Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume1 Phase2 (section)

===Part 11===

After stabbing his sword into the ballista crane on the other rooftop, Ayato easily slipped between a shop that sold accessories made of monster wings and scales and a mobile restaurant that specialized in seafood pasta in order to return to the empty room from which they planned to make their attack.

That ridiculous sniper’s hideout was right in front of them.

A midair road filled with people, things, and vehicles sat between them and Teleria and Mamilis were observing things through the thick window that kept the powerful wind out. He placed his hands on Teleria’s shoulders from behind and pulled her toward him.

“Hyah!?”

“If you get too close to the window, she might notice you.”

“H-how can you do things like this so naturally? And if you really thought that would happen, you would seem more worried.”

“Have you seen her?”

“A few glimpses. Maybe she isn’t going anywhere today.”

Mamilis’s long ears poked out through her silver hair and she did not seem bothered by the other two’s flirting.

Ayato focused on the building across the street as well.

“So that’s the sniper in question, huh? Still…”

He could see a red figure at the window. She had long, flowing hair and a curvy body. She had the look of a determined woman and she wore a red leather outfit formed from a vest and a longish tight skirt with slits in the sides. She wore floating Expansion Armor like Teleria’s long skirt, but hers looked like giant bat wings. No, a closer look showed she also had what looked like horns and a thick tail.

That may have been about right for this wind town. Ayato knew how trying to be as inconspicuous as possible could make you stand out even more, but this woman clearly had confidence in her body given how much of her bodylines she was showing off.

Then the Sorcery Hacker frowned.

(That wing… No, it couldn’t be. Am I overthinking this?)

He could not see the anti-dragon rifle. She must not have kept it with her at all times.

“Have you seen anyone else there? Like roommates, visitors, and pizza deliverers?”

The two girls shook their heads.

He traced his fingers across his floating Linkage Monitor crystal tarot cards and approached the side of the window.

“Then let’s get started. Miss Mamilis, prepare your sorcery gun. Miss Teleria, you provide support if she screws it up.”

“Eh? Like I said, I’m not good at fire magic.”

“Not that way. This is her first time doing this, so if she loses control of the explosion, I would really appreciate it if you cast recovery magic on me before I’m roasted here by the window.”

“Eeeeeeek!”

The blonde girl sounded much more afraid than necessary and Ayato glanced over at her while making the final check.

“The plan is as follows: I will use the lights to keep people and vehicles away, I will fire the ballista crane at her hideout, I will open the window to clear a line of fire, Miss Mamilis will launch her fire magic once the sniper woman leaves her hideout, and I will send a liquified manaflow into that to trigger a massive explosion in her direction. That might sound like a lot, but I want to complete it all before I can count to five in my head.”

“O-okay.”

There must not have been any good end point for the air currents here because there were no shops or restaurants on the walls, so controlling the lights was enough to keep other people away from here.

“Do not confirm the previous step is complete before continuing to the next; we will essentially be doing everything at once. It will take time for the people to disappear after I control the lights and it will take time for the steel beams attached to the ballista crane’s hook to hit the hideout after it is fired, so I want to begin on the next step while those are still underway. Focus on the countdown in your head more than the things you see happening.”

“Got it, Coach.”

“Really, it’s like cooking. You can save a lot of time by chopping the vegetables while you wait for the pot to boil, right? Be more flexible and make sure you do your job.”

“Hmm.”

“Now, before we begin, I will provide you with the magic words, Miss Mamilis: You are my only hope.”

“Pretty sure that doesn’t work on me.”

“(You say that and your expression might be blank, but I can see your long ears twitching!!)”

She was sniping, but she did not have to stand right up at the window. Nor did she need to attach all sorts of accessories like a scope or bipod. The Dark Elf aimed the full-auto shotgun with drum magazine toward the closed window from the center of the room. Ayato glanced over at her while he placed a hand on the window frame and flicked one of his floating crystal tarot cards to change its position relative to the others.

All of the ball-shaped traffic lights floating outside changed their display.

“Phase 1.”

Ayato did not bother watching the result of that change as he manipulated his cards again. This time, the crane on top of another building swung around and the thick steel beams attached to the end of the thick wire took aim.

At that distance, there would be a slight time lag between the launch and the hit.

As long as the people, things, and vehicles left the air before then, it would all work out.

“Phase 2, Miss Mamilis.”

“…”

Just as the people vanished, the steel beams crashed into the opposite building wall.

Mamilis found herself staring at the skillful coordination that felt like something from a parade, but when Ayato called her name, she frantically looked through her full-auto shotgun’s sight again.

Something moved at the window as if forced out by that external stimulation.

It was a devil in red leather.

That very real threat had fired the devastating Critical Disaster on the city already.

She forcibly opened a large window and started to throw herself out into the empty air.

The Dark Elf was acting as a sniper, but she did not have to directly hit this target. Her role was to trigger a fire, just like a wife lighting the kitchen stove for some cooking.

So it was fortunate she did not have to look too closely at her target.

If she had seen someone with a humanoid form much like her own, her finger would likely have stopped there.

Ayato gave her the final push she needed.

He threw open the window and the wind from outside slammed into her face.

She seemed to pull the trigger more out of surprise than anything. A red muzzle flash colored the air and a torrent of mist mana burst through that while transforming into a supernatural phenomenon with real power behind it. A used shotgun shell, with the surface of the mist mana hardened by the impurity powder and the high temperature, lost its light as it was spat from the ejection port. The gunshot flew out the window after transforming into the crimson flames that Teleria had trouble with.

“Phase 3.”

That just left switching over control of the traffic lights to stop the artificial air current and sending out the highly concentrated manaflow as spray. Fire would not cause condensed mana like that to burn, but magic fire or water were a different matter. Liquefied mana inside bullet cartridges was dangerous because it could cause an explosion, but the degree of the interference was all in how you used it. If he used one of the manaflows supporting the city traffic infrastructure to create a blazing gust of wind, that orange dragon would swallow up their target.

Everything was going according to plan.

He only had to flick one of the ultra-thin crystal tarot cards floating in the air.

However.

The line Ayato Criminaltrophy was using to control it all was severed.

He could not use the traffic lights to control the manaflow that was normally used to create wind.

The arcana images vanished from the crystal tarot cards, so they became no more than transparent panels.

The spark launched by Mamilis Coster left the window, twisted around, and faded away in the air. However, the gunshot and magic must have drawn their opponent’s attention.

His eyes clearly met those of the red leather woman with false wings spread wide.

“It didn’t work!? Um, Coach, I…!!”

“It wasn’t your fault! Damn, did someone interfere with all the traffic lights that convert the wind!?”

The red leather sniper had initially tried to escape from the window, but now he wondered if she had detected their actions and fought back. In other words, he wondered if she too was a Sorcery Hacker.

But something was not right.

All three of them heard several sets of heavy metallic clanking take up positions outside the window and on the other side of the wall.

“Kyah!?”

Teleria was shocked by a disgusting sensation like metallic bugs were crawling all over that wall. She lost her balance, so Ayato took her arm and pulled her close.

“Is that the knights?”

“Sorcery Hacker! We would like a word with you concerning the incident in Fire Castle Town Flared!!”

(That’s an obvious diversion. They’ll be sending a strike team in from the back. If we let that voice scare us and try to escape out the back, we’ll be hit with a surprise attack.)

Someone must have called the knights on them and those knights had reset everything to retake control of the traffic lights without considering what Ayato’s group might be trying to do. That was why he had not been able to use the manaflow meant to transform Mamilis’s spark into a finishing blow.

Out the window and at the building across the way, the long-haired devil woman was stepping up onto the windowsill and throwing herself out into the air. Her thick tail swished side to side as if mocking him. Was that the long, narrow case for a fishing rod hanging from her shoulder? That item did not suit this wind town at all. What she was actually hiding inside went without saying. She was a sniper, after all.

“Wh-what do we do!?”

She was going to get away after all this.

Ayato was not going to hold back now. He whispered in tearful Teleria’s ear while still holding her close.

“I still have the ballista crane.”

The steel beams on the end of the giant crossbow’s wire crashed into their own building.

The knights out front were a diversion for the real attack in the rear.

That meant the knights had not planned for a bold escape through the front window. Simply eliminating the group on the outside wall would be enough to throw the scene into chaos. Ayato calmly analyzed the situation while glancing over to see Mamilis putting on her earrings to hide her distinctive long ears.

The heavy bundle slipped through the uneven jungle gym structure of this town and mercilessly blew away the wall.

The time of chaos was nigh.

Below the sunny and starry sky, the boy jumped out of the high-rise building’s window with Teleria in his right hand and Mamilis in his left.

“Wahh!?”

“Miss Teleria, scream if you like, but do not forget our objective here. We must pursue the sniper!!”

The foolish knights had reset all the traffic lights in this area, so all the air currents were even and indistinct. The effects of this branched out over a wider area, so the people, things, and vehicles that would normally never collide had to twist around under their own power to avoid danger.

And amid all that…

“Wow, she’s fast!!”

They pursued the demonic sniper who was switching from one air current to the next to escape, but they could not seem to catch up. She maintained a distance of about 50 esoule<ref>Approximately 60 meters.</ref> ahead. This was not the result of her large decorative wings catching the wind. The answer was obvious once he observed that false-winged sniper as she took sharp turns with almost no time loss.

“I see.”

“Y-you see what!?”

“I would like to move quickly, so let go of your skirt for now. And it is not those decorative wings that are helping her here. She places her feet on the walls when making a turn. Instead of just floating, she is using that footing to control her flight. That seems to let her make sharper turns!”

Sometimes she used the building walls themselves and sometimes she used the signs or the roofs of the tent-shaped shops attached perpendicularly to the walls, but she used it all to move out ahead.

Of course, she was making contact with stationary objects while moving at high speed. When she seemingly stroked those surfaces with the high-heeled feet sticking out from her slit skirt, the slightest mistake in the force used could have broken or shattered her ankles. Just because he knew how it worked did not mean he could do it himself.

Also the sniper escaping ahead while flapping her Expansion Armor wings was not the only problem.

The Dark Elf looked back and raised her voice while continuing to ride the artificial currents.

“We’re being pursued too!! Coach, the knights are coming!!”

“!!”

He grabbed her shoulder and took a large right turn at the next intersection.

An intense barrage of magic arrived a moment later.

The white beams fired at them were “weathering”. They were probably Tertiary Ex Weathering from the wind element which excelled at status effects. Anything those hit would be broken apart at the microscopic level, have gaps opened within it, and be blown away like dust in the wind. This would affect living creatures and metal alike, so the knights must not have been thinking about taking them alive.

The knights were using semi-auto rifles that had once been retired from use and later brought back and improved once their accuracy and power in mid-range sniping was reassessed. They had the obvious power of a large caliber and they were convenient enough to produce certain results no matter who wielded them, so they were known for being strictly banned from sale to civilians.

However.

“Wait, you idiots! Run away!!”

Ayato shouted at them, but did those pursuing knights know what he was referring to?

The fearsome beam reminiscent of a dragon attack blew away that threat like it was nothing.

When Ayato’s group quickly turned the corner at the intersection, the weathering magic fired by the pursuing knights must have continued on toward the sniper with the Expansion Armor wings. That horned woman must have concluded she was under attack and returned fire. People were free to throw stones to knock down a hornet’s nest if they liked, but what if a hibernating bear’s den was located back behind there? That was what the knights had done.

(That power and that beam. I would recognize it anywhere.)

Ayato’s heart filled with an unpleasant certainty as he left the intersection and passed by a mobile shop shaped like a ladybug.

It was nothing short of a miracle that none of the shops and restaurants on the walls here had been blown away.

(That’s the anti-dragon rifle that started all this by sending Funny Snatch’s group to their graves in Flared. That settles it! She really is the person who framed us!!)

He was reminded just how absurdly powerful that thing was.

It was bright enough to blot out the sunny and starry sky.

The magic had been amplified so far he could not even hazard a guess at what it had originally been. There was no trace of its original form remaining. He was amazed by the power of the anti-dragon rifle hidden in the fishing rod case and by the skill of the red leather woman who could control that absurd level of recoil while moving at high speed with no footing to speak of.

“Wah, wah, wah!!”

“Calm down, Miss Teleria. Here, I will hold you tight to help.”

“~ ~ ~!!!???”

“Coach, I’m pretty sure that’s going to do the opposite. Although making her mind go blank so she freezes up might work out in the end.”

Now that the rookie Dark Elf had their dynamic figured out so well, the blushing and dizzy blonde girl had nowhere to turn.

“Miss Teleria, do try to speak in human language. Also, those knights were wearing dark gray armor. That is their combat armor made from oxidized mana-conducting silver protectors and large monster tendons and leather. It provides both a physical boosting effect and magical defense. The soundproofing at the weak points is not perfect, but it is guaranteed to keep them alive. They will not die so easily.”

“Monster…urp, uwehhhhhh.”

“?”

If the knights and the sniper woman would fight each other and slow each other down, that was fine with him. His group had left the shortest route and turned a corner to avoid the knights’ attacks, so they had start pursuing that absurdly-powerful sniper again.

The deafening sounds of gunfire told him where she was even with a tall building in the way. The knights knew they were straying from their original target, but they must not have been able to ignore such a powerful threat. Ayato, Teleria, and Mamilis turned a corner toward the source of the noise.

“Eeeek! It sounds like that one woman is winning out against the organized power of the knights.”

“That means she must be preparing for something ''that requires enough power to overpower the knights''. She already used human traffickers to capture the city’s urban design manager, so what could she be planning?”

Was it due to their altitude or because they were approaching the center?

As soon as they turned the corner, a giant windmill’s blades came into view. Each blade was 35 esoule<ref>Approximately 42 meters.</ref> long and the windmill used four of them to catch the artificial air currents needed to heavily rotate them. It likely compressed the mana spread thinly through the air as mist and sent it through an underground pipeline to help power central Light Castle Brightio. Teleria screamed, so he grabbed her arm and ducked below the blade that approached from above like a guillotine while continuing to gain ground on the brutal sniper.

The Dark Elf gulped while holding her full-auto shotgun in both hands.

“The sound disappeared, Coach.”

“We’re about to catch up. We’ll reach the next intersection at the same time!”

But tracking the red leather devil woman’s position was the most Ayato could manage, so he had to delay doing anything as a Sorcery Hacker. He had lost most of his resonating processing space when the knights reset the traffic lights, so all he had left was the fire system he had found inside the empty room’s wall. Also, that only let him operate that stationary ballista crane and the hook equipped with giant bee wings could only be fired so far. Wildly firing that wire would only get other people caught in the crossfire, so he had to assume that would not help.

(There are the machines that scatter the visualization flower petals, there are the light fixtures, and…argh, the stores on the walls are in the way!)

He had to use his Linkage Plug to build things up from scratch, so he needed Teleria or Mamilis to buy him some time with their magic. But that would mean using those girls as a shield by placing them in front of that sniper who wielded enough firepower to directly overpower the organized strength of the knights.

They only had one chance here.

(The air currents are controlled by low-level traffic lights. If I can stab my sword into one of those to control it, I can mess with the current and strength of the air current. Disturbing the current the sniper is using to slow her down is the only real option here!!)

One of those ball-shaped traffic lights floated at the center of the upcoming intersection.

He focused on the sword at his hip.

And the moment arrived.

They were 1500 esoule<ref>Approximately 1800 meters.</ref> up from the base of the city.

As two air currents intersected, the sniper used her Expansion Armor wings and tail in the wind and just barely shared the same space and time as Ayato’s group. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. They were close enough to smell each other’s hair, but there was nothing shared between their hearts.

“!!”

“!?”

Ayato drew his Linkage Cable sword to take control of the traffic light and locally control the air currents, but the woman with devilish horns swung around the anti-dragon rifle sorcery gun that was longer than she was tall and struck his blade, redirecting it. However, their close range worked against her, so the devil woman in red leather could not actually aim the enormous weapon at her target.

Neither one of them could accomplish what they wanted.

And time sped back up to normal.

The scenery flew by and the distance between them stretched out infinitely once more. He nearly crashed into one of the walkways creating the jungle gym look of this town, but he just barely managed to regain his balance at high speed.

“Again!! We need to cross that sniper’s route again before we lose sight of her!!”

Just as he shouted that, the sniper took action sooner than expected.

The fearsome beam of that anti-dragon rifle ignored the street made from artificial air currents and the row of towering buildings as it attacked. Yes, she used its destructive power to blast right through the building in between them.

(…!?)

This one caught him entirely by surprise.

Even Ayato felt like an icy hand was squeezing at his heart, but this was not aimed at him or at the ordinary people standing perpendicular on the wall. The wind blew in through the smashed wall, but the people in the stores were miraculously safe. That woman’s skill really was astounding. But what had she been shooting?

It was one of the ball-shaped sorcery devices floating in the air.

She had vaporized the traffic light that organized traffic by controlling the air currents for this area.

“Wha-?”

Ayato himself had tried to control that very device to slow down the sniper, but the woman with her Expansion Armor tail waving had chosen to destroy it instead of control it.

With the traffic light gone, the artificially-managed air current vanished.

Ayato’s group had been freely soaring through the sky as if swimming, but that movement suddenly changed.

They fell.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!?” screamed Teleria.

Ayato reached out a hand almost on reflex and pulled the blonde girl close.

An instinctual fear ran down his spine as he felt gravity clutching at his stomach, but they were not going to crash into the ground right away. Wind Castle Town Silphine had countless air currents intersecting like knit wool. They had lost one, but they just had to catch a ride on another one lower down.

But it was true they had lost that smooth control.

They were blasted in an entirely different direction like they had boarded the wrong train.

“Where’s that sniper!?” he shouted.

“It’s no use!” answered Mamilis. “I can’t see her anymore!!”

Changing “tracks” must have made Mamilis panic because she tried to reach for a nearby mobile shop modified from a longhorn beetle sorcery taxi, but Ayato quickly stopped her. He was not going to let her break or shatter a bone.

This result made everything feel dark and hopeless, but the devil woman in red leather had not literally disappeared. She was still in this wind town, so they could still pursue her.

Or so he thought.

However…

“What is that? Dammit!”

Ayato Criminaltrophy finally realized ''where'' the sniper had sent them.

They were being swept toward the many people and beetle-like sorcery vehicles clinging to the wall of a giant building.

Except all of these people carried large sorcery guns and wore identical asphalt-colored armor made from oxidized mana-conducting silver protectors and large monster leather and tendons.

“Really!? Straight to the knights’ local command post!?”

It was too late to complain now.

There was only one exit from that invisible slide made from a powerful air current, so Ayato’s group was forced to land on the wall right in the middle of the enemy formation.