episode_0364

A shuriken flew, cutting through the heavy air of the hangar. The shuriken, which had rotated several times, suddenly emerged from concealment, and by the time its true form was identified, it was already right in front of them.

It was a distance where death would have been instantaneous without superhuman agility.

The shuriken violently collided with Violet’s one-handed sword, which she had raised horizontally to block.

*Clang!*

The shuriken rapidly lost its rotational force. Nevertheless, Violet felt a sense of wonder at its power.

The red mana gathered on the sword clashed with another unseen mana, bursting into a flash of light.

“What the! It’s mana, but it’s invisible!”

The awe lasted only a moment before the upper body of unit 763 was cleanly severed and fell as if cut by paper.

“Ugh! It’s been cut in half!”

“It’s an invisible enemy! What is it! Did it distort perception?”

Command reacted immediately to the danger signal. Massive computational power poured into the hangar.

The collective consciousness accelerated thought by concentrating a large number of brains onto a select few. Not only sight, hearing, and smell, but also every footstep and every current of air brushing against the void.

Even tactile sensations were finely fragmented and projected.

Unit 1120 felt the world had slowed down.

Half of that was true.

Seconds were divided into hundreds, even thousands, of fragments. Just as a video editor analyzes footage frame by frame, the collective consciousness precisely observed the world, using the Violets on site as terminals.

“Where is it? Where is it?”

A shuriken abruptly appeared from thin air. Violet caught the shimmering afterimages around the spinning shuriken.

Though faint, something gathered on its blade created a current as it collided with the air, scattering light and causing a faint ripple to be seen.

She swung her sword once more to intercept.

“Is it that way?”

Immediately after, the ceiling lights burst simultaneously. The corridors connected to the hangar were instantly plunged into pitch black darkness.

“Ugh! It’s dark! I can’t see anything!”

*Slice!*

The sound of another Violet’s head rolling in the darkness was heard.

Unit 4521, horrified, instinctively ducked the moment their comrade’s head fell.

In that fleeting moment, as their eyes widened at the sight of the wall next to them splitting silently like butter, Violet quickly threw three or four flares into the air.

The light burst, instantly driving out the darkness.

At that moment, another murderous aura sliced through the air and approached.

“Aargh!”

*Clang!*

With the experience and predictions amplified by the collective consciousness, Unit 4521 barely managed to block the invisible attack by raising its right arm.

After defending horizontally, it retrieved its sword and thrust it again. Using the fundamentals of Aegis combat, it defended twice then thrust into thin air.

Calculations, more calculations.

In the desperate situation of fighting an invisible enemy, Violet pushed every one of her senses to their absolute limits.

“It’s just like fighting with your eyes closed! Hey! Fire away!”

A machine gunner, waiting outside the hangar, entered under the protection of a shield bearer. Unit 442 laboriously lifted the multi-barreled machine gun.

“Power creates light! Prepare for friendly fire!”

Command tapped the tactical map with a cold, ruthless decision. The barrels of the multi-barreled machine gun began to rotate furiously.

*Tat-tat-tat!*

“Friendly fire initiated!”

The darkness was instantly illuminated by a violent flash.

Tracer rounds swept across the walls and ceiling, where the enemy was expected, engulfing the Violets themselves.

In a fleeting moment amidst the scattering Violets, a blurry silhouette flashed past.

The Violets who spotted it immediately raised their rifles and poured concentrated fire in all directions.

*Bang!*

The hail of bullets, pouring down like a sweeping broom, stopped with a brief explosion.

“Malfunction! Equipment damaged! Replacing-”

The first arrow lodged deep in the gun barrel. Before they could react, the machine gunner’s head was pierced.

A second sharp strike, precisely aimed at a gap in the shield. Violets fell one by one to arrows flying as if defying the bullets.

“Unit 3321 dead! Unit 531 dead!”

“Screech!”

The Violets, not losing their composure, continued to advance.

The trajectory of the arrows, the direction their comrades fell, even the pain just before death — the network instinctively captured all this information to calculate the enemy’s location.

“Tracking trajectory!”

The members, who had been firing indiscriminately, precisely turned their muzzles like machines.

In a coordinated movement, they poured concentrated fire into the air.

The bullets vanished at one point, then sparks flew, and a faint silhouette momentarily appeared before vanishing again.

“There! Prepare explosives! Suicide squad, standby!”

The moment the assault order was about to be given, the unknown enemies suddenly vanished without a trace. There was nothing. No sound, not even that slight, unstable tremor.

A sudden realization flashed in the Violets’ minds as they tilted their heads.

“Wait, wasn’t there a passage on the opposite side?”

When they shone a light, another passage was visible directly opposite to where they had entered.

A moment later, a blurry silhouette was caught flashing and disappearing into it.

“Huh…?”

With a sudden, lightning-like realization, the collective consciousness reacted urgently.

“Rats immediately move to the passage on the opposite side of the hangar!”

They were attempting to flee.

“Redeploy all forces! Don’t let them escape!”

The Violet squad charged furiously towards the passage. But their advance didn’t last long.

“Huh? Guys, I’m severa-”

*Splat!*

The Violets’ bodies were cleanly severed and scattered across the floor like cubed steak.

All that was barely caught by the eyes of the stopped Violets was the trace of a thin thread, slicing through the air and vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

“Whoa, it’s a wire…!”

A mana-infused nanowire instantly sliced the Violets into pieces.

“How dare they slice us up!”

“We’ll slice them into tiny pieces too!”

Before long, the Arcsight agents desperately fled, pursued by the enraged Violets.

[Exfiltrating!]

**

A detachment of soldiers furiously charged through the primeval jungle. Normally, it would have been filled with the cries of various beasts and the fierce roars of demon beasts, but now, a completely different sound filled the jungle.

*Thump! Thump! Thump!*

Heavy military boots resounded as they strode through the jungle.

The primeval jungle was dense, but the Violets had no patience for such things.

The girls drew their swords and furiously cut down everything that blocked their path, like human threshing machines.

“It’s too dense! Cut it all down!”

*Crack!*

Unintentionally, the jungle was being cleared at a terrifying speed.

Hundreds of Violets were swinging their swords with immense power, felling everything in their path.

Seen from above, they looked like a group of tractors running through a field during harvest season.

Except the target was a primeval forest, not crops.

With every pass of their blades, trees fell and green fragments scattered into the sky. What was even more surprising was that their speed did not decrease at all amidst all this.

Rather, they accelerated. The rifle-type autocannons and main armaments carried by the girls following behind were massive. In the usual dense jungle, they would have been an obstacle. But now that the vanguard, armed with light swords, had cleared a path, they could charge even faster.

Like caterpillars devouring fruit, dozens of paths were carved and extended into the heart of the green jungle.

About a hundred meters ahead of the jungle where the Violets were giving chase, something invisible was running through the bushes.

[Foundation’s classified asset destruction complete – retreating, moving to extraction point-]

Arcsight’s special operatives ran without pause.

In contrast to their rough and rapid movements, their actions were quiet and composed.

Even when their feet touched the bushes, they only stirred briefly, like a passing breeze. They could step and run on thin branches without a single tremor.

Covert and swift. A tranquility distinctly different from the overwhelming advance of the Ariel Group.

Nevertheless, every moment was precarious.

Despite their unique concealment techniques, Arcsight’s assassins could not shake off their persistent pursuers.

[Their familiar creatures are tracking us from above.]

“Ooh!”

Above them, a monkey armed with a knife and a gun chased them by climbing trees.

“Caw!”

A flock of crows flapped their wings ceaselessly, moving in and out of the encirclement.

Even white mice scurried about beneath their feet.

If not for their unique movement techniques, they would have been discovered long ago.

[They haven’t identified our position yet.]

[Is Route A not an option? Can’t we use the Foundation’s deadlock corridor gate?]

One agent whispered the question, and another decisively shook his head.

An anxiety that couldn’t be hidden even by the camouflage veil and mask on his head permeated his voice.

[Impossible. We can’t reach it by extraction time. We have to use the emergency escape device.]

An agent carefully touched a flashlight-shaped device attached to their chest.

[Stop. This is the core of the dungeon. Spatial stability is too high. We’ll move to Route B. We need to get to the dungeon’s outskirts to secure the spatiotemporal instability required to activate the emergency escape device. The problem is…]

The agent slowly raised their head.

They were surrounded by enemies on all sides. It appeared to be a wide and loose encirclement at first glance, but the gaps were closing in real-time.

It was like a living spiderweb.

[If they get too close, we’re definitely exposed. They’ve already seen through our stealth.]

[Let’s fight a delaying action and get out.]

The operative holding the compound bow nodded gravely.

A signal to buy time and retreat. As the operatives sequentially fired and then withdrew, he drew his bowstring without hesitation.

An arrow flew like lightning through the dense foliage.

*Thwip!*

The head of one Violet, running through the bushes, was cleanly pierced.

Instantly, the encirclement calculated the origin of the shot based on the dead Violet’s position. The Violets’ reaction was swift. A merciless barrage rained down in the direction the arrow had come from.

*Boom! Bang!*

As the explosions of artillery shells subsided, a blue-tinged plasma orb fell over the head of an agent who was sighing in relief.

The agent mumbled with a desperate expression.

“No, damn it…”

From afar, Enrica, sipping a drink through a straw, cried out gleefully.

“Pop! Explode!”

*Boom!*

A colossal mushroom cloud soared into the sky.

Even as they instinctively knew their comrade was dead, the surviving agents could only huddle to avoid the shockwave.

Above them, three or four hang gliders flew in addition to the crows.

The silent host slowly approached, tightening its grip.

*Drip-drip-drip!*

[Damn it, still a long way to go… Do those things really have nuclear weapons?]

[It’s magic! Run instead of looking back! From here, it’s our extraction route! Use what we’ve prepared!]

The imposing sound of footsteps had already approached within a hundred meters.

Small, dark silhouettes visible through the jungle. The agents, who had been running without pause, suddenly dropped to the ground.

[Now!]

With a determined expression, they took out and pressed a button. The explosives, pre-planted, detonated simultaneously.

*Boom!*

Anti-mana fragments rained down like an explosion towards the charging Violets.

“Ughhh!”

Soldiers falling with pathetic cries. Their fading was brief, and then once again, a terrifying black wave surged forward.

The enemies did not flinch from the traps but continually charged forward.

*Crackle!*

“Agh! It’s a trap!”

They froze and shattered into pieces when caught by cunningly hidden spells, and their legs were severed by traps that suddenly swallowed them above the knee.

Nevertheless, the Ariels continued to advance, stepping over their fallen comrades.

[Run! It’s almost the extraction point!]

Trembling at the madness and persistence that feared no death, the agents ran with all their remaining strength.

[Damn it, they keep pouring in endlessly!]

The sounds of explosions and gunshots were now close enough to assault their ears from behind.

*Tat-tat-tat!*

Hang gliders sprayed a reddish glowing liquid from above. A merciless rain of incendiary liquid poured down, burning the jungle. An operative was engulfed in flames and smoke.

[Ugh!]

[It’s fine, it’s out. Not much stuck!]

The fire was out, but that wasn’t the problem.

A rat detected a suspicious smell.

The smell of burning, a suspicious charred smell.

“Squeak! I’m going in!”

The rat, leaping off the crow’s back, raised its tiny front paws in the air and cried out.

[What is that? A rat?]

“Thunder!”

The rat instantly glowed red and burst into flames. In exchange for its small body, a massive and complex spell formation unfolded in the air.

[My goodness.]

[It’s Adriana’s Flashstorm! Get down!]

The electric storm of a great hero, created by a humble creature sacrificing its life, swept through a wide area.

*Crackle!*

“Ugh!”

An agent’s concealment was broken as they were grazed by lightning. Though concealment was quickly restored.

“There they are!”

A volley of crossbow bolts poured down like red rain. An agent’s leg was pierced by an arrow that flew through trees and bushes.

A comrade quickly moved to help him, but he waved his hand.

[Stop. There’s not much time left…]

[Have you forgotten the principle? We’ll all die like this. You must get out.]

Leaving their comrade behind and clenching their teeth, the remaining two agents ran desperately. The agent left behind instinctively knew they were the third.

“You monster bastards, are you even human?”

Watching the approaching Ariel Group soldiers, the agent ignited the detonator.

*Boom!*

Several Violets were caught in the explosion. Seeing their comrades shattered, the Violets cried out in rage.

“It’s plagiarism! They’re plagiarists!”

“How dare they plagiarize!”

Infuriated by the fact that their sacred self-destruct tactic had been imitated, the Violets tightened their encirclement even further.

According to the sacred Violet Copyright Law – non-existent – imitation of self-destruct tactics was a grave crime punishable by death.

“Their self-destruction means they want to become us! Let’s turn them into Violets!”

“Good! Capture them alive!”

“Waaaaah!”

The Violet horde, stomping in pursuit, finally reached the dungeon’s edge.

[We’re here, quickly the escape device…]

“Ugh!”

Another agent, caught in the violently pouring rain of bullets, clutched their stomach. Judging by the hole drilled straight through the escape device, it had been hit by an autocannon shell.

The concealment of the agent, who fell spitting blood, completely broke. Violets rushed from all directions and seized his limbs.

“Aaaaah!”

The agent, instinctively realizing they were the fourth casualty, desperately shouted to their comrades.

“Shoot quickly!”

Arcsight’s assassin did not hesitate. According to their prior training, there was a high probability that their comrade would be assimilated or have their memories read by those monsters.

To protect their comrade’s pride, the agent acted as they had been taught.

*Thud!*

Immediately after the arrow pierced their head, the last comrade drew their final breath with a satisfied smile.

[Damn it!!!]

Instantly, the single-person escape device activated. Spacetime tore and scattered, and reality shattered into glittering fragments.

“They’re escaping! Catch them!”

The Violets charged furiously. In that fleeting moment, as dark grasping hands stretched almost to their face.

*!!!!*

“What was that? Who’s calling?”

A powerful vibration resonated in their heads. The Violets were momentarily thrown into confusion.

That perplexing, fleeting moment became a decisive turning point for the agent’s fate.

“Ah!”

Amidst the pouring sparks, their vision rapidly shifted. The calm and quiet hangar. The six surviving agents stumbled, enveloped in extreme exhaustion.

A nearby officer then spoke heavily.

“…The other operatives?”

The agent responded to the commander’s question with heavy silence.

It was half success, half failure.

**

The Violets, with puzzled expressions, touched their heads and mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Indeed…”

The fleeting signal that had just brushed through their minds. The Violets were confused by the strange sensation. They couldn’t possibly understand what it was.

The collective consciousness, lost in deep thought, finally came up with an answer.

“It felt like it came from the sky!”

“Right, the sky! But were there other Violets in the sky besides us?”

“Indeed…”

The Violets tilted their heads, utterly bewildered.

**

An object circled in cold outer space, with a blue planet as its backdrop.

It was orbiting outside Trist’s atmosphere at an incredible speed.

It was an artificial satellite.

Its purpose was singular. To perfectly activate a gray matter mass, a fusion of the Foundation’s technology, Magnavis’s magic engineering, and Raphlaxia’s biotechnology, in Trist’s orbit.

Since it was an experiment, once was enough.

“Aaaaah-”

Immediately after a series of cute psychic waves scattered into space, the satellite evaporated and vanished with a blue light. The destruction process proceeded cleanly.

“The target’s sealing and Ariel assimilation prevention procedures have been completed.”

“Good, don’t forget our other allies are watching this.”

Listening to the operator’s report, the Foundation’s directors stared at the screen with tense expressions.

It was a monster. Its ability to assimilate other humans meant it could never be underestimated. The fact that human test subjects had to be immediately incinerated, unlike animals, in the Corvus Infection Test was proof of this.

“Surely, if their certain means connect with this, the signal will react…”

This was an extremely complex procedure. When aether detection equipment was activated in space, Trist was already saturated with countless mana spectra.

It looked like an abstract artist’s canvas smeared with paint.

Not to mention the chaotic environments of the Red and Yellow Zones, and including the countless awakened individuals gathered in the Academy City or the dungeons and demon beasts across the entire planet, the situation became even more complicated.

Nevertheless, the Foundation had done it. Finally, with the help of Arcsight’s surveillance satellites and the Magnavis mages who had fled to the continent.

“Analyzing pattern… signal detection and tracking…”

The Foundation’s control algorithm system analyzed the satellite observation results in real-time.

“As you can see, satellite signals don’t reach the Red Zone and Yellow Zone due to the characteristics of their contaminated environments. Observation is also impossible. The same goes for inside the dungeons on the ground.”

The directors nodded indifferently at the researcher’s explanation.

“It doesn’t matter, people can’t live there anyway.”

Everything was under the Foundation’s calculations. Even if they hid inside dungeons, it was manageable. In such cases, they would simply search them one by one with separate tracking devices.

If this experiment truly succeeded as intended, they would be able to perfectly track all Ariel Group members hiding in every habitable location. Though some operatives or enemies might be exceptions.

After a long, seemingly eternal wait, a hologram appeared in the middle of the room with a [Calculation Complete] signal.

Everyone present watched it quietly, yet with eyes mixed with expectation and anxiety.

“If it fails…”

“That won’t happen.”

The directors’ hopes became reality.

The tracking was successful.

All habitable areas on the world map turned red.

“My God…”

Everyone at the Foundation fell silent. Alarm spread like a plague across the space.

“Those crazy insect bastards are even around us?”

*Thud!*

A loud roar echoed in Restraid’s conference room. Cordo, who had been watching the Foundation’s experiment results with the executives, couldn’t hold back and sprang to his feet.

“Look there, there! It’s all our managed territory. Those cunning cockroach bastards…”

The red dots scattered across Southern Rustrum and various parts of the continent provoked his fury.

“Immediately strengthen security at all major facilities! Especially the Joint Research Lab!”

The shock, like a wave, spread through time to other locations at the same moment.

“…Our agents were also hit.”

In an unnamed mountain range in Northern Rustrum. General Manager Elena mumbled with an expressionless face, looking at the observation results of what would be the first and last experimental satellite.

“It was an impossible loss.”

“No, it’s possible. It’s already been proven before that conventional tactics don’t work on them. It’s more surprising that anyone came out alive.”

Brushing aside the executive’s words, Manager Elena swept the hair from her forehead. Her long, dark green hair swished below her shoulders.

“The Foundation’s method was correct. Are these… truly human?”

The shock continued to spread like a tidal wave to many others.

“My heavens, this is…”

“Please persuade the Grand Marshal-nim. They are enemies of this world! Aren’t they even in the Federation’s territory?”

The generals of the Federal Army Command, terrified, issued an order the next day for all soldiers to search the walls and sewers of major facilities and quarters.

They had belatedly realized why Magnavis had been instantly annihilated.

“Is, is this true?”

“As you can see, there’s a high probability that these are not human! How can there be so many humans with the same mana pattern in the world?”

The Speaker of the National Assembly and Senators, who had recuperated from fatigue and postponed their schedules using terrorism as an excuse, also felt their minds reeling. The red dots embedded across Rustrum and all habitable zones were a clear sign that the targets were beyond their control.

Therefore, amidst all this shock and confusion, the Foundation’s Secretary-General could declare with determination.

“We must exterminate these human pests.”

It was a moment when humanity’s prominent figures united as one, perhaps for the first and last time.