19 – Operation

“It seems they knew we were coming to block the gate today and ambushed us.”

“To be honest, aren’t they being too crazy? Attacking this place is suicide!”

If it were just attacking ordinary-ranked Hunters, maybe.

But this place is full of elite S-Rank Hunters from various countries and guilds.

Attacking a place like this seemed like nothing but suicide.

And in the first place, is there any reason to attack this place?

No matter how much I thought about it, there wasn’t.

“It is suicide…”

“…..What?”

I turned to look at Kaede, who had been quietly beside me.

“They attacked my family a few months ago.”

Her family is the Yami family.

They rule the Japanese underworld and are a well-known prestigious family to some extent in the world, and they attacked them?

“They killed a few servants and one of the family’s children, then blew themselves up where my father, I, and another child were.”

“….”

“My father and I were safe, but two more of my siblings died.”

I expected it, but it was quite shocking.

Why are they doing this even to the point of suicide?

We wouldn’t suffer much damage.

Kaede didn’t seem to show it outwardly, but she looked quite gloomy.

There probably aren’t many people who could notice the very slight shadow that had deepened.

“So, are these guys here to blow themselves up with us too? More than that, why did they attack us?”

At Ha-yeon’s words, Fallen, who had been pondering for a moment, looked at Kaede and asked something.

“Dark Current. What was the intensity of the explosion?”

“About the level of one S-Rank skill.”

“…I’ll have to increase the intensity.”

“…..In the first place, their rank and combat power are about A+. It seems like the way they blow themselves up is by causing their mana to go berserk, so that would produce about S-Rank power.”

Oh…… Kaede has said the most words I’ve heard so far.

While I was thinking that, Fallen used more mana to increase the strength of the barrier.

“And we still don’t know their purpose. They haven’t been around for very long, and they’re an organization that does nothing but terrorism.”

The problem is that the terrorism is on a very large scale.

“By the way, how many members of the New King Church are attacking us right now?”

I asked Fallen, who was the only one here who could see the external situation. He stroked his chin for a moment, then opened his mouth.

“Roughly, at least 15 to a maximum of 30. Six of them came towards us, but after seeing my barrier, it was reduced to 3.”

It wasn’t a small number, but it wasn’t a large one either.

The reason the force was reduced after seeing Fallen’s barrier was probably because they judged that they couldn’t break through it.

The 3 who remained were just for containment.

“Kaede. Was it about this scale when they attacked your family too?”

“No. There were many more, about 50.”

I see… The force was drastically reduced because they only sent organization members with flight-related skills.

Certainly, flight skills are quite rare among skills.

“Then, shouldn’t they start suppressing them soon? The long-range ability users in other places.”

We’re all close-range.

To be precise, we’re all close-range in the current situation.

Kaede uses throwing weapons, so she can handle mid-range and, when the time comes, even long-range, but this is inside a helicopter.

Shaking is basic, and with the wind and storm, and the fact that they’re at least A-Rank Hunters, not ordinary people, it would be difficult for her to attack at long range.

But there are long-range Hunters in other places.

Ellen, Veronica, and Delia Roserel, for example.

And Shine Reinfield, who can fly even though he’s not long-range, so there’s no need to worry about other places.

As expected, that prediction was accurate. A moment later, flames and Flash erupted from the side.

Along with that, two attacks stopped, and then a water cannon drenched them.

Most of the Hunters dodged, thinking they were just being attacked, but one who couldn’t avoid it was directly hit and fell as ashes.

And with that.

Bang!

“…..!!”

“You crazy…”

The guy’s body exploded loudly.

It was a suicide attack.

A blue aura poured out from the ashen body, then the body swelled up and exploded with a loud roar.

Our helicopter, which was using absolute defense, shook a little.

“More than that, how much further is it to Brighton?”

I had forgotten about it because of the New King Church, but our goal isn’t to fight them, but to capture the gate in Brighton.

And our destination is Brighton.

This was very important.

“We’re already here. We just can’t get off because of those guys.”

Surprised by his words, I looked around through the helicopter window. I could see the coastline beyond the very devastated city and the remains of buildings.

And the huge gate came into view.

The red energy was surging.

Its appearance was so huge that it couldn’t even be compared to the gates I had seen so far.

I was momentarily taken aback by the momentum and mana emanating from it, but I quickly regained my senses and started thinking.

And the answer that came out.

“Then, can’t we just get off here?”

“What?”

“No, even if it’s different in other places, we have no choice but to block their attacks. In that case, let’s just get off and walk. The guys will attack while coming, right? Then we’ll fight at that time.”

At the speed of S-Ranks, it would only take about 5 minutes to break through from here to the gate.

The two who heard Ha-yeon’s words pondered for a moment, then said to her.

“Tell the other teams first and get off.”

“I was going to do that anyway.”

Saying that, Kaede handed her a radio.

She connected to the number she had heard before the operation started, and the radio soon connected.

-Ha-yeon? Are you safe? Ah, Grace is there, so you must be safe. More than that, you wouldn’t have called for safety reasons, so why did you radio?

“Veronica. We’re going to get off first and walk to the gate. Tell the other teams and the association president. We won’t enter the gate until your team comes down, and we’ll take care of the cleanup first.”

-I see… Understood. We’ll take care of things quickly and come down quickly. Then, I’ll wish you good luck.

-Beep.

With that, the radio cut off.

Ha-yeon, who handed the radio back to Kaede, got up from her seat and held the Immortal Longsword in her hand.

The reason for not entering the gate is because if we enter now, we could be attacked from both the front and the rear.

Monsters that have flowed out can re-enter the gate.

Then it will definitely become even more difficult.

The reason why there is a second team is because of things like this.

To clean up the monsters that have flowed out and make it easier for us.

“The height is…. enough that we won’t get hurt even if we land.”

[The Constellation, ‘Moon-Cleaving Flash,’ is worried and warns you to be careful as there will definitely be interference from the New King Church.]

“Don’t worry. I don’t think they can penetrate this outfit even if they attack.”

The other two, who had been looking at her for a moment, also got up from their seats and headed towards the door.

The pilot must have heard our words and opened the door with a sense of what to do.

We fell.

We were falling due to the force of gravity.

“Attack those guys!”

“Prevent them from approaching the gate!”

And the New King Church attacked us.

I haven’t seen their faces, so it’s my first time seeing them, but their outfits were really unique.

Long robes that perfectly covered their faces, mixed with white and red.

And in their left hands, they held twisted Bibles made in bizarre shapes, and in their right hands, they held long staffs.

It was an appearance that would make anyone think, ‘Ah, these guys are cultists.’

Veronica must have already made all the radio calls, as she launched an attack to support us, and most of the attacks from the New King Church outside were neutralized.

‘Two, huh.’

About 5 flew over.

Two of them were flying towards me.

Seeing that, I drew the Immortal Longsword from the scabbard hanging on my waist.

The jet-black blade that I hadn’t seen in a long time.

Ha-yeon, who smiled slightly at the sight, took a stance and looked at the incoming attacks.

The power is really low compared to the attacks I saw a while ago, but there’s no need to get hit.

“Cut.”

Perhaps because it was a swordsmanship that was exerted solely by the power of the hand in the air, the power was significantly reduced, but it was enough to block the attacks.

The fireballs and mana masses that were flying were easily dispelled, and Fallen easily blocked one of the remaining 3 attacks, and Kaede blocked 2.

“Arrival.”

We arrived on the ground.

What I saw when I arrived on the ground were several buildings.

Most of them were half-destroyed, but I could still recognize that they were buildings.

“Then, let’s go near the gate for now.”

“Okay.”

I had already finished preparing for battle from before.

Kaede had attached equipment that seemed to be of quite a high rank, not just wooden swords, to her waist, back, thighs, and arms.

Fallen finished preparing for battle by holding his beloved shield, the Divine Great Shield, in his left hand, and a huge greatsword in his right hand.

“You know we have to conserve our stamina, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then, we’ll avoid combat as much as possible and rush straight to the gate.”

With those words, I climbed onto the top of a nearby building.

It was a bit difficult because it was uneven, but it wasn’t enough to fall.

Going like this would reduce friction with the monsters more than sticking to the ground.

The two who were watching that also finished preparing to advance by climbing onto the top of the building.