episode_0154

A group of students sprinted down the main road. The young students struggled to keep up, running hard behind the lead like ducklings.

At the front, playing the role of the mother duck, were an old professor and a young, beautiful woman.

“Just follow closely behind me. Understood?”

“Yes!”

Adela advised her juniors as she nocked a new arrow onto her bowstring. Three beautifully glowing arrows left the bow. The arrows flew swiftly, like sharks hunting prey, piercing through the leaping magical beasts one after another.

“Adela! To your right!”

The professor, who was cutting down magical beasts with his sword, shouted. As she ran, she quickly drew her bowstring. An arrow embedded itself in the eye of a magical beast that appeared from the right alleyway.

“Die, heretics!”

Three cultists of the Unification Society, who had bypassed the alley, charged forward riding magical beasts. Adela, with her bow on her back, raised the rapier she was wearing.

The moment they were close enough for the magical beast’s blackish-red teeth to be clearly visible, she took a step. It was a smooth yet robust movement.

“Aargh!”

The high-speed sword strike devastated the enemies. Cultists and magical beasts sprayed blood as they fell. It was elegant and clean swordsmanship. Adela and the professor broke through the throng of magical beasts like an icebreaker cutting through ice.

“When will the rescue team from the academy arrive?”

“Well, looking at the current situation, it will probably take a long time, won’t it?”

Adela felt frustrated hearing the professor’s words. Time was of the essence. She pulled out an object from her pocket. The professor’s eyes widened when he saw the red rod with elaborate patterns engraved on it.

“A dimensional signal beacon? Isn’t that a relic of your family? Didn’t you say it couldn’t be easily used?”

“I tried not to use it if possible, but there’s no other choice. The elders might not like it, but if I don’t use the family’s power at a time like this, when will I ever use it?”

Immediately after saying that, she snapped the rod. A beam of magical power shot up from the rod towards the ceiling.

Watching the beam of magical power cross between dimensions, she felt a small sense of liberation. Though the beam faded, the signal crossing the dimensional gap continuously flickered in her hand.

Soon, it would reach her family. Cascadia’s forces would arrive within a short time.

“Don’t worry, everyone! The rescue team will be here soon!”

At the student council president’s words, the students cheered despite their struggle. She felt a tinge of bitterness.

‘If I had used this earlier, that poor girl wouldn’t have had to sacrifice herself.’

Despite fulfilling her duties as the student council president, she blamed herself inwardly. She should have rushed in and stopped it, but she couldn’t.

‘I’m sorry, Violet. I know it’s selfish, but please, be alive.’

Shoving her melancholy into her pocket along with the signal beacon, Adela ran. She had students to protect, after all.

**

Inside the dungeon, Magnabyss agents, who were commanding troops and searching for relics, saw the beam of light reaching the ceiling. While magical beasts might not care, it was a signal that a skilled mage could detect.

And the agents understood well what that signal was.

“Damn it all! A dimensional signal beacon? No way, right?”

The Vanguard commander looked up at the ceiling in a panic.

“The signal is pulsating from that direction. With our level of equipment and personnel, we can track it.”

Lera calmly identified the signal. Immediately after the beam of light shot up, a faint pulsation of magical power was detected from the rear of the outpost.

“Damn it, some silver-spooned individual we don’t know must have come here.”

“I’ll have the agents immediately ascertain the dungeon entry roster. According to the original plan, there’s no reason for anyone possessing a signal beacon to be here. What in the world…”

Relics that could connect the dungeon and reality were treated as extremely valuable. Items that aided communication with the outside world in a dimension cut off from reality were rare.

Only a few individuals from the Four Great Clans, high-ranking executives of major corporations, VIPs of the Federation, or certain figures from old noble families could possess them.

Whoever the owner of the relic was, it was clear that they were an individual with political and social influence comparable to the Four Great Clans. Their operation had hit a snag.

The agents realized they had activated a potential political bomb.

“Is there no progress in the relic search?”

“We are still searching. We need more time!”

Lera met the commander’s gaze. Even behind the opaque, sealed mask, she could sense his anxious eyes.

“The signal hasn’t reached yet, has it?”

“Due to the signal beacon’s mechanism, it cannot directly transmit information outside the dungeon. A connection takes time.”

They came to a conclusion. Whoever the owner of the signal beacon was, they had to bury them immediately. And dispose of all remaining survivors while they were at it.

“Track them down. Time is of the essence!”

“I will call all personnel, leaving only the minimum necessary. Everyone, gather at the designated coordinates!”

The combat mages’ strike team began to move.

**

Violet’s squad rescued the people held captive by a suspicious armed organization and then searched the vicinity. A truck was waiting nearby, with its engine running.

When the squad leader gave the order, bolts rained down.

“Aargh!”

The magic-infused bolts pierced through the truck’s chassis, turning the occupants inside into pincushions. The Violets collected the bodies and put them into their inventories.

“Was it necessary to kill them all?”

“But there’s a prisoner, isn’t there? This one seems the easiest to handle.”

Number 350 held onto the captured individual. It was impressive how this person, for their own sake, clung to their superior trying to save the prisoner. Let’s keep them alive for now.

“Let’s interrogate them, and if they’re weird, kill them!”

“Alright, alright!”

As we wandered through the maze-like alleyways, the woman’s swishing ponytail, like a horse’s tail, kept bothering me. Deep wrinkles formed around my eyes.

“Look at this one’s hairstyle. It’s a ponytail!”

“Annoying hair!”

A ponytail is a hairstyle only worn by naughty girls who have no mother or father. This is based on experience. Everyone who harassed our Violets and harmed our friends had ponytails.

“She doesn’t seem like a Martina. She’s submissive, isn’t she?”

“That’s obvious at a glance! She has no weapon, does she? She’s not a combatant. Could she be someone like Team Leader Eva?”

I questioned the prisoner. I asked if their job wasn’t something like research. The person, surprised, replied.

“Oh, how did you know? My specialty is relic research and interpretation.”

Upon hearing the answer, I felt a physiological aversion rise from within. This one was also part of the wicked ponytail faction!

Disgusted, I slapped the back of the prisoner’s head.

“Ugh! You trash!”

“Screech!”

A nearby worker, who was watching, spoke up.

“Hey, take it easy. I don’t want to tell someone who saved us what to do, but didn’t that person try to save us in their own way?”

“No, mister! Suspicious people like this need a few hits.”

“Good grief…”

The worker awkwardly turned his head away. While it wasn’t wrong, those people didn’t know the reality. This is how you gain an advantage with prisoners. It was knowledge gained from harassing gang members.

I don’t know this person’s affiliation, but they’re not a soldier. They must be a mercenary or a fixer.

“Mercenaries have no human rights!”

By the way, I wondered if the relic was still intact. We could roughly perceive each other’s locations, but this vast and complex dungeon overwhelmed our tracking abilities.

“Where’s the relic team? When are you going to break it?”

The relic team delivered desperate news.

“It won’t break! I struck it repeatedly with sword energy, but it didn’t even get a scratch. What in the world did they say was the method for dismantling it?”

“I don’t know. The base must have had a method. Anyway, where are we? Headquarters!”

Number 56 at headquarters compared their respective views and landmarks, then placed a dot on the map.

“You’re in a residential area right now. You can’t see it because of the buildings, but the two teams’ locations are surprisingly close!”

That’s a relief, then. We can join up soon.

According to the V-navigation system, which uses Violet’s collective intelligence and location awareness, the rescue team and relic team are currently moving through a residential complex, while the Violet team is near shops along the main road.

I took the people and headed in the direction of my teammates.

“If you don’t answer properly when I ask later, I’ll hit you!”

“Yes, understood… Screech!”

On the way, I didn’t forget to hit the prisoner a few times for good measure.

After exiting the alley and walking for a while, we saw a large, haphazardly built barricade made of assorted junk. In front of the barricade, magical beast corpses lay scattered.

“Stop! Stop! Hands up!”

A powerful light shone on the face of Number 350, who was in the lead. I squinted my eyes at the dazzling light that penetrated even through the goggles.

“We’re allies!”

“We’ll see about that. Stay still!”

As we stood with our hands raised, a hunter holding a harpoon-like sword appeared from behind the barricade and examined us. It was a familiar face I had seen at a meeting. He was a section chief from the Atlas Clan.

“Well, you’re alive. Weren’t you bodyguards? Where is that girl Ariel?”

When the section chief asked, I replied in a stiff tone.

“Chief Atlas. I’m moving separately due to personal circumstances. By the way, Chief Atlas, what’s that? Can we pass?”

“No, wait a moment.”

Next to the section chief, a man who appeared to be a mage was holding a staff and scanning our group. I could feel the flow of magical power, so he seemed to be scanning for something.

“A voice changer, what peculiar taste… Alright. Verification complete. Come in. But I’d like you to follow our instructions. It might be unpleasant, but there could be fanatics hiding among you.”

I conceded. Since I too had seen fanatics who had infiltrated stab others in the back, the section chief’s actions felt justified.

“Still, these people aren’t cultists. I just rescued them from some suspicious individuals.”

“Rescued? Wait, why is the woman behind you tied up like that? Are you planning to bring fanatics in here?”

“It’s a long story, Chief Atlas. She’s not a cultist of the Unification Society! But she is suspicious. She might be able to answer some questions about the current situation.”

I had a brief conversation with the section chief as I crossed the barricade.

“What? They took people hostage, interrogated them, and then tried to execute them?”

Chief Atlas looked surprised by the sudden appearance of a third enemy.

“Yes, Chief Atlas.”

“I agree, Chief Atlas.”

“Wait, it seems you’re misunderstanding something. Atlas is the name of the clan I belong to. Didn’t your superior tell you? My name is Harbor.”

Ah, now I remember.

Inside the barricade were people who had evacuated from various places. Unusually, a distance away, people had gathered around a bright fire and were working with sparks flying.

“It’s a temporary elevator. It was equipment built in the early stages of dungeon exploration, but after the large elevator was installed, it was shut down and abandoned. We’ve gathered engineers among the evacuees and are trying to get it working, but…”

Chief Harbor’s face contorted, unable to finish his sentence. The large metal structure reaching up to the ceiling was rusty in many places, and had been broken or collapsed in spots for a long time.

As I followed the section chief, loud voices were exchanged nearby. I turned to see Federation soldiers being criticized by the people.

“There were living soldiers?”

“You bastards! Am I wrong? This happened because you messed around with relics!”

“That can’t be! We’re victims too! Why would we activate such a dangerous item? It was supposed to be disposed of!”

The officer, who stepped forward as the soldiers’ representative, protested as if unfairly accused.

“Where! That person. That’s the officer who helped us. When we saved the students.”

“Let’s see, his name is… Captain Klein? Now I remember.”

The section chief quickly ran to try and calm the people down.

“Everyone, calm down! Don’t push them too hard when the truth hasn’t even been revealed yet. And this person stayed behind instead of retreating to help with the evacuation. You shouldn’t treat a benefactor like that.”

“But wasn’t it the Federation military who had the Prism? Of course, those guys must have pulled some trick! You’re suspicious too. Weren’t you pretending not to know? Federation guys can’t be trusted! These people might be in league with those fanatics!”

“If only you hadn’t tampered with the Prism! Our employees…”

“Ah, no! I don’t know! Damn it!”

Some of the frightened soldiers aimed their guns. The officer tried to stop them, but this time the hunters drew their weapons and aimed them.

“Everyone calm down!”

“Calm down, what? These guys are enemies too! Hey, aren’t you going to lower your gun?”

It was a volatile situation, ready to explode at any moment. Magical beasts were about to swarm them, and now internal conflict had broken out, making the situation bleak.

Just then, the prisoner at the back mumbled in a weak voice.

“…I did it.”

“What did you say?”

As soon as I heard the prisoner’s words, I called the section chief.

“Why are you calling me suddenly?”

“The Prism! She says she did it?”

The gazes of the confronting soldiers and hunters all turned to the prisoner. The woman nodded with a complicated expression.

**

In front of the temporary elevator, with people gathered, a spontaneous public trial began. I made the prisoner kneel on the ground, then took out a camera and started filming.

“Alright, state your name, age, and affiliation!”

The brown-haired woman with the ponytail stammered.

“My name is E-Ennis Lowell. I’m t-twenty-eight years old. My affiliation is Chief Researcher of the Mystical Investigations Department, Section 3, Magnabyss Group…”

“What? Magnabyss?”

As soon as Number 350 heard the familiar name, they could only recoil in disgust. Why was that name popping up here?

“Magnabyss? Why are the Four Great Clans here…”

I wasn’t the only one surprised by the word. People around us murmured.

“As expected, you were a ponytail too! Die!”

“Aargh!”

I took out my scabbard and hit the top of her head. My body reacted reflexively to an even greater, horrific aversion than before. She truly was the same kind as the ponytails from the Rafflesia Research Institute.

She must have captured poor, beautiful girls and performed human experiments on them.

“So, what did Magnabyss do here? What did you do? Tell me everything!”

I aimed the tip of my sword at the frightened prisoner’s face, as if to stab her. While sobbing, she confessed everything: what their plan was, what instructions she had received, and what she had done here. The contents were shocking.

“I’m sorry…”

“You tried to smuggle out the Vision Prism? And you temporarily activated the Prism to neutralize the Federation military before spiriting it away? And kill all of us who knew about the relic? Does that even… make sense?”

Chief Harbor mumbled with a bewildered expression. Amidst the murmuring crowd, a furious Federation soldier rushed forward and kicked the wicked ponytail researcher.

“You piece of trash! Because of you, our comrades suffered a fate worse than death!”

“Gasp… I’m sorry… I’ve committed a sin worthy of death… I’m sorry…”

The prisoner huddled, sobbing, perhaps from the pain. Starting with the soldier kicking her, the onlookers rushed forward in a rage.

“You damn bastard! What’s there to cry about?”

“Our teammate died because of you!”

“Sob…”

The prisoner was mercilessly beaten. Captain Klein, who had been silent, stepped forward.

“Wait! Stop!”

A single gunshot rang out. As people recoiled, the captain pushed through and helped the prisoner up. He then drew a large handgun and aimed it at her chin.

“Under Federation military law, acts of terrorism are subject to immediate execution. Are you aware of this?”

“…”

The woman closed her eyes with a resigned expression. The section chief placed a hand firmly on the captain’s shoulder.

“Hey, hand her over to us.”

“No, sir. My subordinates, and the Mobile Squad Leader, died because of this woman.”

The retreating people once again vented their fury.

“Hey! Hand her over to us! She should be torn to pieces!”

“Give her here! Let us beat her to death!”

The people looked ready to rush forward and tear the prisoner to shreds at any moment. I was a little flustered. She shouldn’t die yet.

I decided to assert my rightful claim.

“Wait! This one is my prisoner. So don’t arbitrarily decide her fate.”

“What? But…”

“I caught her, didn’t I? And there’s a lot more to ask!”

I and the other Violets asserted our rightful claim, weapons in hand. The people were displeased but backed down a step before our armed presence.

“Hey, there’s still something I haven’t asked, so answer quickly. Who’s your superior? What do they do?”

“My superior… that would be our team leader, the one Teacher-nim cut down.”

I pulled a human head out of my inventory. I could feel people recoiling in horror at the sudden appearance of the head. After brushing it off as a relic bag, I continued the interrogation.

“Is this her?”

As I held out the dripping head, Ennis, looking horrified, nodded.

“Eek! It’s her!”

“So, is she your commander? Or is there someone else?”

“She’s not the team leader. The team leader also receives orders from others. Our department was dispatched to the field. There’s a separate overall commander.”

“Who is it?”

I asked. Seeing the blade and gun barrel before her, Ennis tried her best to recall something as quickly as possible.

“I don’t know the name or face. I couldn’t properly see her face due to a recognition-inhibiting device. But…”

“But…? But what! Speak quickly!”

Hesitating, she hurriedly opened her mouth.

“Vanguard agents were dispatched. She seemed to know them well. I think she might be someone from the Information Strategy Office! That’s all I know.”

At the mention of Vanguard, people stirred once again.

“Magnabyss Vanguard? That unit with all those machines plastered on their fishbowl-heads?”

“Yes, that’s right…”

Ah, damn it. If what this prisoner said was true, this was a very big problem. I didn’t know the extent of their combat power, but they seemed quite strong.

Could the chairman have something to do with this problem? I need to bring my teammates here quickly. There are other people here, and if necessary, we’ll have to try escaping by climbing the structure of that old elevator.

“Move the relic too! We need to break it quickly.”

Right. There was the relic. We can’t hand it over to those suspicious individuals.

When I finished my questions, Ennis asked.

“Um, the questions are all finished, right?”

“Yes. For now?”

Hearing my words, the prisoner stared at me with lifeless eyes, then slowly closed them. The surrounding situation was one where enraged hunters, workers, and soldiers surrounded her. Had she given up hope long ago?

Of course, I had no intention of killing her immediately. There was still more to ask. Moreover, she was someone who politely spilled information instantly when asked.

This woman was the first one to answer without going through complex violent procedures.

Chief Harbor asked.

“What will you do with this woman?”

“I’ll postpone her disposal for now.”

By the way, where are Adela and the students?

“We just met them!”

The moment the question arose, a message came that they had met with Violet’s teammates. I began to happily ponder when to reveal Violet’s survival.

“Let’s just say she miraculously survived. That way, it’ll be less awkward.”

“Or how about this? Luckily, I defeated all the magical beasts… huh?”

I was about to ponder. Until a group of jet bikes suddenly appeared, flying over my teammates’ heads.

“It’s the Magnabyss Vanguard! Yikes!”

“Lucian’s been hit! He’s down!”

“Sniped! Begin multiplication! Daphne is in danger!”

“Adela’s injured!”

I leaped to my feet.

“…What is it?”

Without answering the section chief’s question, we ran out. All personnel, except for about two, left the barricade.

“Hey, follow me!”

“What? Aargh!”

I didn’t forget to grab the prisoner by the nape of her neck and drag her along. As soon as we crossed the barricade, we rapidly expanded our numbers.

“Run! Quickly! When will reinforcements arrive! We’re dying faster than we can multiply!”

“Wail! My bullets aren’t coming out! It won’t fire again!”

Screams and fear-soaked radio messages rang out. Violet Company quickly charged into the main road.

Violets are dying.

They are dying.

They are dying. More are dying.

Coming out onto the main road and encountering my teammates, I could see them.

“…Who are you?”

The walking calamities in human form.