Fantasy Galaxy: Why Are There Goblins and Orcs in Space?

Chapter 17 : Hunt Car

The explosions I'd been making must have drawn it in. A monster came lumbering toward me. An Armored Dog - a canine roughly two meters long, clad in natural armor plating.

Its hide resembled a rhinoceros's in appearance, and it was apparently over three centimeters thick. Ordinary bullets couldn't penetrate it; only explosive rounds could deal a fatal wound. High defense, and on top of that, formidable self-healing.

I opened the Control Gate connected to my Power Conduit to just Release Level T, shaped the inflowing Bosoru particles into rifle-round form, and launched them by accelerating with Tenshiryoku. The Piercing Particle Bullet struck the Armored Dog's shoulder, punched clean through, and exited out its back.

The impact hurled the Armored Dog sideways, and it collapsed on the ground. Still alive. I fired a second Piercing Particle Bullet to finish it off. The shot tore through its skull, and the Armored Dog dropped dead.

「I got the kill, but I can't haul it back - which means I can't convert it to cash.」

The Armored Dog's hide and meat were both valuable, from what I'd heard. In other words, the meat was edible.

Nothing for it but to head back. Continuing the hunt would be pointless when I couldn't carry anything home. An hour's walk later, I explained the situation to Sario.

「I shee. So you need a Hunt Car.」

We talked it over and decided I'd get a license, then rent a Hunt Car. I earned my license in five days and headed out to hunt.

The Hunt Car was essentially a robot car - it had a steering wheel, but you could skip manual control entirely by inputting a destination and letting it drive itself.

For hunting, though, you had no fixed destination, so manual driving with the steering wheel was the norm. That day, I drove a Hunt Car shaped like a small tow truck out to Siska Grassland. This model, incidentally, was the cheapest available.

The ride quality was surprisingly smooth. Driving was simple too - just a steering wheel, a speed lever, and a brake. The only real difference from an Earth car was the speed lever replacing the accelerator pedal.

My first encounter was a Killer Spider. I spotted the giant arachnid in the distance, climbed out of the Hunt Car, and opened the Control Gate connected to my Power Conduit.

The Killer Spider measured roughly a meter in body length. Venom laced its fangs, making it a nasty opponent if it closed the gap.

I stepped down from the Hunt Car and braced myself. The Killer Spider came charging at me with terrifying speed. I fired a Piercing Particle Bullet in a panic. The Killer Spider leaped nimbly sideways and dodged it. Not that it had seen the bullet - it seemed to have sensed my killing intent and evaded on instinct.

The Piercing Particle Bullet punched a hole in the ground and nothing else. The Killer Spider had closed to about six meters. I scrambled to draw my Mason Gun and squeezed the trigger.

The explosive round struck the Killer Spider dead-on and detonated, and the blast wave knocked me down too.

「Ugh, I landed right on my tailbone. ……The Mason Gun isn't the kind of weapon you fire at a monster this close.」

The weapon shop had stocked swords and spears. I'd assumed they were pointless when guns existed, but situations like this apparently proved otherwise.

After mulling it over, I wondered whether I could shape Bosoru particles into a rod and use that as a weapon. Gathering particles into a rod shape turned out to be easy. Maintaining it, however, was a different story.

While I sustained the Bosoru particle rod, I couldn't use any other Magical Tactical Techniques. That was a problem. Under those conditions, a Bosoru particle weapon was useless.

I returned to the Hunt Car and started digging through the Planetary Information Net. The sheer volume of data crammed into the net made even finding the right information time-consuming.

My research revealed that if I could learn to sustain the Bosoru particle rod unconsciously - the way breathing required no thought - I'd eventually be able to maintain it while using other Magical Tactical Techniques simultaneously.

「In that case, maybe a barrier-type defense would be better than a rod-shaped weapon. If I could use both at the same time……」

Nothing to do but train steadily. For today, I'd take down what monsters I could and rack up achievements. I glanced down at the Achievement Collection Badge pinned to my chest.

I climbed into the Hunt Car and drove deeper into the grassland. Occasionally I passed Hunt Cars carrying other Toryū Ryōheis, but we never exchanged words.

About an hour in, I encountered a Berserk Boar - a six-legged beast. Seeing one in the flesh, it was enormous. Roughly three meters long and a meter and a half tall at the shoulder. Its weight had to exceed a ton.

The Berserk Boar, about thirty meters away, broke into a charge straight at me. Feeling the crushing pressure bearing down, I launched a Piercing Particle Bullet at it.

The Piercing Particle Bullet accelerated past the speed of sound, punched through the Berserk Boar's chest, and devastated its organs. Not a killing blow - but the boar staggered forward, blood streaming from its mouth.

To finish it, I aimed at the Berserk Boar's head and fired another Piercing Particle Bullet. This one struck dead between the eyes. The Berserk Boar crashed to the ground and went still.

「Phew - got it.」

I unreeled wire from the electric winch mounted on the Hunt Car, wrapped it around the kill, and hauled the carcass up onto the flatbed. Unlike a car, prey had no wheels - hoisting it took serious power.

Now I understood why a small tow truck-shaped Hunt Car packed such extraordinary muscle. Space-age engineering at work. That said, the method itself was identical to what you'd see on Earth, which was a bit of a letdown.

「The small tow truck look is kind of underwhelming, though.」

Between a flatbed for monster carcasses and a driver's cab, this shape was apparently inevitable. The flatbed, for the record, had built-in refrigeration.

To convert the Berserk Boar to cash, I drove to the Toryū Ryōhei Guild. At the Purchasing Department, a Werecat woman named Vezetta - the person in charge - walked me through the process.

You simply loaded a monster carcass into the intake bay and used the control display to designate which parts to sell and which to keep. I loaded the Berserk Boar's carcass into the intake bay and opted to sell every last piece.

The moment I pressed the confirmation button, the Berserk Boar's carcass was processed and broken down. Because the organs had been destroyed, the payout came to roughly seven hundred thousand Credits. Berserk Boar organs were a delicacy, it seemed.

「Still, you just became a Toryū Ryōhei and you're already bringing in this - that's impressive, nya.」

Vezetta was genuinely surprised. Most beginners apparently targeted much smaller prey. Siska Grassland also had large rat-like monsters and insect-type monsters, she told me.

Smaller monsters like those fetched lower prices, though. Vezetta tapped at her terminal, examining the Berserk Boar's wounds.

「Two shots to bring it down. What did you use?」

「『Particle Strike: Piercing Bullet』.」

「Huh - so you're a mage, nya. But I thought the Piercing Particle Bullet was supposed to be weaker than that?」

「The Piercing Particle Bullet's power varies depending on how much Tenshiryoku you channel, so I haven't gotten the hang of fine-tuning it yet.」

Vezetta nodded, Looking as though that made sense.

「You could turn into a top-notch Toryū Ryōhei, nya. But don't rush it. Get used to fighting on Siska Grassland first - then move on to the next hunting ground.」

「Understood.」