Hero Party After the Nuclear War

Chapter 3

Thanks to the emergency power being activated, Raven had no choice but to descend with Pixie's help before, but now it looked like he could ride the elevator that's operating normally to go back up.

Just as he was anxiously pressing the elevator button and waiting for the lift to come down, a half-dazed naked woman belatedly looked up at him with tear-filled eyes.

"Come in."

Raven, who pulled the woman into the elevator, took out some clothes from his bag that were at least wearable and handed them to her. Since they were Raven's own clothes, the size obviously didn't fit, but now wasn't the time to worry about such things.

One couldn't possibly walk around the harsh wasteland naked. And although Raven was usually fond of women, he wasn't the kind of pervert who would strip a woman naked in the wasteland and walk around with her like that.

As she hurriedly put on the clothes, the sleeves stuck out due to the size difference, and the pants were overly long, dragging along the floor.

With no other choice before heading upstairs, Raven, though it was a bit of a waste, cut the bottom of the pants and tailored them on the spot to match her leg length.

"That should do, right?"

"... Thank you."

"You. What's your name?"

Raven, who had pressed the button to go upstairs and was waiting for the elevator to take him to the surface, took the opportunity to ask about the background of the woman who had been trapped inside the glass tube.

"Uh... I'm. My name is Eris."

"Eris... Got it."

"And you?"

"I can't tell you my real name due to circumstances. I'm Raven."

"... That doesn't quite add up."

After saying he couldn't reveal his real name, he then presented the name 'Raven'. As Eris glared at him with suspicion, Raven shrugged his shoulders and spoke.

"Raven isn't my real name."

"Then... is it an alias?"

"Not even an alias. Uh. So to speak."

Ding-dong.

Just as the chime indicating the elevator's arrival at the first floor rang and the door opened, Raven flinched and stepped back in shock at the sight of a massive machine in the middle of what used to be a lab lobby, which hadn't been there just moments ago.

It looked like a scorpion. It had six legs, and on its back was a launcher resembling a venomous stinger that emitted lasers. Instead of claws, gatling guns were mounted on both arms, and its armor was surrounded by blue magical energy.

"Kyaa..."

Just before Eris could scream at the sudden appearance of the terrifying battle machine, Raven quickly covered her mouth with his hand to stop the scream and simultaneously pounded the elevator's 'close' button.

Tak tak tak tak tak!!!!

Reflecting Raven's urgency, the button was pressed repeatedly, and just before the gaze of that monstrous machine turned toward him, the elevator door closed.

"Huff.. huff... huff... Damn, what the hell is that..."

"It's one of the weapons used during the Demon Realm War."

Eris caught her breath and leaned against the elevator wall, giving a short explanation.

"I don't know the details, but I do remember it being used as a current weapon. Its name was... Death Stalker, I think. That laser emitter on its back is imbued with disintegration magic. If it hits..."

"Even without you explaining, I already know getting hit by that thing means instant death. You're part of this facility, right? Can you operate it? If it attacks us, we're in serious trouble."

"Well... I guess I'll have to try. It probably got deployed to protect me from external threats because a 'demon' invaded the facility. I'll try shutting down the power."

"Alright."

As Eris stepped out of the elevator, the 'Death Stalker', sensing movement, turned toward her. Well, she must have some confidence to step up like that. They couldn't let their guard down, but if they could avoid fighting that monstrous machine, it would be a win.

"Verifying identity. Searching database."

After confirming Eris's face, the Death Stalker began scanning her left and right with its red camera and started chanting. It seemed to be reading information about her from the library-like database.

"I am Eris. The guide fairy who aids the journey of the great Hero. Disarm immediately and return to your original position."

"Error: Database corrupted. Demonic energy detected from target. Target classified as 'intruder'."

"Huh?"

"Things never go as planned, do they..."

Just as the Death Stalker's weaponry activated and its aim locked onto her, Raven, who had been watching from the side, leapt forward, grabbed Eris, and jumped aside.

"Eris, go upstairs."

"Y-You. What are you going to do about that...!"

"What else? I'll beat it down."

Drawing the M4A1 from his back, Raven narrowed his eyes at the Death Stalker and hunched his shoulders.

"Alright, the half-human, half-demon you were chasing is right here. Let's do this."

"Demonic reaction confirmed from target. Commencing elimination."

Clack, clack.

Just before the two gatling guns mounted on its arms simultaneously aimed at him, Raven hurriedly used his left-hand summoner to analyze the enemy.

A green holographic screen appeared before him, displaying the internal structure, detailed information, specifications, and weaknesses of the Death Stalker all at once.

[Target: Death Stalker. A six-legged walking magical weapon used during the Demon Realm Conquest War. Constantly shielded by a barrier spell, making it immune to physical attacks. Also possesses extremely powerful firepower via its gatling guns.

Suggestion: Eliminate the barrier with magical attacks. Then, use anti-armor strikes to destroy the weapon control system or main system preemptively.]

"Got it."

Instead of a monster's roar, the Death Stalker responded with the brutal metallic screech of steel grinding together and aimed its gatling guns at Raven. But Raven was just a bit faster.

"Jack O'Lantern!"

[Evil Spirit Type Jack O'Lantern: Incinerate.]

As he leapt to the side and swung his left hand, a man with a pumpkin head and a leather coat appeared in crimson flames, unleashing a fierce blaze from his palm.

After dodging the gatling gun barrage with superhuman speed, Raven took cover behind a nearby structure and checked how many actions he had left.

One action used when he ordered Pixie to fly.

One action used when Jack O'Lantern was summoned in place of Pixie, who was unsummoned after taking damage.

And one action just now with the skill: Incinerate.

Out of six actions, he had used three. That meant he had three left.

Ratatatatatat!!! Vreeee... Ratatatat!!!

The brutal, large-caliber armor-piercing bullets rendered Raven's cover completely useless.

Seeing bullet holes perforating the spot beside him, he rolled to the side and pulled out an electric pulse grenade he had bought in advance to fight ancient civilization weapons, then threw it.

Boom!!!

Beeeeeep—

As blue electricity crackled in all directions, the Death Stalker's functions momentarily shut down. Taking advantage of that opening, Raven quickly swapped out the summoned servant.

"Come, Skaark!"

[Summon: Spirit-Type Skaark.]

As soon as Skaark was summoned, Raven issued a swift attack command via the summoner. But as expected of a monster infused with ancient civilization technology, even after taking the electric pulse grenade, it stubbornly creaked its joints and stood up.

[Spirit-Type Skaark: Ge Bulgeu.]

Twirling the spear in her right hand, just before stabbing it into the weapon control system, the shield battery reactivated and her spear was blocked by the Death Stalker's barrier.

Although the attack was through Spirits, Skaark's 'Ge Bulgeu' skill had a physical, specifically 'piercing' attribute. Therefore, it was naturally blocked by the barrier that completely defended against physical attacks.

"Tch."

[Death Stalker: Disintegrate.]

Hearing the warning signal from the summoner, Raven saw the Death Stalker raise the tail on its back and realized the moment had come.

Disintegration ray.

A single hit from that meant no corpse, no remains—just instant departure from this world on the express train to hell. And it was now gleaming before Raven.

In that fleeting moment, he racked his brain to the limit.

Even if he used an action here, comparing Agility, the opponent would always move faster. Even if he switched to a servant with excellent defense and used up a turn, the disintegration ray would hit him before the summoning was complete.

Then would it be best to dash at full speed and focus solely on evasion?

After all, the Summoner inherits part of the summoned servant's stats, so he had physical abilities beyond those of an average person. If he focused solely on evasion, he might be lucky enough to dodge the disintegration ray.

Even if he couldn't dodge, he wouldn't die, just feel a bit of intense pain. The damage would be taken by the summoned servant, Skaark, anyway.

Was this a gamble worth taking?

Just as he was preparing to dodge with that thought, he felt a surge of magical energy from the upper floor.

[Eris: Arrow of Dawn.]

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

Despite the risk of the disintegration ray hitting her, she bravely summoned a navy-blue magical bow on her arm, aimed at the Death Stalker, and fired magical arrows.

The first shot completely stripped away the Death Stalker's shield. The second and third shots directly hit its legs.

Crack! Thud!

Losing balance due to the impact on its legs, the Death Stalker fell, and its aim with the disintegration ray wavered. As it began targeting an entirely different spot instead of where Raven stood, Raven read Eris's intentions and activated the summoner's ACS (Aiming Assist System).

[Spirit-Type Skaark: Ge Bulgeu.]

Skaark's precise physical piercing attack targeted the main computer. The spear, thrown by the mentor of a great hero, completely pierced the Death Stalker's head, ignoring its armor.

Crunch. Thud!!!

With its main computer destroyed, the Death Stalker lost all processing capability and collapsed into a heap of scrap metal on the spot.

"Whew."

One action remained. If that last attack had missed, it would've been a disaster. Raven called Skaark back into the summoner and waved lightly to Eris, offering a sincere thank-you.

"Wow. Thanks, Eris. You saved my life."

Eris, who came briskly down the stairs, looked at Raven and shook her head from side to side.

"You. You're really reckless. Thinking of fighting that thing... Anyway. You have a summoner? Where on earth did you get that? Only a tiny fraction of humans, like the Hero, are allowed to use one."

"Oh yeah?"

He answered while shaking the giant PDA mounted on his left arm.

"I picked it up."

"You... picked it up? That's not something just lying around on the streets."

"I know. Anyway..."

Raven walked briskly over to the giant mechanical scorpion, pulled out various tools needed for dismantling from his bag, and rolled up his sleeves.

Then, starting with the gatling guns attached to the Death Stalker's arms, he began dismantling it piece by piece. Watching him, Eris tilted her head and asked,

"Um... what are you doing?"

"What do you think? Taking apart the expensive-looking stuff. That device that fired the disintegration ray? That one looks pretty good."

"Are you serious? Where are you even planning to sell these?"

"There are tons of people who'd buy this stuff. There are freaks who go crazy for ancient civilization tech. Just like this summoner I've got strapped to my left arm."

Only then did Eris realize once more that after being trapped in the glass tube, 200 years had passed since the war began. She stood beside Raven and asked,

He doesn't really seem like a bad person. His language is a bit rough, but he has a somewhat likable face, and he helped someone he'd never met before without asking for anything in return.

In truth, Raven had only protected Eris so nothing would go wrong when taking her to the client, but there was no way Eris could know that.

"Um... Raven, was it? What is Raven?"

"Well. You were frozen solid for 200 years. No wonder you don't know."

While dismantling the machine, Raven pulled something like a business card from his pocket and handed it to her.

"Raven's... Logistics. Logistics? Then..."

"Yeah. Basically, Raven is a deliveryman. Of course, the job goes beyond just deliveries.

On a small scale, it's delivering simple items. On a larger scale, it's clearing out 'pests' like rogues, radioactive zombies, and mutants scattered across the wastelands. Sometimes, it's exterminating phantoms, evil spirits, elementals, heroic spirits, and divine spirits that invade in spiritual form. And so on.

You could say I'm a kind of mercenary. I work for money. Some people jokingly call me a bullet courier. Raven's deliveries are as fast as a bullet. Sometimes, I even deliver the bullets myself."

"Monster extermination. Demon hunting... odd jobs like errands... You're an adventurer!"

"Adventurer...?"

As Eris, recalling people who did just that in her era, shouted, Raven nodded awkwardly.

"If you say so, then I guess I am."

---

Survival Guide for Those Wandering the Wastelands: Spirits.

Spirits are concepts that exist within the collective consciousness of intelligent beings, subtly influenced by mana and fixed into an ethereal form.

Depending on the type, they are categorized as phantoms, evil spirits, elementals, heroic spirits, divine spirits, and so on. These entities can be controlled through the use of a summoner. Spirits controlled through a summoner are called 'servants,' and those who handle such servants are called summoners.

Servant Information: Evil Spirit-Type Jack O'Lantern.

Strength: 5 Mana: 7 Agility: 7

Endurance: 3 Intelligence: 4 Charm: 6

Resistant to fire and darkness attributes.

Weak to wind attribute.

Flavor Text: A pumpkin-headed wraith that traps the souls of the dead in its lantern and scatters flames of disaster around. The fire burning with the souls of wraiths as fuel is said to be hotter than any other flame.

Main Skills: Incinerate, Rune of Explosion, Flame Mastery, Wraith Reaping.