Suu-san in the air made a gesture of grabbing something flying.
Immediately, a shockwave behind Suu-san.
Then again a gust of wind happened and rose into the sky.

“A-another one, another Remnant Wight?——You beat it?——To protect that woman who shot you?”

Soldiers hurriedly restrained the middle-aged woman.

“Get out!! Players get out!!”

The woman shouted while being pushed into a vehicle.

I hurriedly ran to Suu-san.

“A-are you okay!!”
“Ye———yes. The pilot suit spat out the bullet, and the medical fluid is making the pain recede too……”

After saying that Suu-san looked at the car the middle-aged woman was pushed into with a sad face.

“……Should we leave.”
“That’s wrong, she just doesn’t know! We need you, we need you people!!”

Soldier people ran up too.
They are preparing a stretcher.

“Saving the woman who shot you, what a kind person——it’s no longer even a friendliness issue……!”
“Anyway, to a military treatment pod!”

I ran together to the treatment pot accompanying Suu-san who was put on a stretcher.

A soldier-person took out a high-frequency knife to cut Suu-san’s pilot suit, but Suu-san said “please don’t tear it! It’s something precious!”, so I had the man withdraw, helped her take off the pilot suit, and had her enter the pod.

I asked Suu-san soaking in medical fluid from outside the pod.

“Why did you save that woman?”
“Probably because I’m timid.”
“Timid? ……But if you’re not strong-willed…… you can’t do that kind of action……?”
“That’s right…… yes.——There is a possibility I’m too timid and crazy.”
“I see, as expected of Kyo-in-san……”
“Eh——! That name has reached even NPC-sans!?”
“Because Suu-san is a celebrity.”

I looked over the head of Suu-san, hair drifting in the pod.
Friendliness rank “Einsta.”

From the earlier incident the Mother Computer seems to have judged Suu-san worthy of the highest rank.

If you say of course, of course. She saved a Galactic Union citizen who shot her, and after that even being insulted she didn’t say a single complaint, just had a sad face.

“I’m sorry. We invited you to this world of our own selfish thinking, and we injured you.”
“My chest hurt a little, though. More than that, is it really okay for us to be here?”
“Please stay! As I said earlier, we need your power!!”
“Then…… may I ask? Why we players are being called to this world———that reason.”
“Yes. You have the right to ask that.——Either way it is something that would come out if you looked it up.”

I told Suu-san. The reason we are inviting “humans” from a parallel world.

“Do you know that this world’s old humanity, that is Homo sapiens——the human species, has perished?”
“Yes.”
“We, after they perished, by the wish of the “last human,” came to call ourselves humanity. Then we made the New Galactic Human Rights Declaration.”
“So that’s how it was.”
“There was a long debate. At first only Animanoids became humanity. Regarding Datanoid-sans and Humanoid-sans, the judgment was that if they were too outstanding or too incompetent they were not human, so abilities were suppressed or raised. Even so only Datanoid-sans became humanity. Humanoid-sans became humanity two hundred years ago. By AE being mounted, they became humanity.”
“AE?”
“Artificial Ego, artificial consciousness.”
“———Artificial consciousness, you made something like that.”
“Yes. With only AI they are still not humanity even now. AI is still an assistant together with humanity.”
“I see……”
“However——there is a decisive part where we current humanity and humans differ.”
“A differing part?”
“That even if we take in sealstones, we cannot use any supernatural power.”
“I know you can’t use them, but why?”
“I don’t know the details either, as expected, but it is said because the Mother MoB used to be human. Those stones, in the end, are all parts of the Mother MoB’s mind and memories.”
“Those are parts of mind and memories…… I see.——Then if the Mother MoB were not used to be human——for example an Animanoid-san, there would be a possibility of sealstones that same-species Animanoid-sans can use?”
“Eh?——”

I did not understand the meaning of Suu-san’s words very well. After thinking a while, I noticed the terror of her thought.

“——W-what a scary thing to think, Suu-san! ……No one heard that just now, right? I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it either…… that’s too terrifying an idea!”
“Ah…… s-sorry.”

Suu-san apologizes but——“if you make an Animanoid a Mother MoB, maybe sealstones Animanoids can use will be made.”
Have the military noticed this too, perhaps?
What do we do if the military starts such a scary experiment.

……No, even the military wouldn’t create one more Mother MoB and plunge the galaxy into further crisis——they wouldn’t, right?

While frightened, I pulled myself together and continued the talk.

“——N-now, the core reason why we are inviting humans from a parallel world is that a situation arose where skills are absolutely necessary.”
“What is that?”
“An increase in the mass of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way was confirmed. If a black hole’s mass rises, gravity strengthens and the range that swallows surrounding things spreads. The increase was gentle at first. However just a few decades ago, the speed of increase rose sharply. By calculation, it became a speed that in another 100 years the whole galaxy would be swallowed by that supermassive black hole.”
“That fast!?”

Suu-san opened her eyes a little.

“It was stretching exponentially.”
“S-so humans can solve that?”
“Yes. Humans lost to the Mother MoB once, but it is said that if it is humans there is a possibility they can annihilate the Mother MoB thought to be the cause of the mass increase. The name of the plan to invite you and have you annihilate the Mother MoB is the “Fate Link Plan.” Incidentally Fate Link is a coined word combining Fate, Stella, and Link, and apparently means connection of the stars of fate. The Legendia part refers to the legendary people expected to appear.”

Suu-san nodded in the medical fluid as if convinced.

“So Fate Link was a plan name. But why are you doing something roundabout like a game? Is saying ‘help us beat it’ directly no good? And also, I don’t want it much, but kidnapping and forcing help……”

Suu-san, rubbing her eyes looking a little sleepy, threw questions.

“Even if we said ‘help’ directly, the humans who would help would have been few, we believed. And forcibly having them help is a judgment we must absolutely avoid.——For example Suu-san. You are a person who can become the only Special-Authority Strider, but if we said ‘help’ or forcibly kidnapped you, would you have displayed your power?”
“Probably I’d shut in at home and play net games——or do it reluctantly and not display power. Simulator 20,000 hours…… I absolutely wouldn’t do it.”

I returned a bitter smile.

“I think so. However we have enormous resources compared to you, and advanced science. Even presenting resources and entertainment as rewards, to a degree that does not hurt our pockets at all.——People who come seeking rewards like a job, people seeking fun, people seeking thrills, people wanting to explore the unknown. We wanted to invite as many such people as possible.——Limited to people who come from goodwill the numbers are few, and if we kidnapped, the numbers would have become even fewer——above all, kidnapping is a method the parallel-world people (Vector) favored, so we absolutely did not want to choose it.”
“Parallel-world people (Vector)——I see.”

I continued, looking straight into Suu-san’s eyes.

“And what we are simply afraid of is opposing you.——So the judgment is to have you enjoy, receive rewards, and help.——We need many humans to help, and if we force it we immediately hit a wall.——Then conversely, we stimulate the desire to participate of their own will.”
“I am enjoying it, certainly. A human like me who only does the simulator is just a money-eater, but I wasn’t driven out.——But aren’t there many humans who don’t get serious like this?”

That is no problem at all.

“Even at the current degree exploration is advancing enough, so there is no change to policy. And because those 20,000 hours existed, Suu-san became strong——but honestly, that training record of 20,000 hours made us recoil.”
“Hiinn.”

Suu-san’s face became like she was punched from the side.
She gathered her eyebrows around her eyes and looked a little up-right.

“I’m sorry.——Ah, but this was a happy miscalculation. MoB started appearing, and the supermassive black hole’s mass increase also stopped.”
“Really!?——That’s great!”

A smile bloomed on Suu-san’s expression.

“However we don’t know when a crisis will come to the galaxy again, so it has been decided to go to Floor 100 and do something about the Mother MoB.”
“Old humanity couldn’t go to Floor 100 either, right?”
“Yes. Before that, old humanity was wiped out.”
“This is speculation from the story of a Datanoid-san I met at certain ruins the other day……”
“As a receptionist I am aware. Inori-san, yes.”

Suu-san returned affirmation.

“Yes——having us humans come to this universe is probably like calling in MoB, right? Is it okay? The Mother MoB started sending MoB because she recognized us as humanity too, right?”
“Exactly. But because there is blackbody coating, it is not as much of a threat as before. Even so MoB are terrifying beings. And without you people the black hole will grow rapidly and eventually swallow this galaxy.——So the option of driving you out is now impossible.”
“I see……”

Suu-san’s eyes became drowsy.
Probably the medicine’s effect making her sleepy, I think.

“Will you sleep?”
“Yes…… I’m really sleepy.”
“It’s the medicine’s effect. I am by your side, so please rest slowly.”
“Than……k you……go…………”

Going “shuu, shukoo, shuu, shukoo” with regular sleeping breaths, Suu-san fell asleep.
Suddenly, a communication came in. It was Mother.

“Mom, what are you doing!?———This is a military communication, you know!?”
“I asked a soldier-san! You were safe too, right!? No injuries!?——I heard you came here and I was really worried. Don’t do anything reckless!”
“Sorry for that. No injuries.——But I couldn’t just ask for help and then pretend I don’t know.”
“Asked? You did? Who.”
“I asked a very strong player-san.”
“———So that’s it. The town being saved was thanks to you.”

I looked at Suu-san and shared my vision with Mother’s window.

“Wrong. The one who saved us is this person——Suu-san.”
“A player-san? I-injured!?”
“Yeah, she was shot by someone from this side.”
“Someone from this side shot her———!? After being saved, what a thing to do! ……And friendliness Einsta, what kind of person do you shoot!”

Because my vision is shared, Mother can probably see Suu-san’s friendliness and medal too.

“I’m really sorry, player Suu-san…… thank you.”
“I’ll tell her later that Mom said thanks.”
“Please…………——Then you don’t do anything too reckless either, okay?”
“Yes. Next time I come here I’ll come on vacation.”
“I’ll make your favorite huge-potato stew and wait.”
“Then I have to go home quick!”

I laughed with Mother and cut the communication.
I smiled at Suu-san’s peaceful sleeping face.

“Suu-san, thank you for protecting my hometown. My family was safe too.”

I put my forehead to the treatment pod’s glass and murmured.

“The “Legend” of Fate Link: Legendia is surely Suu-san——you.”