Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume2 Phase02 (section)

===Part 2===

The morning sun shined in.

On a tropical beach, the morning was not welcomed by the chirping of sparrows or the crowing of a rooster. Instead, it was the squawking of sea birds that awoke Ayato. The luxurious tropical log cottage had plenty of beds, so he had not needed to use a sofa for once.

However, he also heard an odd sound from below the covers.

Or was that a voice?

“Mgh.”

“Miss Mamilis, I am aware this is rude, but might I ask for as detailed an explanation as possible regarding why you have crawled into my bed?”

He moved his hand a bit to check and felt the contrasting textures of strange leather and a girl’s soft skin.

“To be honest, I underestimated you, Coach,” said the voice from the covers. “I thought I would wake you up this morning, but you pulled me down to roll along the floor with me and finally rolled right on back into the bed.”

The Dark Elf did not sound pleased.

Now, Ayato had not been sleeping. He had just returned from his self-maintenance work that only required shutting one’s eyes and meditating, but it seemed his body had been getting into trouble in the meantime.

He shook his heavy head and climbed out of bed.

He walked to the living room with Mamilis who was wearing her white leather vest and tight pants.

“Hm? Why do you look so exhausted, Miss Teleria? Is the heat getting to you?”

“I-it’sh nuffing. Maybe this bed is just too soft and fluffy.”

Teleria had shown off her cooking skills last night, but with her blonde hair a mess and her uniform disheveled, it was clear they would have to head out for some breakfast. Which was fine since they also had to stop by the Oceavita Water Therapy Institute to ask about the decursing of that attacker. The fact that none of them considered cooking in Teleria’s place showed just how reliant they were on the girl.

When they left the cottage and started strolling along the beach, it was nigh impossible to miss a major change to the scenery.

Namely, Water Lord Fleurelisia.

Her massive form on the peak came into view whether you were paying attention or not.

“Hm? Isn’t she a little further to the right than yesterday?”

“Ha ha ha. You must be imagining things, Ayato. That’s one of the legendary Four Lords, remember?”

“Dangerous individual, did you hear something like gunfire last night?”

“Probably those lightning cloud cannons! Those large sorcery devices are used to clear away thick lightning clouds. They’re all controlled from this island, but they have them set up on a few uninhabited islands to keep the people here safe!”

Small piles of something could be seen here and there, so someone must have created them and left them there during the night. A girl – probably a Scylla – was gathering those up in a large bag she was dragging around. Was she a volunteer gathering the remnants of fireworks? She was also lecturing a Lizardman who had left their shed skin out on the beach.

The morning sea was breathtaking.

There were no surfers or leisure yachts out this early, so the tourists must have all still been asleep. It was too soon to swim or to throw a party, but the true beauty of the tropical ocean may have been more evident now than any other time. The ocean glittered in the rising sun with an innocent shine reminiscent of an unpolished gemstone.

Henrietta looked around while passing by a Cat Sith girl going for an early morning jog in a healthy outfit that showed off her midriff.

“Aren’t we too early? The morning shift maids will only now be getting up, so I doubt any restaurants are open.”

“There’s one thing you can always count on while on the beach. Yup, there it is.”

It would cost a fair amount, but Ayato knew exactly what to go. The cheapest option for eating out now was the food stands lined up along the beach. They were probably meant for the fishermen returning to port at dawn. Most of them set the heat of a grill with a sorcery gun instead of using a portable stove.

Dark Elf Mamilis was fascinated by how the chilly Arai girl worked her double spatulas.

“Wow, what’s this, Coach? They’re serving noodles without any sauce, but it doesn’t look like pasta.”

“Hey, dangerous individual. I thought wheat was scarce here since they have to have it imported. Are these made from potatoes like those dumplings from yesterday?”

“Those are fried noodles, a classic beach food,” said Teleria. “Although people are very opinionated over whether they should be served with salt or with sweet and savory sauce, or if the noodles should be hard or soft.”

“?”

Henrietta gave an odd look to Teleria for knowing so much about this. They ended up getting some of those fried noodles, but the Striker had no problem with the dried and sliced sea cucumber served on top, despite collapsing back in her chair over octopus and squid. She stabbed them with a fork and ate them like normal.

“Hm, they seem to be fried instead of boiled, but the texture of the noodles seems about right. A little softer than I’m used to with the Static Continent’s pasta, though.”

“U-um. Henrietta, those things on the noodles are sea cucumbers.”

“These? They’re fairly chewy, but the more I chew them, the more flavor I get from them. They provide a nice accent to the flavor. So I take it these cucumbers grow near the sea?”

The Striker would not stop grinning. While sliced up and dried out, someone of her privileged background apparently thought they truly were a type of cucumber. If she saw a whole sea cucumber lying in the shallows around here, she would probably foam at the mouth and pass out, so Teleria decided not to elaborate further.

“Take a look at that over there, Miss Henrietta! Yes, that thing that looks like dog poop washed up onto the beach!”

“I just knew you would do this, Ayato! And I’m not letting it happen!!”

The short but busty blonde girl wrapped her arms around him to cover his mouth with her soft hands, but she seemed unaware that qualified as a flirty reward to him. He silently vowed to do this kind of thing more often.

Once they had eaten, they made their way to the Oceavita Water Therapy Institute.

The white sand extended well beyond the beach. The trees growing directly from it must have been a type of mangrove. A Dryad girl stretched her arms up and hummed while leaning up against a thick tree.

“Ah.”

Brown midriff-baring Mamilis cried out and clung to Ayato. She seemed to have tripped over something.

“Hm,” he said with a troubled look.

“Now is not the time to discuss ‘a happy sensation’ or whatever you call it, dangerous individual. We need to find out if that attacker has been decursed and complete our business here. You need to hear what he has to say, don’t you?”

“…”

A cloud fell over fluffy blonde-haired Teleria’s face. She did not want Ayato to continue obsessing over that past incident, but she could not change anything without working up the courage to speak up about it.

They arrived at the white marble building that acted as the general reception area for the Oceavita Water Therapy Institute. It was much cooler inside. This early in the morning, there was no line of other patients and the large lobby felt empty.

The smiling receptionist was like a cross between a maid and a nurse.

“You are #1034, registered under the name of Henrietta, correct?”

“Yes, that’s me,” said Ayato.

“(No, it’s me! Dangerous individual, you can’t just use my name like that.)”

“(Let me borrow your good reputation just this once. I need your noble and respectable name here. A crafty fox like me isn’t enough to pull this one off.)”

“(Hm, is that so? Heh heh heh. So you have finally found some respect for a Striker who fights day and night to preserve order and justice, have you? This is a good sign. I can rehabilitate you yet.)”

While the blonde braid girl started feeling awfully proud of herself, the Sorcery Hacker hid a smile so she would not notice.

She was so easy to manipulate he was a little worried about her future.

Whether the receptionist was aware of that interplay or not, she held a hand over the palm-sized spherical Media Summoner on the counter.

“#1034 is…oh?”

Looks of surprise were unusual in an institute of sorcery medicine. The unexpected could happen anywhere of course, but letting it show could trigger anxiety and fear within the patient or their family. No one wanted to go out of their way to invite customer complaints.

Henrietta quickly grew pale.

“Wait, so was the basic decursing not enough? Are you going to have to try out different springs until one works? How long will I be trapped on this island? Gwohh! But I don’t want to eat bats and octopuses!!”

“Um, no, it isn’t that.”

Blue blazer Ayato cocked an eyebrow at that. This was a local network using Media Summoners and the medical records were handled digitally. Why had he not considered the possibility sooner?

“Um, it seems #1034 just finished checking out earlier,” said the receptionist in a very troubled way. “We even have the virtual signature here from a Henrietta Split Destrius.”

“B-but that is my name! I never signed anything!!”

“If you are willing, we could, um, have the signature appraised.”

For those with significant status, fingerprints were not as important as the signature they used on letters and contracts. Enough so that people could make a living appraising signatures or forging them.

Ayato did not need to confirm anything with the Striker blinking in confusion next to him. She could not have split into two and acted independently of him.

He clicked his tongue.

“You’ve been sorcery hacked. Someone’s trying to take him away still encased in ice. The curse doesn’t matter if they only want to silence him!!”

The detailed exams and basic decursings would be performed back beyond the reception desk. The specialized springs were scattered across the island, but they had not reached the point of needing to try those. Black-haired Ayato pulled his Linkage Plug sword from his hip, hopped over the counter, and reached for the knob.

But before he could open it, the thick door was blown away from the other side.

It was a lot like a backdraft from a burning building. The receptionist screamed and crouched down. To make sure he did not hit her, Ayato stabbed his sword into the floor, altering the direction he fell, and he finally stopped after his hip slammed into the counter.

“Ah, ahhh. Ow, what was that?”

The receptionist was too dazed to notice her long skirt had ridden up enough to show off her legs in white tights, but he did not have time to look after her.

“Ayato!!” shouted Teleria.

“Draw your sorcery guns. This is a military-grade sorcery device!”

The sound of creaking metal joints reverberated from beyond the blazing door.

And it was not alone.

The polished white marble floor burst open and more and more giant masses emerged. They must have been hidden below the fine sand to begin with.

Teleria, Mamilis, and Henrietta moved in close together.

“That’s it, Coach,” said the Dark Elf. “The top of those things is what I tripped over in the forest.”

“H-have they been hacked?”

They dragged around armor shaped like spiral shells and the multiple metal legs, pincers, and crystal eyeballs all extended from a single opening, making them look something like car-sized hermit crabs.

Since Mamilis did not give a clear answer, her weapons developer grandma must not have designed these.

A warrior like Henrietta would be the next most familiar with such things.

“Are those Dextral Mk. IIs? I have worked alongside them in joint exercises with the surface city-states. They are unmanned amphibious weapons for landing operations. Stand in their way and you will be blown away by pure firepower!”

“Which means we have a chance if we circle behind them. Their thick armor will create a blind spot. Stay on the move and make sure they don’t surround you!”

With that, Ayato stabbed his Linkage Plug sword into the reception desk’s Media Summoner, the auto-watering device for the decorative plants, the air conditioner, and other devices.

The pincers apparently functioned as artillery. Electricity scattered from between the two blades, and…

“!!”

A mass of fire was launched toward Ayato, which he just barely managed to dodge. The blazing heat instead hit the marble, scattering rubble and explosive flames outwards. No, the airborne shards melted into liquid before they could reach the ground.

Ayato instantly analyzed it.

“Plasma fireballs? Was that Tertiary Taboo Gluon!?”

“The wind element? The Dextral Mk. II was designed to use the water element, dangerous individual! These are not the standard presets! Besides, military-grade devices are built for stability, so they would never be set to use taboo magic!!”

Had a Sorcery Hacker changed the settings? Henrietta must have wanted to whittle down their numbers before things grew even more chaotic because she spun around to sneak up next to one of the giant hermit crabs and raised her bolt-action carbine with an axe-like bayonet.

“Buff: Primary Ex Massive!!”

After pulling the trigger, she forcefully swung down the heavy blade. A direct hit from this close-quarters attack could smash the thick outer walls of the tall buildings of her native sky city. Cracks ran through the Dextral Mk. II’s spiral shell armor and a piece broke away.

Her sorcery gun’s faded empty cartridge only then hit the floor.

That was how fast her attack had been.

However.

“Oh, no.”

That frustrated comment came from Henrietta herself.

The Dextral Mk. II’s broken armor was repaired before she could make another attack, so she clicked her tongue.

“Is their armor made from packed sand? We can’t keep up with that. These are for landing operations, remember!? They were designed for use on sandy beaches, so their armor will endlessly regenerate there!!”

Henrietta’s range and accuracy might have been lacking, but she had the greatest destructive power of any of them. Teleria’s twin handguns and Mamilis’s full-auto shotgun could not supply as powerful a blow.

These weapons had the ultra-high firepower of plasma fireballs and this powerful endlessly-regenerating armor. The firepower might not be a threat if you were not directly in front of them, but constantly keeping yourself in their blind spot when more than one were targeting you would wear down your stamina in no time. And falling behind just a little would get you reduced to ashes.

They could not let this battle drag on, so the Sorcery Hacker made a decision.

“Miss Henrietta, can you safely draw their fire? I don’t think I can ask Miss Teleria or Miss Mamilis to do that.”

“Did you think a Striker like me would use others as a shield to protect herself? You have a plan, I assume?”

“I need to be at around Level 15 for this, so I will be borrowing that armor to bring my level up.”

“Hey!”

Henrietta wept as he casually stabbed his sword into her oxidized mana-conducting silver armor.

Electricity once more scattered from the hermit crab pincers.

“Here goes!!” roared Ayato as he leaped toward one Dextral Mk. II.

They aimed the pincers toward him at first, but Henrietta ran in from the other side to draw their attention and the plasma fireballs were launched toward her. Her feet squeaked on the floor as she zigzagged, causing her ponytail braid to flutter in an S-shape behind her.

She dodged the beams of light.

She made it look easy, but that was a testament to her skill. The slightest mistake here would have gotten her utterly vaporized, so it was a truly risky feat.

Meanwhile…

“Got you!!”

Ayato jumped on top of the armor made from sand or whatever. From the overhead blind spot, he stabbed his Linkage Plug sword into the opening full of weak points like the eyes, legs, and pincers.

He pulled the trigger to release the blade.

He was borrowing the processing space of the reception desk’s sorcery devices and Henrietta’s armor.

With a low roar, the one Dextral Mk. II began behaving erratically.

“Everyone, get down!!”

Plasma roared more than once.

The boy in the blue blazer that symbolized education had not aimed at one of the other hermit crabs. With equal specs, he could have at most defeated one before their greater numbers tore his one to pieces. So he had instead aimed for the floor below them. The plasma tore through the white marble, burning the fine sand found there.

“Miss Teleria, prepare Secondary Ex Icing!”

“Eh? But that’s recovery magic for cooling sprains.”

“You only need to cool the sand melted by the plasma! Hurry!!”

After some distinctive blue muzzle flashes and suppressed gunshots, the change became visible.

A distorted translucent mass covered the surface, like some melted candy had rehardened after falling to the ground.

When sand was melted, it would turn to glass.

The others launched their plasma fireballs, so black-haired Ayato quickly jumped down from the hacked one.

“The layer of glass will cut off their endless supply of sand from the ground, meaning they can’t regenerate their armor. But that won’t last long since it ends once it breaks. Miss Henrietta, this is in your hands!!”

“!!”

It did not take long then.

Teleria and Mamilis occasionally provided distractions with their magic, but it was generally all up to Henrietta’s great strength. She would circle around to the sides, break open the spiral shell armor, and slam her axe-like bayonet into the Dextral Mk. II’s “guts” to finish it off.

“That should about do it.”

She slammed her gun’s stock against the glass ground and elegantly wiped the sweat from her brow with a handkerchief. She was surrounded by the remains of her foes and her own faded empty cartridges. Not one of the machines was still moving. However, black-haired Ayato did not look pleased.

“A-Ayato?” asked Teleria.

“They could have called in reinforcements if they wanted, so if this is the end of them, they must have played their role. The ice coffin must have been taken away.”

Even if they were up against another Sorcery Hacker here, where had they gotten those Dextral Mk. IIs from? Hackers hijacked control; they did not bring the devices in themselves.

This seemed to suggest a hidden side to the island of Laguntreat, but the Sorcery Hacker who had stolen the ice coffin had to come first.

That had to be their focus.

But Teleria and Mamilis had noticed something else. The receptionist was poking just her head above the crumbling counter and viewing them with undeniable fear.

Specifically, she was looking at the Linkage Plug sword that Ayato held.

That was a symbol of Sorcery Hacking.

It did not matter that they had saved her life. She was viewing them like they were escaped prisoners. That was simply how ordinary people viewed sorcery criminals.

Ayato summed up the situation for them.

He accepted their plight before the woman could let out an ear-splitting scream of rejection.

“We have now revealed ourselves to be an illegal Sorcery Hacking gang. There is but one course of action for us here: run away!!”