"What, what are you doing!"
"No, please, I beg you, no, ahhh——"
Outside the walls of the farmland area of Shitori Station, three men dressed as farmers leaned against a horse harnessed to a wooden plow, trembling as they looked at the sword-wielding warriors who had forced them there.
But the latter had no intention of communicating. Amid the desperate screams of the farmers, they swung their blades, cutting them down and also slashing the horse to the ground.
Besides them, two other groups were doing the same thing not far away. They left the bodies, which were bleeding profusely like broken sacks, on the spot and quickly ran back inside the walls.
All of this was witnessed by Marta, who was hiding in a corner of the wall. She frowned, her gaze shifting between the corpses and the numerous Kabane outside the moat.
"Something's about to happen!"
The next moment, Marta turned and leaped down into the city, then transformed into a blur as she sprinted at high speed toward the meeting point with Laskey. Upon arrival, she quickly relayed what she had seen and her thoughts to him.
"Hmph, it seems that despicable people are never in short supply, no matter which world you're in. Although I'm not exactly a good person either," Laskey said coldly, glancing in the direction of the governor's mansion.
He had already heard about Tenma Minori's background from Addison Senior Manager, so he could easily guess that it was the conservatives targeting the Hunter Group.
In Shitori Station, the biggest representative of the conservatives was likely the governor here!
"So, what should we do?" Marta asked.
Laskey replied expressionlessly, "The base just gave us specific instructions: keep an eye on Amatori Biba and that white-robed researcher. If we have the capacity, we should also pay attention to the other Kabaneri and that Yomogawa Ayame, as well as the 'Black Smoke' core inside the train's engine."
"That's too much for just the two of us," Marta said, looking at him with distress.
"The most important targets are the first two. For the rest, just do your best. And once we reach the next station, we'll have enough manpower."
"Especially that researcher. He clearly has no self-defense capabilities. Just make sure he doesn't get killed by anyone or any Kabane."
[Woooooo——]
Just as Laskey finished speaking, a sharp siren sounded within the city, causing panic and tension among the citizens, as it signaled that the Kabane were attacking the city!
"Let's go!"
Without further delay, Laskey led Marta quickly toward the black train where Amatori Biba was located. However, when they reached the city gate, they found that the train had already left the city.
Clearly, the Hunter Group was heading out to face the Kabane again!
"Tch, troublesome..."
Reluctantly, the two had to choose an unmanned section of the wall to climb over. Then, while staying hidden, they slowly approached the black train.
Meanwhile, a large number of Kabane had already crossed the moat and were climbing the walls under a barrage of bullets from above. They looked like a massive army of black ants with flickering sparks.
"Ah, why are there so many..."
A gun-wielding soldier broke out in a cold sweat as he looked down at the dense swarm of Kabane below. They still had no idea why these Kabane had suddenly surged forward.
"Can we really hold them off with this kind of force?"
In a high-rise building somewhere within the city, a group of people gathered, observing the tense situation outside.
"Deliberately luring the Kabane and exposing the citizens to danger—this strategy is truly..." One of them hesitated, looking at the Goshu Security Officer from the Shogunate family standing before him.
"Please rest assured. The Kabane will be dealt with by the Hunter Group. Since they are called the Liberators, they will surely step forward, and then we can seize the opportunity..."
[Clank, clank, clank, clank—squeak, squeak, squeak—]
The black train that had already left the city rapidly decelerated and came to a halt as Amatori Biba drew his sword. Immediately after, the armor on one side lifted open, revealing a mortar squad that had been prepared inside.
"Incendiary bombs, fire!"
At Amatori Biba's command, the soldiers of the Hunter Group loaded the shells into the mortars and quickly stepped aside, covering their ears.
In the next moment, the thunderous sounds of artillery fire erupted one after another. The shells whistled through the air and exploded among the Kabane, sending waves of flames and shockwaves in all directions.
The flames even continued to burn fiercely on the dry ground, relentlessly scorching the nearby Kabane, truly living up to the name of incendiary bombs.
Soon after, the scene that Laskey and Marta had witnessed before reappeared. Motorcycles, seemingly powered by high-pressure steam, charged out of the train carriages, each carrying a gun-wielding knight who fiercely shot at the Kabane. The infantrymen who followed behind worked in coordination, shooting down the Kabane that lunged at them at close range.
This astonishing spectacle was an eye-opener for the soldiers and Warriors on the walls of Shitori Station. It was the first time they had seen a unit dare to go out and engage in battle.
"Laskey, look over there!"
On the other side, Marta and Laskey, who had already approached the train and hidden themselves, were also observing the battlefield. However, their gaze never strayed far from Amatori Biba.
The little girl in red and the woman with short blonde hair, who exuded the aura of Kabane and were suspected to be Kabaneri, also drew considerable attention from the two.
What Marta pointed out was the scene of the two of them advancing side by side toward a giant Kabane nearly three meters tall, wielding a large machete. Attached to its chest and back were two other Kabane, clearly indicating that it was transitioning into a 'Core.'
"Tch, aren't there people who are two and a half meters tall in this world?" Laskey said with a cold, displeased expression.
The short blonde woman was clearly around 1.7 meters tall, but standing in front of the giant Kabane, she only reached its thigh, which was estimated to be at least three meters tall.
"But whether it's the Hunter Group or the people in Shitori Station, we haven't seen anyone over two meters tall. This must be an extremely rare case," Marta reassured him.
Next, the two witnessed the girl and the woman's brilliant teamwork.
First, the short blonde woman accelerated, then threw her medium-short musket over the head of the giant Kabane. She dodged the swing of its machete, which split the ground beside her with a loud crash and a cloud of dust. Unfazed, she turned her back to the massive thigh, crouched slightly, and crossed her arms in front of her.
The red-haired little girl followed closely behind, leaping into a somersault. Mid-air, her twin guns pierced through the heads of the Kabane on the back of the giant Kabane, and she landed precisely in the hands of the golden-haired woman.
With a powerful lift from the latter, she used the momentum to leap again, just in time to catch the medium-short musket that the golden-haired woman had previously thrown high into the air. In mid-air, she shot through the crown of the giant Kabane at a vertical angle.
But that wasn't all. The golden-haired woman swiftly drew the long sword from her back and, taking advantage of the giant Kabane's momentary scream from the head injury, pierced through the hearts of both it and the Kabane on its chest!
The entire sequence flowed seamlessly, showcasing their superhuman speed, strength, agility, reflexes, and combat experience to the fullest.
While these feats left the soldiers and Warriors at Shitori Station in awe, they were nothing extraordinary to Laskey and Marta, who instead found them overly flashy.
"That sword..."
However, Laskey's sharp eyes caught sight of the peculiar blade in the golden-haired woman's hand. The blade was adorned with glowing veins and a dark hue, resembling the blood vessels of a Kabane.
Especially striking was its strength, capable of piercing through the hearts and chests of two Kabane in a single strike, which caught his attention.
They had previously tested that the ordinary katana of this world was utterly ineffective against the steel Heart Membrane of a Kabane. In a direct clash, it would only result in the katana breaking.