Ch.126126. Operation Gehenna

# Operation Gehenna

The name of this encirclement and annihilation operation was chosen by Seraphina, who believed these bastards deserved to fall into hellfire.

Though filled with personal animosity, “Operation Gehenna” was a fitting name for an annihilation operation that had no intention of taking prisoners.

Named after the hell described in the Holy Empire’s legal texts—which stood shoulder to shoulder with the Infractus Empire—Operation Gehenna was designed from its inception as a complete extermination mission.

There was a possibility that the Slaves, operating as a cell organization, might not be completely eradicated and could rebuild their strength.

Therefore, the motto of Operation Gehenna was an encirclement and annihilation operation aimed at the complete extermination of the Slaves.

However, since this operation targeted the complete annihilation of the Slaves, mobility that wouldn’t give them time to respond and stealth that would prevent them from recognizing the encirclement were paramount.

For this reason, deploying a large number of troops would have been a mistake. The larger the force, the less mobile and stealthy it would inevitably become.

Yet the basic prerequisite for an encirclement and annihilation operation was that friendly forces should outnumber the enemy by at least tenfold. This followed the same principle that siege forces needed to be at least three times larger than the defending forces.

So Seraphina chose to use building exteriors to block escape routes, compensating for the lack of troops.

If they couldn’t achieve numerical superiority to encircle the Slaves, they could create a pseudo-encirclement by leveraging urban warfare characteristics to block escape routes in advance.

Fortunately, the Slaves’ headquarters wasn’t in the center of Byzantium but in a slum where buildings were packed tightly together. While the urban area had many potential escape routes, occupying all the expected points wasn’t difficult.

[This is Polasta. Beginning the operation.]

Seraphina’s voice, as the vanguard commander, echoed in his ear through the small magical communication device.

The battle situation was transmitted in real-time through equipment that visualized location-tracking magic.

This was to ensure that the reserve forces on standby could be deployed immediately upon Seraphina’s order.

Gilbert took a quiet, deep breath.

May we safely pass through this battlefield too.

That was his prayer.

***

“Hehehe. Hey, keep following me!”

“You crazy bastard, you’ll die eating like that.”

“Money’s overflowing, so if I’m going to die from eating too much, I can just throw some away. What’s the big deal?”

The Slaves’ central headquarters was bustling with noise from those throwing money around and holding drinking parties.

The enormous sums earned from human trafficking were like an inexhaustible spring of gold coins.

Alcohol, drugs, and women.

The Slaves members gathered here were indulging in every luxury and pleasure they could afford.

For them, money was no longer a concern. If they ran short, they could simply find good prey, hunt them down, and deliver them to noble houses—earning more in one go than they could make in a lifetime of hard work.

Not everyone had been like this from the start.

Mercenaries who had been living desperate lives or disgraced knights who had spent their money, and those who had joined the Slaves due to debt, merely observed from a distance.

It was their way of preserving their last shred of conscience.

But that only applied to the very beginning. After all, none of those who had joined this place had lives that weren’t already heading toward ruin.

What would happen when people who had committed crimes serious enough to lose their knighthood or who had been struggling with debt were suddenly given more money than they could earn in a lifetime?

The masks of those who had been pretending to be dignified and well-behaved were quickly stripped away at the sight of mountains of gold coins.

What followed was a time of pleasure, steeped in indulgence.

They treated captured people like slaves, stuffed expensive food and alcohol into their mouths as they pleased.

Some revealed perverse tendencies too disturbing to witness, while others freely unleashed their violent inclinations.

Hell on earth.

Anyone who saw the Slaves’ central headquarters could only describe it as such.

“Speaking of which, I heard the Imperial bastards have caught our scent?”

“What? We’ve paid so much in bribes, how could they have caught on?”

“Seems Princess Seraphina has noticed.”

“Shit. How the hell did that bitch find out?”

A mercenary with slanted eyes cursed and grumbled. To establish themselves in Byzantium, the Imperial capital, they had been paying substantial bribes to high-ranking Imperial nobles.

It was thanks to these connections that they had been able to evade Imperial surveillance and maintain and grow their power until today.

But now that Seraphina had suddenly entered the picture, those who had been enjoying their comfortable lives were more than a little displeased.

Bribes had no effect on Seraphina, who prioritized the Empire’s welfare above all else. In fact, attempting to bribe her often resulted in immediate execution, which was why the Slaves had been doing everything possible to stay off her radar.

Of course, they didn’t naively think this situation would last forever. There was nowhere in the Empire beyond Seraphina’s reach, so they knew this peace was only temporary.

But human nature being what it is, the current situation didn’t sit well with those already accustomed to a comfortable, pleasure-filled life. The thought of having to rebuild their central headquarters, which already had everything they needed, was another headache.

“So when is that bitch planning to raid us? If she’s caught our scent, wouldn’t she bite immediately, as is her nature?”

“I don’t know. The higher-ups say we still have some time, but probably not much left.”

“Damn it. I hope it’s not today at least.”

The man with slanted eyes grinned as he watched a slave crawling toward his crotch. Before joining the Slaves, he had been a fugitive, but now he had risen to a position where he could wield almost unlimited power.

Alcohol, food, drugs, and women.

He desperately wanted to enjoy this current lifestyle, where everything was within easy reach, for as long as possible.

“I feel the same way, but…”

-Ping ping

The man who was about to continue speaking froze at the sound of the magical alarm ringing loudly.

Everyone in the room who had been laughing did the same.

The Slaves’ magical alarm was designed to ring in only one situation.

Code Zero.

It was a kind of final directive known only to the central headquarters and seven branch offices.

There was only one case when Code Zero would be activated: when the Slaves’ continued existence was deemed to be in danger. Until now, despite passing through several dangerous crises, Code Zero had never been activated.

They had simply abandoned their headquarters or branches that served as their support base and repeatedly relocated elsewhere.

But now, Code Zero—which had never once sounded—had been activated. It was as good as the leadership giving up on the Slaves’ survival.

Their minds, dulled by alcohol and drugs until now, suddenly cleared as if doused with cold water.

The slant-eyed man who had been cursing earlier pushed away the female slave in front of him and jumped to his feet.

“Fuck! Just my luck! Hey, you bastards, get up quickly! It’s an emergency!”

At those words, all the men in the room hurriedly dressed and got up. They found weapons they had tossed aside somewhere and fastened them to their waists, stuffed pouches of gold coins into their clothes, and rushed outside.

“Ack! Shit!”

The bald man who had gone out first screamed and collapsed.

It seemed one of the exits they had created for easy escape had been discovered.

Those trying to escape turned back, cursing, and began looking for another escape route. Several people were already falling to sword cuts, indicating that some exits had already been taken by the attackers.

Still, some managed to escape through exits that hadn’t yet been discovered. They ran down winding alleyways, gasping for breath.

What the hell is this in the middle of the night!

Perhaps due to the relief of being alive, pent-up complaints burst forth.

At least they could complain now, feeling the relief of having broken through the encirclement.

“So you’ve come, vermin.”

However, before long, they encountered a blonde knight guarding the entrance to the alley.

A knight with long golden-dyed hair tied back with a red band.

It was Princess Knight Seraphina.

“You crazy bitch! How did you know about this place too?”

“Stupid words befitting vermin. You are all in the palm of my hand. Did you really think I wouldn’t have identified every one of your escape routes?”

“I knew you were a fucking bitch!”

“Such an impertinent fellow. Well, fine. I have no hobby of giving lengthy explanations either. I am merely executing the rats that have crept into the Empire’s shadows. The only judgment I shall pass upon you is death.”

The emotion in her eyes, which glowed like blood, was rage.

The mercenaries and disgraced knights, who had nearly wet themselves at that fierce gaze, gritted their teeth.

With their skills, it was impossible to defeat Seraphina, one of the potential successors to the Winter Sword. Besides, it had been ages since they had last held a sword.

Moreover, Princess Seraphina wasn’t guarding this alley entrance alone. Behind her stood her knights in full armor, looking at them with emotionless eyes.

They couldn’t control their trembling hands.

Meanwhile, similar situations were unfolding everywhere around the Slaves’ central headquarters.

Battles were breaking out as the Slaves’ executives, panicking at the Code Zero situation, tried to flee only to be caught in Seraphina’s encirclement. In some places, those who hadn’t completely abandoned their swordsmanship were putting up a fight against Seraphina’s knights.

Some were also trying to break through the encirclement using numerical advantage. It looked like they were attempting the breakthrough that Seraphina had initially worried about.

“Special detachment, deploy.”

But that’s what the reserve forces had been prepared for.

As soon as Gilbert received the request for support via radio, he led the special detachment to the requested location. Upon arrival, he saw knights engaged in a precarious power struggle.

Gilbert drew his sword and quickly issued orders.

“Brynhild, take the left flank; Illen, the right. The rest, follow me to the center!”

He deployed the two most individually powerful members of the special detachment, apart from himself, to the flanks, and quickly joined the center with the remaining personnel. This was because several Slaves executives were showing movements to break through the central encirclement.

The already precarious balance of power tilted dramatically in favor of the Empire with the deployment of Gilbert’s special detachment. Gilbert, who had already received the 5th rank knight title, had reached a level where he could face such small fry without breaking a sweat.

Especially as Gilbert was steadily advancing into the realm of the superhuman, he was more confident than anyone in one-on-one combat. His body already operated on a different level from ordinary humans, and his once lacking combat ability was being filled in as his swordsmanship deepened.

With a famous sword as his weapon and secret techniques to wield it, there was no one here who could stop Gilbert now.

“You real sons of bitches!”

Finally, unable to break through the encirclement, a one-eyed disgraced knight charged at Gilbert like an enraged bull. Wielding a massive greatsword, he was a man with enough strength to cleave a person in half.

If an average, mediocre knight had stood before him, it might not have been an unreasonable feat, but unfortunately for him, it was Gilbert who stood in his path.

– Bang!

Gilbert deflected the man’s greatsword with one hand, then thrust his sword into the wide-eyed man’s mouth and ripped it sideways.

“Urgh!”

With a grotesque scream, the man perished.

The disgraced knight, who had relied on his natural strength, met a pitiful end against Gilbert, whose strength surpassed his own.

Looking for his next opponent, Gilbert took a brief moment to assess the situation of his special detachment members.

Brynhild, seasoned in battle as expected, had no problem handling three or four opponents simultaneously.

On the opposite side, Illen was also efficiently slitting the throats of the Slaves members using his robust northern physique.

The remaining personnel deployed to the center were also working together to easily handle the Slaves’ slave traders. Camilla, who had been his biggest concern, had somehow made a leap in skill and was now thrusting her sword at the vital points of her opponents with elegant swordsmanship.

Good, no problems yet.

After mercilessly cutting off the arms of two more charging mercenaries, Gilbert refocused on the battle.

Although his unit members were performing well, war always carried unpredictable variables that could cost lives in an instant.

All he could do was minimize those variables as much as possible, and in this situation, the best way to do that was to end the battle quickly.

So Gilbert, seemingly in a trance, cut down everyone in sight until he slashed the leg of the last remaining enemy and exhaled a long breath.

Around him, the Slaves’ slave hunters were either dead or groaning in pain with one of their limbs severed.

Thus ended the fierce first battle.