Supporting Characters in the Game are Obsessed

Was it my fault for not looking for a cyber-shaman?

Lately, I’ve been incredibly unlucky.

Of course.

It’s true that I’m in a really bad situation, but that doesn’t mean it’s something that should never happen.

I thought objectively.

Assassination, kidnapping — raid plans.

Naturally, they could overlap.

First, it was about launching a missile.

It’s a bit tough to carry out plans in the wasteland between cities, you see.

To look at it more closely, there were variables like radioactive monsters.

On a larger scale, toxic storms were also risky.

Simple issues like supply complications got in the mix too.

So inevitably, most plans had to start near the city.

Thus, it was not unusual that a plan involving launching a missile from a landfill overlapped.

Moreover, this place was the free city of Neon City.

It was renowned for responding to issues outside the city with indifference.

Whether a bomb exploded outside the city or people died,

they didn’t care about any problems that happened there.

That’s probably why our plans overlapped.

If we had known the Vice President’s movements in advance, this would be the golden and last opportunity.

So, what should I and Catherine do in this situation?

First, we had to stop what seemed to be their goal.

We needed to prevent the assassination of the Vice President.

Whether it was blocking a competitor or saving the Vice President, we’d figure out the kidnapping later.

Next, we needed to assess the situation.

The inside of the airship was divided into three factions.

Me, Catherine, the Kozaka employees including the Vice President,

and the guys who looked like assassins.

In a situation like this, teaming up with someone else would be much more advantageous.

Of course, I had Catherine with me.

Even if things turned out terrible, we could still achieve our main objective somehow.

But it would be better to minimize hardships if possible.

Having finished that train of thought, I sent a subtle glance signal to Catherine.

Catherine, her face covered by a hologram mask, silently nodded.

Having spent so much time together, she seemed to have anticipated how I would act here.

I cleared my throat briefly to gather my voice.

Then, I activated the voice modulation feature on my mask.

Earlier, I had accidentally blurted out, “Um, wait a second.” out of surprise.

Changing my voice was an essential step to hide our identities.

I confidently spoke up.

“We are here to confirm the situation. We’ve dispatched the NCPD’s tactical unit, the ‘Cyber Force’, to protect the VIP, ‘Kozaka William’.”

Well, it’s all about attitude.

I stood tall and lied with confidence.

“Is this Mr. Kozaka William?”

First, I decided to ride on someone else’s name.

“…Cyber Force, huh? I’ve heard of them, but I thought they never came out of the city.”

“That’s basically correct, but it changes based on the severity of the situation.”

I boldly spewed nonsense.

There was no way anyone could ask to see ID here.

“We quickly mobilized on a mission to protect the Deputy Chairman of Kozaka Corporation.”

Like it was no big deal, I naturally stood in front of Kozaka’s employees and Kozaka William.

Just in case my act didn’t work,

I secretly enveloped my whole body with defense magic.

After a short silence,

“…”

I wasn’t sure if my act worked, but I didn’t feel like I was going to get shot from behind right now.

Given the situation, for some reason, the assassins had already entered the airship with the Vice President before Catherine and I showed up,

and they had launched high-powered missiles at the ship.

No one would have thought that another kidnapper would appear here.

Well, we didn’t foresee this situation either, after all.

“C agent, handle the situation.”

By the way, C was derived from Catherine.

Catherine shrugged her shoulders slightly, as if trying to hold back a laugh.

Her careful movement seemed to go unnoticed by anyone but me.

Our plan hasn’t changed.

Natural kidnapping of the Vice President,

landing the airship, and moving to the designated point.

Now, we just had to add taking down the assassins along with Kozaka’s employees.

Realizing we weren’t allies, the assassins raised their guns.

There were six of them.

“Damn it, die!!”

The words came out in Japanese.

Thanks to the Neural Computer Chip translation module, it was interpreted.

What the heck, is this an internal corporate fight?

The assassins looked Japanese.

I thought they were Orc terrorists,

but they didn’t have the scratchy voice of Orcs.

Of course, the bullets aimed at Kozaka William.

However,

since I was blocking him, and thanks to the defense magic I had previously cast,

the bullets lodged in the air.

Thank goodness it wasn’t super big bullets.

“…What is this?”

The Kozaka employees looked shocked and began to stir.

Naturally, it would look like the bullets were just hanging in the air to others,

so it was a perfectly rational reaction.

“Looks like a new cyberware technology. …Is it gravity manipulation technology?”

“…That’s still physically impossible while maintaining human structure and volume.”

I guess the cyberware researchers were there too.

Ah, so this technology.

That would be called magic.

I wanted to say that talentless muggles can’t use it,

but I held back and exhibited patience.

Surely, that’s the Cyber Force, I wanted to chuckle, but when I looked carefully, I realized no professional guards were around.

The people near Kozaka William appeared to be regular researchers or maybe just ordinary employees.

I was curious why there were no security personnel, but that wasn’t what I needed to focus on right now.

I was just there to keep Kozaka William safe while keeping an eye straight ahead.

Because…

Agent C, Catherine, was with me.

[Interpreting interference signals in the airship, starting the enemies’ cyberware hacking.]

Ah.

And Eve was also there.

“What, what the hell!”

The assassins’ cyberware started moving on its own.

They choked themselves while sparks flew.

Some guns exploded spontaneously.

And for Catherine to tidy up the situation, she only needed that brief moment.

Catherine’s Neural Accelerator Cyberware kicked into gear.

It was the same cyberware I had seen back in that café taken over by terrorists.

It wasn’t something you could use so simply without side effects.

Yet, it seemed like Catherine had no issues at all.

Sure enough, a protagonist is a protagonist.

Moving afterimages zipped past.

In what felt like just a few seconds, the results were incredibly clean.

There was no need to even call it a battle.

– Boom!

Catherine slammed the remaining assassin into the wall with one hand.

A metal plate dented deeply through the assassin’s body.

…

It turns out we didn’t even need to pretend to be the Cyber Force.

“…The acceleration implant must be a huge burden.”

“…As expected of the Cyber Force.”

Still, the murmurs of the employees who seemed like researchers sounded quite amusing.

Well, who cares.

What mattered was that the situation was resolved favorably.

I turned around to look at Kozaka William. By now, Catherine had silently moved back to my side.

Her face was covered, her voice modulated,

so there was no concern he would recognize me.

“Could you please explain the current situation?”

“Phew…”

Kozaka William let out a short sigh of relief.

He continued speaking.

“First, thank you. It seems information leaked from the inside. I never imagined the security personnel I handpicked would be bribed.”

If that’s how it was, I understood the situation.

Now then, it was just a matter of smoothly approaching and kidnapping him.

…

Wait a minute.

“Are there still many enemies inside the airship?”

“Probably, they seem to have come prepared. According to the camera check, there should be at least several dozen left.”

Hmm.

Suddenly, I felt an uneasy feeling.

Now I knew why the researchers were with him.

They were staging a siege with Kozaka’s Vice President in here.

When we burst in, we really had arrived right on time.

And just as we were close to entering Neon City,

the missiles we launched had failed as well.

Now, for his enemies, the choice they had left to successfully assassinate him was slim.

They would soon enter Neon City.

Naturally, the assassination would fail,

so what would be left for them, I wondered.

At that moment, a voice came from the radio of the assassin pinned to the wall by Catherine.

i“This is White 3. Occupied the airship cockpit, awaiting further orders.”*

In that split second, I drew my gun.

It was too late to gather mana to cast magic.

As my sudden action startled the Kozaka employees, they aimed their handguns at me.

I didn’t care at all.

After all, the defense magic was still in effect.

And there was something much more important.

The moment my gun fired, time felt slow.

I needed to hit his head—.

—Bang!

Then I fired several more shots.

However.

My pitiful shooting skills caused a mishap.

The bullets I fired were stopped by the thick hand of the assassin who lifted it.

A few hit his body, but not where I aimed.

Catherine also rushed out the moment I fired,

but even so, he was faster to utter a word.

“…Crash it.”

He spat blood but didn’t stop speaking.

Catherine finished him off, but it was already too late.

Damn it.

With those words, the airship trembled violently.

The balanced interior began to sway wildly.

…If it was destined to crash anyway,

I should’ve just summoned some lightning from the outside.

While the airship was plummeting into the landfill,

that’s what I thought.

---