"Hey, let me shoot once, okay? I'll really do it properly this time!"
"Don't talk nonsense! Next! Give me the next ammo!"
Hyde, looking at Vex who was completely unresponsive to his earnest plea, inserted the RPG warhead from the box into the launcher.
"Che... I didn't come here to do something like this... Just because a person can do something once..."
Pfft-shh!
"Seems like you're enjoying it! All your shots missed! Because of that, the thing got this close! If we had just maintained a safe distance from the start, we wouldn't be in such a hurry—"
[Roar!]
Kwaang!
[Choke!]
"—now! Next!"
The RPG round Vex fired exploded precisely near the monster's neck, cutting off its scream. Inside the cargo area of the truck, which was moving roughly, the task of firing an RPG through the open rear door was not something just anyone could do, even with a large target. Only someone with Vex's abnormal sense of balance could manage it.
Honk honk!
As they hastily reloaded, Ian's rough voice, accompanied by the sound of the horn, reached their ears.
"Hyde! Up ahead, the fork in the road!"
"Uh... Left! Turn into the alley and then up the hill!"
Squeal!
"Ah! Jo! Drive more carefully!"
"What do you want me to do when you only tell me at the last corner?!"
Rumble!
The truck sharply turned, causing the boxes and weapons in the cargo area to spill out. Vex and Hyde, who were tied down with harnesses, struggled to reload the RPG-7 amidst the chaotic wave of cargo.
"Ah! A 4.5kg metal box!"
"Hey! Parasite! Hurry up and give me the next round!"
"The box tipped over! This is the last one I have in my pocket! If you want more, we need to get this one open!"
"What? So the RPG rounds are rolling around in the cargo area? Immediately untie the harness and pick them up! How many targets are left?"
"Uh..."
Hyde, with a bruised face, untied the ropes securing him to the cargo area wall and desperately tried to recall the plan.
The method he thought of to deal with the Old Picture, who seemed unaffected by regular RPG rounds, was thanks to the professor's quick judgment and Hyde's incredible memory, which allowed him to recall everything he had seen.
"Two places! One is right after this alley! Vex, hold me!"
"Damn! To come up with such a dangerous and unstable plan! I'll beat the crap out of Hap when he wakes up!!"
"That must have been because of the urgency! Even the shell was in a panic, so... hahaha...."
'Well... since it's a plan that came from the professor's mind, it must be right. I couldn't have thought of such a plan while inside!'
Hyde, thinking this, leaned out of the truck as it slowed down at a corner.
"Ugh!"
Vex, holding onto the rope securing him to the truck with one hand and Hyde's harness with the other, was struggling.
Hyde, relying on the rope, leaned out of the truck and, with both hands, grabbed a box he had memorized from the executioners' makeshift position.
The heavy box, caught at the truck's speed, made his arm feel like it was about to tear off, and a few of the contents inside fell due to the unstable position, but...
"Got it!"
"How many rounds are left?"
"One, two, three... seven rounds!"
He managed to retrieve it successfully.
This was the plan Hyde came up with to supplement their firepower.
"Seven more mortar rounds! We have forty-two now!"
The plan was to raid the executioners' mortar positions, which the professor had identified while advancing down the street, and collect the remaining rounds. Hyde had memorized all the positions and, after the executioners were killed or fled, he searched the empty positions to gather the remaining rounds.
Honk honk!
"Hey! How's it going?"
"Got it! We just need to stop at one more place!"
"Damn, you've replenished the firepower! But how do you plan to use so many mortar rounds? Just setting them off on the ground will only blow off some limbs! It won't cause fatal damage!"
"I know! I have a plan, so just keep going straight! Beyond that hill!"
"Damn... The professor must have thought of something! We've never lost by following his plans!"
Vroom! Vrooom!
The engine of the Raptor Mountain armed truck roared as it prepared to charge.
"Hyde! Ammo! Hurry!"
"This is the last one!"
"What? The rest?"
"They must have rolled out of the truck while turning the corner!"
"Ugh! Nothing is going right!"
"No! Everything is going perfectly! Perfectly!!!"
Vrooom!
Squeal!
With a cry of excitement, the truck charged up the hill, leaving tire marks behind.
"Hyde! Where to now?"
"Thanks, Metal! We don't need to run anymore!"
"What?"
"This is a dead end!"
At the top of the hill, with a view of the miniature garden, in a redeveloped area that looked like a 'shantytown' from the old days, Hyde stopped the truck in front of a concrete and metal railing that jutted out.
"When I was in kindergarten, Mr. Deer from the Deer Class said, 'Dialogue is—'"
[Choke, ah, cough, ah, cough!]
The Old Picture, with a damaged throat, couldn't even scream properly as it climbed the hill with its arms.
"Face-to-face, that's what it is!"
The giant monster's head was now at the same eye level as them.
"Hey, Metal! You like explosions, right?"
"Hmm?"
Ian suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. Even though they were at the same height, mortar rounds couldn't be thrown and detonated, and the monster's head was about 20 meters away from the platform. There was no way to deliver the explosives to the monster's head.
Except for one thing.
"Step on it."
"Wait, what? Hyde, you don't mean—"
Ian, recalling a similar scene from long ago when he was driving a Hummer to escape a monster underground, gripped the steering wheel so tightly his fingers turned white.
The underground bunker and the high hill with a view of the miniature garden. The accelerator he pressed to escape the Abomination and the one he now had to press to ram the Old Picture. In the underground bunker, he got a new car, but here, he was about to throw his car and explosives off a cliff.
A situation so ironic, it seemed deliberately designed.
"Ha-ha-ha! This! This excitement! This thrill! Ah, the world is truly, so beautiful!"
Hyde.
"Damn. I haven't believed in fate for a long time... but..."
Seeing the monster climbing the hill and Hyde, holding an RPG and grinning like a madman, Ian couldn't help but grip the steering wheel tightly.
***
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The regular sound of dripping water. Pitch-black darkness all around. I was left alone in this space.
"Here again."
The professor, now quite familiar with this mental space, got up and looked around.
This place, where he was dragged whenever he lost consciousness, was different this time. The absence of Hyde, who usually floated in front of him, was the key difference.
"Hyde not being here means... we've switched places."
Half a success. The best scenario he had assumed before facing the Old Picture's mental attack was that Hyde would block it like he did the curse in the game, and the professor would remain unharmed.
'The common factor is that they affect the mind. I thought maybe Hyde, who can recall everything he sees, could reduce the impact. Instead, I took the full brunt of the mental attack, and Hyde is out there, fully functional.'
"At least I'm not dead... but wait. I'm regaining consciousness, right? I can understand the situation, and my mind and memory are intact. But I'm still here, not back in my body?"
Damn, it's not half a success, but a quarter. He didn't know how much time had passed outside, but he had assumed that once his consciousness returned, he would regain control of his body. But Hyde was still out there.
'Wait a minute. This is a serious issue.'
It wasn't the worst, but it was close. Even though his consciousness was fully restored, Hyde was still in control. This could mean... Hyde might continue to be in control.
"Ha-ha-ha! This! This excitement! This thrill! Ah, the world is truly, so beautiful!"
Ian, recalling a similar scene from long ago, gripped the steering wheel tightly.
The underground bunker and the high hill with a view of the miniature garden. The accelerator he pressed to escape the Abomination and the one he now had to press to ram the Old Picture. In the underground bunker, he got a new car, but here, he was about to throw his car and explosives off a cliff.
A situation so ironic, it seemed deliberately designed.
"Nein! Nein!! What the hell are you doing? Stop! There must be a better way! Please! Let me go!!!!"
"Sorry, Jo! It's the professor's plan!"
"Vex! The monster's throat is almost fully regenerated! If we stall, it will be a zero-distance shout straight to the face! Leave the idiot and step on it!"
"If the damage is too great, winning the battle is meaningless! I can't bear it, that car is my partner and family in the wasteland! Fate be damned! Not my car, you bastards!! Vex, you bastard! Did you think I taught you to drive for this?!"
'He's not just not listening; he can't understand. Ian, like Vex, has a tendency to speak in a foreign language when excited. Whether it's alien or German, it's all the same to me.'
Vrooom! Vrooom!
The truck's engine roared as it prepared to charge.
"Parasite! Hyde! If you miss this time, we're all done for!"
"Don't worry! Failure is the mother of success! I don't have a mother, but I've got a good feel after two failures!"
Vrooom!
Rumble! Bang!
Almost to the end of the platform, Vex quickly opened the door and escaped.
Crash!
The black armed truck, moving at a terrifying speed, broke through the railing and flew towards the Old Picture's face.
"Come on, Metal! Say goodbye to your old friend!!"
"I thought you, Hyde, were my true friend!"
"Whenever you gain something, you lose something! If you give a toad a new home, it will leave the old one, and people do the same with friends!"
Pfft-shh!
"You have to let go of the old friend!"
Ian, with a look like Caesar after being stabbed by Brutus. Hyde, winking at such an Ian, pulled the trigger. The RPG round, unaware of their situation, flew towards the armed truck, which was heading straight for the Old Picture's forehead.
The round was sucked into the truck's cargo area, followed by—
Kwaang!
A massive explosion.
[Hyde, what... did you do?]
"Huh? Oh! Shell! Did you sleep well? The alarm was a bit loud, wasn't it?"
The professor, reading Hyde's memory of the explosion's aftermath and the debris, couldn't help but hold his forehead.
'Damn! To come up with such a dangerous and unstable plan! I'll beat the crap out of Hap when he wakes up!!'
'Sorry, Jo! It's Hap's plan!'
"Nein Mein LKW!! NeinNNNNNN (No, my truck! Noooooo)!!!"
...Scary. This guy, who crossed the 45th district alone and crawled into that underground bunker for a car.
[...You keep the body until this is over.]
'Hehehe! Ah, I'm dizzy~ My consciousness, is getting blurry~'
Whoosh!
With Hyde's words, a beam of light shone, and the mental space gradually brightened. The meaning was clear.
[You caused all this chaos and now you want to hide 'inside'?]
'Well, as long as the result is good, right?'
The professor's senses and vision, clearing like fog, revealed the professor fully in control of his body. He saw Ian, tied up and foaming at the mouth, shouting in German, and the Old Picture, whose head had been cleanly blown off, slowly collapsing.
Thud, thud!
The Old Picture, whose head had been blown off, would have been handled by the inspection exosuit team.
"Ugh! Ughhhhhh!!!"
Ian, wailing as if he had just witnessed his best friend die in front of him.
Good result. Good result... While they were closer to resolving the situation, this was...
.
.
.
.
'I will find you a new body, Hyde, no matter what.'
[Oh! Touched? I did a good job, didn't I?]
No. I can't beat you because we share the same body.
The professor, seeing the situation he had deeply involved himself in, which could have been handled by others, felt a sense of despair.