While they had acted all cool, the moment Kenichi and the others left the container, they immediately got pushed back hard.
“They're shooting! They're not even asking questions!”
“Kenichi-niichan, there's more coming from the left too!”
“Kenichi, Kotarou! Don't go to the right, a different squad is flanking us!”
While there was still some distance between them, there were underground people everywhere. On top of that, the underground people were armed with rifles and were mercilessly firing at the three. Because of the endlessly appearing underground people and their repeated firing, the three were being cornered, little by little.
“Hayato, where do we run?!”
“Just focus on running forward!”
The three continued running forward while shots screeched past their ears. All they could do right now was run around. They had to buy time for Megumi and Daisaku to fulfill their mission.
“Niichan, something's strange!”
It was then that Kotarou noticed something odd about the situation.
“What's strange?!”
“It's their guns, they're―”
“Uwah?!”
“Are you okay, Kotarou?!”
“I-I'm fine! It only hit my helmet! But you understand now right?! The guns they're using aren't firing the usual mysterious beam!”
“You're right... I wonder why they're using normal guns today”
The abnormality that Kotarou had noticed was the weapons the underground people were using.
There was no doubt that the enemies were underground people, one could tell from their shinto priest like clothes, which they wore body armor on top of. It was a style they had seen before.
Up until now, the weapon that the underground people used had been spiritual energy beam rifles. It was a powerful beam rifle that gathered and focused spiritual energy before releasing it. Normally, there might be a different weapon amongst the troops they fought, but the beam rifle was their primary weapon.
Yet today, the underground people were using rifles that fired bullets. While they had changed into a more commonly seen weapon, it was still suspicious.
“But those aren't normal guns!”
“What do you mean, Hayato?!”
“The fired bullets are curving to chase after us! They're like magic bullets!”
Hayato used a rifle to fight. That's why he was the first to notice the abnormality with the enemies' weapons. He first noticed that the direction the rifle was pointed at, and the bullets impact point were different. At first he assumed he had missed something, but when the same thing happened time after time again, he understood that wasn't the case.
It was bizarre, but the bullets fired would change their trajectory after being fired.
While the change wasn't large, accurate fire was possible even on the run. Hayato thought back to the trajectory of the bullet fired in the assassination of a certain president. While it was just slight, it was far from realistic that a bullet would change direction.
“It seems like it's their new weapon!”
“So their power has lowered, but it's gotten easier to hit, huh?”
“If they get any closer with those weapons, we'll get hit in no time! Hayato, Kotarou, don't stop running no matter what!”
Since the enemy had an overwhelming number, Kenichi and the others had no intention of fighting them up front, yet just running around the factory site was getting hard.
Who knows how long we'll last...
As a strong anxiety started taking root in Kenichi, Megumi's voice entered his helmet through the built-in communications device.
“Kenichi, we're done on our end! We're withdrawing!”
“Understood! We'll withdraw as well! I'll contact you about the meeting point later!”
“Be careful!”
After reporting only what needed to be reported right away, Megumi's communication ended. She didn't have the room to go into details either. But the good news raised the three’s morale.