Hero Party After the Nuclear War

Chapter 10

Remaining number of actions: 5.

There was no way to tell how many Demonic Samurai had invaded, but once there were more than three, they became difficult to handle.

Even though Dante possessed a Summoner that had been used by a Hero of pre-war civilization and could handle multiple Servants, he could only control one Servant at a time.

In other words, no matter how powerful Dante was as a Summoner, numbers were not on his side. When he brought the Gas Mask hanging from his waist to his face, the straps automatically tightened, and a red glow appeared on the goggles.

"Aiiyaaah!!!"

With a bizarre shout, a samurai swung a massive greatsword that was nearly as tall as he was in a simple, brute-force manner. Raven jumped back to dodge the slash, then pulled out the M4 with his right hand and the M1911 with his left, firing both wildly.

Shell casings scattered in all directions, and thick black smoke spewed from the muzzle alongside loud muzzle flashes. Then, the samurai switched the Sword he was holding to his left hand and drew a small wakizashi with his right, deflecting all the Bullets Raven had fired.

[Ghost Samurai: Deflect.]

No matter how much cybernetic enhancement the samurai had undergone, it was impossible to deflect all Bullets without the assistance of Spirits.

Confirming that the opponent had used up the Spirits' Actions to deflect the Bullets, Raven emptied the magazine of the Pistol in his left hand and threw it at the samurai.

The samurai, still in the middle of 'Deflect', scoffed as if asking whether that was supposed to be an attack and sliced the chunk of metal cleanly in two with his Sword.

Even though the blade was well-sharpened, the sight of it slicing metal like tofu was enough to demonstrate just how strong the Onimusha were.

[Jack O'Lantern: Incinerate.]

"'Deflect' can block physical damage, but it can't block magic damage, right? Am I wrong?"

Right beside Raven, the pumpkin-headed 'Reaper' appeared and extended its hand, releasing an overwhelming wave of heat. Flames engulfed the Onimusha instantly, causing it to writhe in agony, but it seemed the damage was absorbed by the Spirits, so it didn't die.

To finish it off, Raven slid forward and pulled the Trigger on the grenade launcher attached beneath the M4. With a pop, a small grenade shot out, struck the ground, and exploded on impact.

Since Jack O'Lantern had already been summoned, Raven, who had high resistance to fire damage, took down one Onimusha and dashed out of the shooting range. But at that moment, a terrifyingly fast horizontal slash came for his neck.

"Whoa!?"

Reflexively, Raven barely deflected the blade strike with the barrel of the M4 in his right hand. Then, skillfully, he drew another Pistol from the right holster and aimed at the samurai's shin and knee joint, pulling the Trigger.

Bang! Bang!!

As the shock made the samurai drop to one knee, Raven quickly issued a command to Jack O'Lantern.

[Jack O'Lantern: Rune of Explosion.]

Confirming that the Rune of Explosion had been properly implanted in the samurai's head, he shot the hand holding the greatsword with the M4, making the weapon fall, then grabbed the samurai by the collar and hurled him out of the building.

Raven confirmed the samurai had landed in the arms of another samurai waiting outside and activated the Rune of Explosion he had inscribed.

KABOOOOOOM!!!!

As the rune on the head activated, the samurai's head exploded, scattering blood and brain matter everywhere. Taking advantage of the brief moment when their vision was blocked, Raven manipulated the Summoner to change tactics.

[Summon: Phantom-type Leviathan.]

[Ghost Samurai: Iron Cleave.]

Even though the Rune of Explosion had blocked their vision, it meant little to enemies who primarily used melee weapons rather than firearms.

As Raven spent time switching Servants to Leviathan, two samurai seized the opportunity and simultaneously swung their greatswords horizontally at Raven's chest.

This time, there was no way to avoid it—he had to take the hit. Blocking with the M4 would damage the gun, and since Leviathan wasn't a particularly agile Servant, dodging would only increase the chance of being struck.

Instead, Raven drew the machete strapped to his back and barely managed to block the attack.

At the moment when the sharp Far Eastern blade clashed with Raven's multipurpose Knife, the fight should have been unfavorable for Raven due to the class difference between weapons. Yet somehow, he didn't get pushed back easily.

Leviathan had lower agility and magic Stats compared to other Servants, but in return, it had an extremely high durability Stat. In other words, it was more specialized in taking hits head-on than dodging them.

When Raven didn't fall easily, the two samurai panicked and put more strength into their cybernetic prosthetic arms. But Raven wasn't just going to sit there and take it.

[Leviathan: Depth Bite.]

A massive Phantom that looked like a mix between a shark and a dragon appeared behind him and promptly swallowed one of the samurai whole.

The other samurai, horrified at seeing his comrade devoured without a trace, hesitated. Raven took that moment to knee the remaining samurai in the gut, picked up a fallen katana with his left arm, and sliced off the enemy's head.

Only one action remained.

Raven trudged toward the last remaining samurai, tossed aside the empty M4 magazine, and loaded a new one.

Clack. Click. Clunk.

"Ugh... So it really was too much to take on a Summoner..."

"If you wanted to catch me, maybe you should've brought a Magic Armor or something."

Responding cynically to the cybernetic samurai, Raven aimed the M4 one-handed.

"I'll give you a choice. Wanna end up like that guy by my hand? Or will you just tell me who hired you and run away from Neo Kyoto?"

Using Leviathan's Depth Bite with the last remaining action would end it in one shot anyway.

Even if that missed, Raven wasn't going to just stand there. The M4, freshly reloaded, now held 30 rounds.

"I can never reveal the client's name."

With that, the guy pulled out a small dagger, turned the bright blade toward himself, and swung it with all his might to slit his own stomach.

"ACS, activate."

[Aiming Assist System activated.]

At the moment the cybernetic device in Raven's right eye, the special Gas Mask, and the Summoner on his left hand activated, time seemed to slow down.

The warriors of Neo Kyoto had a certain custom—rather than be captured and executed by the enemy, they chose to die honorably by suicide in a ridiculous and pointless tradition called 'seppuku.'

Just before the blade touched his stomach, a Bullet from Raven's M4 shot out and struck the wakizashi with precision. In that split second, the guy, who never imagined someone could shoot a small knife-sized blade midair, widened his eyes in disbelief.

"What the hell."

[Leviathan: Depth Bite.]

Crunch!

At that moment, Leviathan activated its magic. The jaws of a dragon dwelling in the ocean's abyss bit off and devoured the samurai's arms. Of course, it had been a deliberate 'miss.'

"Guh... Oooooh... Aaaaargh!!!"

"Goddamn, shut up."

Smacking the guy's head with the Stock of the M4, the shock from the pain and the blow knocked him out cold.

After confirming once again through the Summoner that there were no Spirit reactions nearby, Dante removed the Gas Mask and secured it to his waist. Then, dizzy from the side effects of the 'cybernetic device' and 'Summoner', he momentarily lost balance and collapsed.

[Warning: Your internal Maso level has deviated 124% from the normal range.]

"Shut up... *cough cough*."

A little rest would fix it.

Muttering that, he loaded a Mana Bullet into the Summoner to replenish his Actions, grabbed the samurai's leg, and slowly dragged him toward the ryokan where he was supposed to stay for a week.

Usually, if someone half-killed another and dragged them across the ground, at least one person would either try to report it or stop them.

But seeing Dante's fierce look soaked in the blood of the samurai he had killed, and the dangling Dog Tag of a crow around his neck, none of the citizens dared to intervene.

"What're you staring at? Scram."

Still technically the victim, Dante casually spat out blood-mixed phlegm onto the ground and entered the inn.

"Hic."

"Sorry for the disturbance."

Dante pulled a few coins from his pocket and placed them on the innkeeper's counter, then entered the room he had been staying in. He tightly bound the captured samurai and began filling the bathtub with water.

Since he had already had Leviathan bite off both arms, there was no need to tie them. He only tied the legs, and once the bath was filled enough, he threw the samurai into it without even removing the Heavy Armor.

"Blegh! *Cough* *Cough cough cough!!!*"

"Did the cold water help you come to your senses?"

Cracking his fingers, Dante glared at the samurai who had opened his eyes inside the tub.

"Wh-Where... where am I?"

"The inn I'm staying at, dumbass."

From inside his long coat, he pulled out an old pre-war cigarette excavated from some ruins, bit it, and deftly lit a match with one hand after fishing out a matchbox from his pocket.

"Hey."

"..."

"Not gonna answer?"

Without hesitation, Dante stepped on the samurai's upper body and shoved him back into the cold water-filled tub.

As the samurai thrashed and struggled for air, just before he passed out, Dante slowly lifted his foot to give him a breath.

"Pwaah!! *Cough!* *Huaaah!!* *Gasp!!!*"

"Hey."

As Dante spoke for the second time while inhaling cigarette smoke, the samurai, having realized that silence meant brutal water torture, nodded and said,

"I-I can't tell you anything about the client! Even if I die!"

"That's not the answer I wanted."

Sitting on the edge of the tub, Dante tapped the ash from his burning cigarette and continued.

I'm too dumb to bother thinking. I suck at those drama-like interrogations where you deduce things and chase down the culprit.

I don't want clues. I want the truth. Straightforward truth. And the truth I want from this interrogation is who the hell hired you. I don't care about anything else.

Dante chuckled as he stubbed out his finished cigarette on the samurai's forehead.

"Playing bad cop good cop takes brains too. Let me ask again. Who hired you? Oh, and every time you don't answer, your time dunked in the tub will increase by 30 seconds."

Of course, he added afterward,

"I'm too dumb to count properly, see? My 30 seconds could be a minute. Or three minutes. Or three days. It's kinda flexible. So choose your answer carefully. The name of the bastard who ordered the assassination. First, middle, last. Just give me those three syllables."

"The moment I tell you, I'm already a dead man! I'm dead anyway! What good would it do me to tell you, huh?"

"Depends on how you die."

Dante gently rested his foot on the edge of the tub and said.

"Whether you end up wandering outside Neo Kyoto, only to have rotten luck and get caught by the Shogunate bastards, then get surrounded by samurai and have your head chopped off with a single sword stroke. Or, you wind up as a drowned corpse in this pathetic excuse for a bathtub in a shabby inn."

Dante's words carried an unspoken implication—that if he revealed the client's name, he might at least get a chance to escape. On the other hand, if he refused to give up the name until the end...

"Fine. Fine, I'll talk. I'll talk...! So please, anything but the water torture..."

"See? You're perfectly capable of listening real f*cking well."