Volume 2 – The World Sneered
“Well, isn’t that cool?”
Cruz muttered, though no one heard him.
The car’s silver body glittered. The countless machine guns coming out of it were indeed impressive.
As someone who could transform her entire body into weapons, Mary could almost sympathize.
Then, wings and four suspicious tubes came out from near the car’s hood.
Cruz, driving while covered in blood, proudly smiled while showing his teeth.
“It’s a chariot, so it has to have some fighting power, eh?”
Meanwhile, Mary finished regrowing her arms, put strength into her legs and slightly lowered her hips.
“Ami, you don’t have a way of healing yourself. I’ll be your shield if I have to.”
“……Mhm, I understand.”
Ami was slightly hesitant, but she nodded.
Even if Mary did not have the leeway to protect her, Ami could freely use her as a shield – that was what Mary meant.
“Let’s go, then, here’s where the show really starts!”
Muzzle flashes lit up the night sky.
“Let’s observe first. Focus on evasion!”
“Copy that!”
Ami created wheels and dodged the random rapid-fire bullets.
Not just with her feet.
She attached wheels to her knees, shins, on her back in case she fell on her back, and on her hands in case she had to do a handstand – she could move effectively in any position.
And Mary took the best evasion route using Star’s guidance.
She could not remain unscathed.
But since she had regenerative abilities, half-hearted injuries were not enough to take her life.
Most of all……
“Ugh, these aren’t just normal bullets!?”
The bullets fired by Chariot greatly gouged Mary’s skin just by touching it.
And they mercilessly penetrated through any obstacle.
They seemed to be strengthened by Chariot’s powers, just like the car.
“I wanted to make this a good show, but you’re dodging so fucking well!”
Still, Cruz was not getting the results he expected, and he reflexively clicked his tongue.
He stepped hard on the pedal, as if venting his anger on it.
His main target was Mary, and he charged at her as she stood in front of a private house.
The villagers had already evacuated after Majoram informed them.
“You don’t care if I hit that!? Uugh!”
Mary jumped high up and dodged the charge.
But the muzzles automatically aimed at her and continued spitting out bullets.
Countless bullets mercilessly hit her as her movements were dulled in the sky.
“Myriad Corpse Burial Coffin!”
Mary created a shield of bones covering not her entire body, but only her front side.
The curved surface was meant to ward the bullets off.
But the bullets mercilessly penetrated even the firm shield of bones she created.
She frantically crossed her arms to guard herself, but it was not effective.
She extended an arm from her back and immediately got out of that spot by grabbing a different house.
“Hahahahahaha! You can’t stop me like that!”
Meanwhile, Chariot charged through the rubble of the broken house and continued without dropping its speed.
The driver made a skillful and agile turn.
Then, the car started charging at Mary again after she landed on the ground.
“Then how about this!?”
Then, Ami threw a wheel aimed near Chariot.
The wheel stabbed the ground, sped up, and the ground greatly bulged.
It turned into a perfect jumping platform, and the car flew up before hitting Mary.
“Myriad Corpse, Burial Scythe! Ooooh!”
Without a moment’s delay, Mary swung her giant scythe at the defenseless Chariot in the air.
Two metals clashed and created a high-pitched noise.
The car received a strong shock from below and tilted in the air.
“You think you can stop it by turning it over!?”
Cruz proudly shouted
Flames gushed out from Chariot’s lower part, and it corrected its tilt.
And when it landed on the ground, flames shot out from the four tubes on the backside of the car.
“You haven’t seen Chariot’s full power yet!”
The heat was enough to make Mary grimace from a distance away.
The rubble the flames touched instantly turned into ash.
It was a jet engine.
Chariot’s powers greatly affected its driving force, so theory or physical laws could not explain this anyhow.
Wheels turned.
The engine roared.
Krrrrr, a sharp noise that did not sound like a car reverberated.
“Charge at full-boooost!”
Mary was looking directly at Chariot, but it suddenly disappeared from her sight.
“Gah…… Ah……!?”
And when she saw it again, it was in the air.
Winds blew after a delay and an explosive sound reverberated.
“Sis! Hyaah!”
Ami frantically rushed towards Mary but the shockwaves hindered her.
Cruz was not going to overlook her after she stopped moving.
Furious flames shot out of the back engine again, and the car started charging at high speed.
Mary realized the danger right before it sped up, and dragged Ami’s body back with an arm she stretched from her back.
The car faintly scraped Ami, and passed by while blowing away a house.
“T-Thanks, sis.”
“No problem…… Still, that’s some crazy speed.”
“Mhm, even Wheel of Fortune can’t keep up with that.”
“And we can’t damage it. We have to find a way to…… watch out!”
Mary held Ami and jumped sideways.
It was possible to dodge with the right timing.
But how long could this go on for?
In addition, the foe did not attack only by charging at them.
The machine guns were also still going strong.
Chariot stopped and a rain of bullets visited Mary and Ami.
Mary grabbed Ami tight with both arms and rolled away to dodge.
But when that did not work, Mary used herself as a shield and took the bullets.
“Sis, sis!”
Ami could do nothing but shout Mary’s name.
“She stopped moving, now’s the time!”
Chariot approached at high speed.
Mary clenched her teeth and threw Ami’s body before standing up to try and escape the charge’s trajectory.
But she did not make it in time.
Mary was completely cornered now. Her lower body was smashed into pieces, and she rolled around with her upper body while her exposed guts were out in the open.
“Uh, ugh…… Agh, aaagh…… Ah, ah…… Ami….. are you okay……!?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine! But you!”
“I’m okay. I’m…… used to this much.”
That sounded strange after she lost the lower half of her body.
But Mary was still alive, and thus not defeated.
After a short while, her body would regrow as if nothing happened.
More importantly……
“……This is the bullet, right?”
A metal warhead on the ground in front of Mary’s eyes.
Most of it was protected by Chariot’s powers, and was unscathed.
But, some of them were a little damaged after they had hit something.
“That bicycle is so battered, huh?”
Ami spoke.
There was indeed a broken bicycle near the bullets.
And only the bullets that hit it were damaged.
“Oh, I see…… that’s what this is.”
“What do you mean?”
“Yes, we need to talk about something, Ami. First, let’s hide and buy some time.”
“Talk? Okay, I’ll handle it!”
Ami held Mary as she recovered and looked for a place to hide while dodging the next charge.
◇◇◇
Chariot indiscriminately shot a massive number of bullets.
In all directions and all places. It was meant to destroy everything that could be used as a hiding spot, but Ami and Mary were nowhere to be seen.
“Tsch, buying time? They attack me first and then run away when things don’t go their way? How cowardly.”
Cruz shouted with irritation as he leaned his body on the steering wheel.
He was trying to attack Mary again after directly hitting her before, but she escaped.
“It may be fast, but it can only attack by charging and shooting. That’s a weakness when the enemy flees…… I gotta get it remodeled when I return to the Empire. I want better short turns, and all kinds of new weapons. I want it to turn into something even better. Don’t you want to be cooler too, Chariot?”
Cruz’s Chariot did not work without him in the car.
It had absolute protection after the condition was filled.
On the other hand, however, as long as it was a car, the options when fighting against people were limited.
It had enough advantages to make up for that, but that weak point was all too clear after experiencing a fight against arcana users.
“Still, that princess is even tougher than the rumors say. Losing half your body would be game over for a normal human. Let’s go for a true vital spot next time, Chariot. Our jet propulsion and bullets are limited.”
Cruz was the only one who could get in his car.
So he had developed a habit of talking to himself.
The area around Chariot suddenly went quiet after the attacks stopped.
But it was still too turbulent to say things were truly silent.
Sounds of a fierce battle could be heard coming from the opposite side of the village.
“That damn Ox is at it too…… We didn’t expect that surprise attack, but this is actually a good chance to catch them all in one go. Let’s do it. I’m gonna get through this and get a crazy budget increase for Chariot’s remodeling……!”
The difference between Cruz and Andre or Elastis was that he had no animosity towards the Empire.
In his case, he did not care whether the emperor was being controlled or not.
He earned money by completing his duties.
Even if he failed, he could travel with Chariot through lands untouched by the Kingdom of Orvis.
And he could have exciting fights with new enemies.
It was not a bad job.
That was precisely why he wanted it to become even more fun.
He did not want this to end in a boring manner with his foes running away.
Then, he started hearing the sound of something other than Ox’s fight, and he smiled.
“……I can hear the wheels. The sound of an inconsiderate monster smashing through the road.”
He was not speaking ill of it, but praising it.
“It seems that the princess realized what Chariot really is.”
Cruz grabbed the steering wheel again and looked ahead.
The headlights lit up a car decorated with human bones.
“Ah…… Haha, ahahahahaha!”
No, not decorations.
The car itself was made with human bones.
The only exception was the wheels.
The wheels spinning there were created by Ami’s Wheel of Fortune.
“Myriad Corpse…..”
“Burial Supercar!”
Perhaps having read their mouths, Cruz laughed scornfully.
It was a harsh, loathsome, insane design that even a junkie would not use.
“Hah, supercar? You call stupid cars like that ‘monster cars’!”
It was truly a monster.
But Mary and Ami had created the best ‘weapon’ to fight Chariot.
“I’m getting fired up now, Chariot. Let’s enjoy the second round!”
“I’m going to crush him and chew him up. Let’s go, Ami!”
“It’s a super fast charge with our love poweeeer!”
The two simultaneously stepped on the pedal.