Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume12 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 5===

With that first explosion, the battle began.

Below the navy blue sky, the killer water truck hopped straight up and burst into flames. The blast-resistant doors opened and soldiers ran out while partially on fire only for rifle bullets to hit them. Heivia whistled as he fired.

“This is only the opening skirmish and it isn’t over until we reach the casino. Don’t use up all your ammo before we go for the jackpot!!”

“You’re shooting more than anyone, Heivia!”

“It’s all meaningless if we kick the bucket before getting there!!”

“Which of those instructions are we supposed to follow!?”

As he complained, Quenser kneaded some Hand Axe into a baseball-sized sphere and attached a pen-shaped electric fuse to the top. He threw it toward the Faith Organization soldiers who were persistently targeting them from behind cover.

“Oh, did that stick to him?”

The enemy panicked when he saw the bomb stuck to his helmet, but Quenser did not let up. He used his radio to blow up the fleeing soldier and everything else behind cover.

Heivia mercilessly pulled the trigger on the enemy soldiers that just barely managed to roll away from the blast.

“Wow, these guards sure are straitlaced. They actually fight properly and even die when they’re supposed to.”

“Their pay must be better than ours.”

While Heivia swapped out his magazine, Evans used his anti-materiel rifle to destroy the very wall the enemy was hiding behind.

Quenser and the others advanced further while harmless bikini girls and bunny girls ran around in a panic.

They had reached the neon-flooded main strip of casinos. It was almost dawn, but the brightly lit signs were an eyesore.

“The Faith Organization isn’t taking this as seriously as I would have thought. I mean, I’m carrying a heavy missile on my back.”

“They probably don’t want to damage the roads and bridges with tank treads. And longer range heavy machineguns or autocannons raise the odds of accidentally hitting some VIP or another.”

“D-does that mean they can’t bring out some dirty depleted uranium rounds in this luxury resort for the wealthy? The rounds that pierce their target could also break through a giant water tank or something.”

At precisely that moment, the restaurant to the side had a wall blown apart and a giant mass moved out onto the main strip. This was not the same as the killer water truck from before. It felt like looking up at a giant excavation dump truck that rivaled a three-story building.

And this was no construction vehicle. It was a 12-wheel armored truck with a swiftly rotating roller tilted on its side on the front. It swung around lots of chains and weights like a car wash’s brush, so simply coming into contact with it would level a reinforced concrete building. They did not even want to imagine what would happen to human flesh.

“That’s a flail roller!! They really developed that landmine digger in a stupid direction!!”

“I guess they aren’t going to make this easy after all. They probably use it to destroy the buildings without any chance of starting an oil fire. Evans, your anti-materiel rifle won’t work on that! It’s a waste of ammo!!”

Quenser shouted at his comrade who was continuing to fire nonstandard bullets straight at the vehicle.

That equipment was originally meant to allow a mine clearance vehicle to dig up the ground as it moved. Simply put, it cleared the mines by stepping on them. Unlike a tractor’s metal blades, the chains and weights would not bend or break from the impact of the exploding mines. Now that its size had been increased and it had been further modified, no normal firepower stood a chance against it.

And that giant armored truck with flails attached was clearly headed their way. Any car they hid behind would only be turned to scrap along with them.

Quenser and the others quickly ran inside a nearby shop. There was a reception counter up front, a row of long narrow glass doors was located behind that, and the rest was divided into booths about the same as phone booths.

When Heivia and the others aimed their guns forward, the young man behind the counter tearfully raised his hands instead of reaching for the button below the counter.

“I-I have no money! There’s no safe! I’m not pilfering any of the sales and there’s no secret account book!”

“I don’t care, you liar. Where’s the emergency exit! Point the way and we’ll leave. Hurry it up! Hurry!!”

The noble roared with a rifle in hand, but the problem was the rest of the building, not the counter.

“Dammit, this is a shooting range! They let the drunks have rifles!? Are they crazy!?”

“Don’t think about taking control here. They all have their backs turned and they have ear protection on. They’re so focused on their own gunfire that they won’t notice us.”

Evans urged them to be careful as he held up his heavy-looking anti-materiel rifle. Instead of paper targets moving along metal rails, the shooting range had a giant screen covering the wall like in a movie theater.

“The Olympus Casino’s Goddess Cup Poker Tournament is approaching its climax. The star tonight is Wydine Uptown of a Capitalist Corporations battlefield cleanup service. The way that money-mad maid lines her cards up so neatly has been the highlight of the show. But let’s not forget the surprise mystery contestant who has only identified himself as The Evil God of a Thousand Faces. That name is a mystery, but his skill is real. Europe’s best eight have already had their chips taken and dropped out. The predicted odds have been in total flux for a while now.”

It seemed to be a game where they used toy guns that synchronized blanks with an infrared laser rifle so they could try to shoot the celebrities on the live footage between the eyes. It was a way for the losers to blow off some steam. The four idiots rushed down the corridor running behind the 100 meter bowling alley-like booths.

“I can’t fault these people for their taste in hobbies, but why isn’t Elizabeth on the screen? Isn’t Olympus the casino she’s at?”

“She’s the goddess of fortune, remember? She can’t take part in a game that might let people see her lose big.”

They discussed the situation while following the guiding lights to the back exit.

“Anyway, we need to deal with that flail roller out front. Its invincible armor is only on the front. If we circle behind it and shoot it in the side or right up the asshole, we should be able break through just fine.”

That was when several gunshots sounded in the back corridor. And these did not sound like the toy blanks. Myonri and Evans hid behind a drink vending machine and Heivia tackled carefree Quenser over. The bodyguards hired by individuals seemed to have better weapons than the actual soldiers.

Confused by the gunfire from an unexpected direction, Evans shouted to the others.

“What are those giant parasols!? Screen camouflage!?”

“Yeah, it’s still too expensive to wear like a raincoat, but I guess the market is picking up for the ones you hold up like a flat shield.”

“Damn those hobbyists. Were they killing time on a bench out here while their carefree master is firing in there!?”

Heivia fired a warning shot just outside of the group of parasols that hid the bodyguards by overwriting the background in real time like a TV.

“We’re only here for Elizabeth Schnozzle! If you don’t want to get your client involved in this, then get lost!! We’re really pissed since a 12-year-old Elite collapsed after deciding she wanted something new in life. A future beauty’s life is wearing away with every second that passes. Slow us down and you’ll get a bullet right up your dirty asshole. But if you’re the kind of pervert that thinks a pointless firefight is worth a 5.56mm suppository, then come and get it!!”
After the suggestion from the potatoes behind the vending machines, the men in black clothes and sunglasses closed the parasols. They were apparently normal. They slowly moved toward the booths occupied by men with ample builds (i.e. they were fat) and hit the button to sound the alarm. Heivia raised his middle finger and gave a suggestion to those young men with a future.

“We’ll say we had to retreat due to your courageous mercenary work. You can report whatever you want, but make sure the official write up mentions how stunningly handsome I am.”

The lead bodyguard gave him a look that demanded they leave and pointed toward the emergency exit light with his chin.

“It’s cruel how understanding adults can be.”

“It’s better than running across someone with a weird sense of justice.”

“I know what you mean. Shooting an ally of justice is the hardest thing to bear.”

“You too, Evans!?” complained Myonri. “Do we not have a single justice-minded hero among us!?”

They left the stress-relief shooting range through the back entrance, snuck back toward the main strip, and observed the giant flail vehicle as it crawled around. The flails were only on the front and the side armor looked perfectly normal.

“Evans.”

That word was all it took. The semiauto anti-materiel rifle punched fist-sized holes in the side at even intervals from front to back, destroying the crew compartment, the engine room, and the fuel tank. The large explosion also blew away the infantry accompanying it.

They continued walking along out front and finally got near the Olympus casino.

But then they heard a great din like the flapping of drying sheets in the wind but amplified by several dozen times. The Four Heavenly Idiots looked around.

“Wh-where is that coming from? It sounds like an engine warming up!”

“It doesn’t matter where. It’s like a helicopter but different. That red tiltrotor is preparing to take off! That’s Elizabeth’s!!”

“Then we can’t let it take off. It doesn’t matter who, let’s take a soldier hostage.”

Gunfire rang out and an enemy soldier fell out from behind an electronic sign after being shot in the leg. The Faith Organization soldiers tried to gather their ally, but Myonri chased them off with some rapid-fire shots of her shotgun.

Quenser dashed over and kicked the soldier in the face as he tried to draw a handgun with his bloody hand. Anyone could be a hero when they had the upper hand. He stepped on the enemy’s right hand and asked a question.

“I hear this place buys back the casino chips with the alternative fuel from the olive oil. Which tanks are Elizabeth’s?”

“…”

“You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want. Then we just have to blow them all up. This angry big brother can be frightening when he gets serious.”

“N-numbers 8 through 19… She is loved by god. She relied on her good fortune to gather all that oil from the other investors…”

“I didn’t need to know that much. Here’s your reward.”

He pulled some disinfectant and bandages from his survival kit, threw them at the soldier’s feet, and then pulled a plastic explosive from his backpack.

“What are you going to do with the bomb? I doubt you can throw it high enough to reach the pumpkin carriage after it takes off.”

“The real problem is we can’t kill her. There’s a ton we have to ask Elizabeth, remember?”

As Quenser moved on ahead, the other idiots discussed their plans.

And the first idiot gave his answer.

“Hey, Heivia. As a noble, you know a thing or two about charter planes, right? What are the main reasons for canceling the takeoff of a plane?”

“Hm?”

“Wind and fog.”