episode_0376

A clear violet sky ushered in a new morning for the Karnak Archipelago.

I walked towards the beach with the other Violets.

Today was the day we had all been eagerly awaiting.

“It’s finally here!”

“The vaccine!”

The outskirts where we lived were relatively peaceful. Monsters, abnormal phenomena, and hostile entities were mostly concentrated deep within the Red Zone.

According to our Violets’ estimations, it seemed the outskirts were less affected by the Red Zone’s erosion.

Of course, from the sky, it was still impossible for strange satellite signals to reach.

“That’s why planes don’t scout deep into this area!”

I heard it was possible to pass by nearby. Indeed, the scholarship officer and friends came to meet us by plane.

But going deep inside was impossible.

Aerial reconnaissance resulted in too many cases of communication loss and disappearances due to strange phenomena.

“Thanks to that, the Foundation guys couldn’t find us. The Red Zone is our shield!”

As 4521 said, the Red Zone could not be observed by satellites.

The only way to know the internal situation was to set foot inside. Thanks to this, our Violet villages, which had grown quite large, became a hiding place.

Airplanes and ships also avoided this route, as there was no reason to come close enough for reconnaissance.

“That means the independent sovereignty of the Violet nation will be easier.”

The Karnak Archipelago is located quite centrally on the world map.

While the distance is a drawback, we will someday be able to build an airport and a harbor to improve accessibility.

5621, who had been splashing in the water on the beach, suddenly remembered something and shouted.

“That’s right! A harbor, we need to build a harbor someday.”

Tragically, in this unexplored land, the Violets’ civilization level had not yet advanced beyond the Middle Ages.

We ate preserved food stored in our inventories, and all buildings were constructed solely from the Red Zone’s soil, stones, and wood.

Though sturdy, living without proper plumbing or electricity was incredibly inconvenient.

If only we had construction machinery and materials, modernization would be possible immediately.

“Once we teach those Foundation guys a lesson, we can focus more on conquering the Red Zone!”

“Exactly! The path to industrialization is open to us!”

With this single hope, we waited on the beach, gazing steadily beyond the horizon.

The plan was simple: receive the vaccine by air, administer it, and then apply that state to our blueprints to manifest healthy immune Violets in our bodies.

With no harbor to dock, all we could do was wait indefinitely.

Soon, a plane would fly in, drop off the cargo, and quickly return.

Beyond the horizon, what we had been waiting for finally appeared. An airship slowly approached, carefully lowered its cargo, and then vanished with a whoosh.

Inside were abundant food supplies for us Violets.

As we hastily moved them to our inventories before they mutated, I searched the cargo for a more important item.

And then I finally found it: a thick, white refrigerated case placed in the corner.

“It’s finally here!”

As 5621 carefully opened the box, white, cold smoke swirled out.

Through it, a gleaming syringe and ampoule appeared.

We first thoroughly read the enclosed instructions, then took out the syringe and drew the medicine from the ampoule as directed.

Now, only one thing remained.

“Alright, who’s going to get it?”

“Should we give it to Number 1?”

After a moment of thought, I decided to inject 6433, who was closest.

“I’m an immune Violet!”

The goal was to copy the state of the injected Violet and apply it to the blueprint anyway.

Verification would be up to other researchers who would bring equipment into the Red Zone later, so it was better to proceed step by step.

After administering the injection, I concentrated deeply. The ceiling turned pitch black like darkness, and stars descended like threads to spread across the floor, as the loom within the network began to operate.

The blueprint unfurled widely once more, and dust motes of consciousness scattered and re-gathered repeatedly in all directions.

On the opposite side, 6433 lay still.

Amidst the surging waves and ripples of aether, a new blueprint was woven thread by shining thread.

—Clang!

With a clean, sliding metallic sound, the completed blueprint dropped below the loom.

The moment I held the blueprint, I could instinctively feel it.

The waves of aether, maintaining a similar sensation, yet constantly changing in intensity and flow.

I was certain.

“This will work!”

**

The August heat scorched the slum. The Luminexa Foundation’s mobile unit was patrolling the alleyways.

The team was smaller than usual, but it was understandable.

Lately, their assigned task was merely dealing with the occasional Ariel animal familiars that appeared.

“Caw! I’m gonna die!”

—Bang!

With a sharp gunshot, a crow flapped in mid-air before plummeting to the ground.

It was the moment another familiar, tainted by an impure mind, was erased from the world.

But there was no emotion on the agents’ faces.

Everything was normalizing.

“Aren’t all those terrorists gone now?”

“I guess so. Just these animals left…”

An agent spoke in a relaxed voice. A sense of futility slowly crept among the field agents.

The legendary terrorists they had fought so fiercely, those powerful enough to bring down a clan, had vanished at some point.

The ace up the sleeve unveiled by the higher-ups and the research lab had evaporated those persistent enemies in one shot.

It made all the past dangers and sacrifices seem meaningless.

Unable to bear it, the team leader glared at his subordinates with sharp eyes and warned in a low voice.

“Don’t get complacent yet! Don’t relax until we have a definite conclusion that the situation is over. We haven’t caught their main executives yet.”

At their superior’s reprimand, the agents fell silent.

Clearly, that group of terrorist girls wasn’t composed solely of mere clones.

The combat prowess and unique abilities wielded by their executives were remarkably threatening. Their level surpassed imagination.

Analysts from the Foundation and Arcyte cautiously speculated that they might, in fact, be the true leaders behind the Ariel Group.

Because of this, agents were ready to activate emergency protocols at any moment.

As soon as a risk factor was detected, most assets, including Hellmen, would be aggressively deployed forward through the Deadlock Corridor.

“And it seems you keep underestimating these animals just because we’ve caught a few. We haven’t hunted all of them yet. Understood?”

The team leader finished speaking and fiercely stomped on the fallen crow with his foot.

The board had already directly designated this unexpected variable as a ‘top priority target for eradication’.

They were wary of these mutated animals as much as, or perhaps even more than, the human collaborators or executives.

‘Well, they did speak human words…’

The agents still vividly remembered the unprecedented bizarre incident that occurred late at night after the pesticide operation was completed.

A rebellion of experimental animals – something seen only in B-movies – had happened in reality.

Not only that, but familiars, somehow immune to the virus, helped the test subjects overthrow and blow up the lab.

Who could have imagined it?

“Do these bastards also talk like those ones in the video?”

“Didn’t you hear the scream just now? It was shrieking that it was dying.”

Due to the Foundation’s characteristic departmental insularity, the field operations team had not received detailed information.

However, rumors that several internal research departments had been turned upside down were secretly spreading through acquaintances and colleagues.

“Anyway, don’t forget that even if their movements are clumsy, they are animals with human intelligence. Don’t underestimate them like mere monsters; there have been casualties on our side. Understood?”

“Yes!”

The agents collected the crow’s carcass and began patrolling the streets again.

From the Foundation’s perspective, finding these animals was relatively easy.

As if seeking revenge for their masters, they would hide and then fiercely charge and attack when they saw an opening. It was a foolish act.

Just like this.

“Ooh-ooh! Die! Long live Ariel!”

As the Foundation agents moved, a monkey hidden on the rooftop of a townhouse suddenly appeared.

The monkey, holding a bomb in its hand, charged with a frantic momentum.

—Whirr!

Unfortunately, the monkey could not avenge its leader.

The robot waiting behind it instantly aimed its muzzle, and three ear-splitting roars echoed.

Large-caliber bullets ripped through the air, and the monkey’s remains splattered like a burst tomato, falling.

An agent grumbled, brushing off the splattered remains from his clothes.

“Tch, again.”

Still, today’s results were good. The frequency of resistant animals appearing was gradually decreasing. The control algorithm indicated that they would soon be eradicated.

The team leader frowned, thinking of these tiresome creatures.

What strange magic did they possess, that they could not only mind-corrupt but also bestow intelligence upon animals?

“Alright, that’s enough for now. We’ll swap shifts. Move to the designated location and hand over!”

With the relief that their schedule was finally over, the agents hastened preparations for withdrawal.

As they moved with light, refreshed steps, drones and robots followed in a line.

By September, this situation might come to an end and enter a lull.

Though unspoken, everyone at Luminexa thought so.

—Rustle!

Then, a strange, passing sound came from somewhere.

“…?”

An agent looked around with a puzzled expression.

Neither the drones, nor the robots, nor his other colleagues noticed, but his intuition, honed by years of field experience, told him something was amiss.

Again, a very faint sound brushed past his ear.

—Rustle!

“What was that sound…”

The agent scanned his surroundings with a tense gaze, but nothing noticeable caught his eye. Just his patrol unit and robots, and citizens watching from a distance with fearful eyes.

For a fleeting moment, a cute-faced girl seemed to be grinning gleefully from behind a wall and trees, staring at him with red eyes, but she vanished instantly.

Or perhaps she wasn’t there from the start. The illusion quickly faded from his mind.

“What are you doing? Hurry up!”

At his colleague’s impatient call, even the suspicious thoughts vanished from the agent’s mind.

After the shift change, the vehicle carrying them disappeared down the road.

“Heeheehee!”

Laughter echoed in the air.

Mischievous girls, their forms shimmering like heat haze, poked their heads out slightly in the direction the vehicle had disappeared.

The Foundation did not know.

Even if they had, there would have been few options available to them.

Slowly, little by little, unseen grins, minor mischief, vivid blood-red eyes, and playful golden shimmering hair reminiscent of wheat fields began to infiltrate the city’s crevices.

In the Deadlock Corridor, once trampled and purified by the deployment of Hellmen, peculiar laughter gradually began to resound.

“Heehee!”

“…Didn’t everyone hear that?”

The containment enforcement squad members, who were pursuing the remnants of the Ariel Group in the Deadlock Corridor, looked puzzled at their colleague’s words.

“Hey, who ate the rest of my cake?”

“Huh? No way. I didn’t touch it?”

In the Foundation’s private airfield lounge. While staff argued over the whereabouts of the suddenly vanished food, a girl crouched in a corner greedily devoured a cake, her mouth smeared with cream.

Strangely, no one saw the girl.

Though her exquisite hiding might have played a part.

“Delicious! Heehee!”

“Hey! 5814! Don’t steal that! You’ll get caught!”

Annoyed by the network’s scolding, 5814 puffed out her cheeks and grumbled.

After casually brushing off the cake crumbs from her clothes, the little Violet donned a camouflage cloak and nonchalantly walked among the people.

She stealthily slipped through the shadows and between boxes, entering the open ramp of an airship.

One, then two, from cargo transports to large attack airships.

Cautiously at first, then with confident strides.

“Wow! An airship! I’m flying!”

The airship’s ramp closed.

Unaware of what had stowed away inside, the airship drew a blue afterimage like a tail from its thrusters and soared into the sky.

Only time would tell what would happen.