Ch.49Elysion (5)

The Tenth Tower’s response was swift. They isolated the infected areas with bulkheads and quickly began searching for the culprit.

However, what the Tenth Tower hadn’t anticipated was the movement of hosts carrying the silver thread. As soon as one sector was successfully isolated, a bomb containing silver threads would detonate in the next non-isolated sector.

The attacks precisely targeted vulnerabilities, as if mocking Elysion’s security structure.

In this meticulously designed chain reaction, the Tenth Tower sensed traces of an insider. The suspects were obvious: survivors of the Golden Desert Operation. Traitors corrupted by the outer dimension.

If someone had been the first to report these traitors, they would likely have countermeasures already prepared.

Salmoshia, the Director of Blasphemia Inspection, was summoned to the Tenth Tower’s Council of Elders.

Salmoshia gazed at the shimmering light before his eyes. The distortion rippling through reality was a crack leading to the Ether Space.

Eleusis—a high-dimensional form of Ether Space that allowed physical bodies from reality to enter completely.

The high-ranking officials of the Tenth Tower, gathered across space, were watching Elysion’s chaos with interest.

“Salmoshia.”

“…Yes.”

One of the elders from the Silver-Iron Magic Tower spoke.

“Didn’t L13 warn about the rebel faction established by the Corrupted? Did you fail to obtain intelligence about the planned terror attack on Elysion?”

“I apologize. We anticipated the possibility of terrorism but couldn’t confirm the target.”

He hadn’t summoned the Inspection Director merely to reprimand him. The silver thread writhing within Elysion…

That thing, devoid of magical energy, was clearly a product of the outer dimension. He had believed they would have gathered information about that unique metal.

“How is the search for the rebels’ base progressing?”

“We’ve found no significant leads since L13’s report. We’ve been tracking their mobile branches, but the trail goes cold at some point.”

“They likely possess an Ether Space that has reached Eleusis. We should increase personnel investigating outer dimension contact zones.”

There were limited methods to perfectly conceal massive installations like magical engine trains or airships. They must have created an Ether Space using outer dimensional power to store physical objects from reality.

“Find the mastermind, Salmoshia. The traitors you created should be captured by your own hands, shouldn’t they?”

With those words, Salmoshia found himself back in the Inspection Director’s office. He had been expelled from the Ether Space.

Salmoshia’s hands moved busily. Rebels fearing the exposure of their base trying to divert attention through terrorism was a scenario he had already anticipated.

The question was ‘where’ the attack would occur, but Blasphemia had the Tenth Tower’s support.

All they needed to do was station agents at every potential location.

『To Blasphemia agents stationed in Elysion:

Identify and eliminate the rebel faction hiding in Elysion.』

***

The matter concluded faster than I expected. Having received contact information from Lampades, I had no reason to remain at the award ceremony hall.

After exchanging a few words with Carisia, I decided to go meet Kine. I couldn’t ignore the possibility of getting caught up in the terrorist attack the Blasphemia rebels might carry out.

‘No matter how skilled those rebel bastards are, they can’t possibly breach all of Elysion’s security.’

There’s an enormous gap between knowing security information as a Tenth Tower insider and actually neutralizing that security.

First, the Tenth Tower, aware of the information leak, would have prepared countermeasures long ago. Even if the security structure remained unchanged, they would be outmatched in terms of raw power.

Any terrorist attack should be suppressed within an hour at most.

…Or so it should have been.

“HAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA!”

Why am I watching a deranged magician pouring napalm onto the city streets?

***

K17, Niobe, was catching her breath. Stationed in Elysion, she had moved immediately upon receiving Salmoshia’s orders.

‘But my skills aren’t enough to take down the rebels…’

Accurately assessing her own abilities, Niobe decided to disrupt the rebels’ plans rather than actively trying to capture the mastermind.

She calculated that if the plan to increase silver thread infections was disrupted somewhere, the mastermind would appear to correct it.

Once she detected the rebel, other agents would come to support, and Niobe herself would only need to hold the mastermind until then.

However, what appeared before Niobe was not a Blasphemia rebel, but a traitor from Elysion’s Central Security Force.

“No, no! Just when the right world was about to arrive!”

“Ugh…!”

At the feet of the red-cloaked magician laughing maniacally lay the bodies of security officers who had been his comrades just seconds ago.

Rufaldon, a fire-attribute magician, was an apocalyptist. The Tenth Tower was well aware of apocalyptists hiding within their organization.

There was a watchlist of suspected apocalyptists to monitor and occasionally purge such individuals. Originally, Blasphemia dealt with external enemies of the Tenth Tower; other organizations handled these internal threats.

However, Arguirion’s leadership once consisted of top-level agents from Blasphemia. Apocalyptists would use any means necessary, sometimes collaborating with cult followers. Thus, high-security clearance agents had opportunities to see that classified list.

The watchlist of suspected apocalyptists, originally meant for the Tenth Tower’s safety, had now become Arguirion’s recruitment list. Rufaldon was an apocalyptist who willingly joined hands with Arguirion.

Arguirion had used Rufaldon to leak internal information from Elysion, then proposed that he join their “grand plan.”

The concept was to use the holy land of Elysion as a gateway to bring about the apocalypse from the outer dimension.

Rufaldon resolved to cooperate actively as soon as he heard Arguirion’s plan.

And now was the time.

“The plan can’t fall apart here, can it? Haha. The Arguirion commander said Blasphemia would have prepared agents in advance. He was right!”

The heavy weapon attached to Rufaldon’s body spewed fire. The viscous liquid-borne flames wouldn’t extinguish even if submerged in water once they adhered to skin.

One would have to scrape off the sticky substance with a knife to remove the fire. While firing the auto-targeting liquid flames, Rufaldon simultaneously chanted a spell.

A line of fire formed at the tip of his staff. About 3 meters in length, it became a whip that lashed around with each flick of his wrist.

“I was hoping to meet a more experienced agent than such a naive rookie!”

Niobe hastily activated a magic inscription cartridge issued to agents. A circular barrier expanded around the user. The water-filled shield could buy her some time in the heat of the flames.

“This! Is! Not! Acceptable!”

The color of the flame whip changed. The instantly white-hot fire struck the water barrier. With a thunderous sound, the water vaporized in an instant.

Instead of taking out additional cartridges or infusing more magical power to strengthen the barrier, Niobe rolled sideways.

“Fire is weak against water? Overwhelming firepower defeats water.”

The spot where Niobe had been moments ago was charred black. There wasn’t even a trace of the water that had been spilled.

“Silver. I need more silver.”

Rufaldon looked toward the Mouseion admissions office beyond. Sacrifices with immature combat abilities but high potential, enough to be recommended directly by the Magic Tower.

If the silver thread successfully spread to the students inside, the advent of the outer dimension would be hastened instantly.

All his effort in arranging the patrol schedules to be stationed on this route at this time had paid off.

“How unfortunate, Blasphemia. Your colleagues all seem busy?”

Rufaldon approached Niobe, who held magic inscription cartridges in both hands.

‘She doesn’t even have enough magical power left to chant directly. I’ll finish this quickly and spread the silver thread to Mouseion—’

“May I ask you something?”

Rufaldon turned around. How could someone approach this close, bypassing the detection magic he had deployed?

Reflexively, his weapon spewed fire. The elemental intelligence’s automatic targeting was based on audio sensors, aiming at the source of the voice.

But there was no one in the flame-filled spot.

“Is this the Mouseion admissions office?”

The last thing Rufaldon saw was a chilling smile.

The blade that pierced his heart was cold. As he felt the wound growing increasingly hot, Rufaldon closed his eyes.

***

Niobe stared blankly into the flames.

Questions came before relief at surviving.

That pale skin and nondescript face. The subtle smile was exactly the same as the person who had borrowed the identity of a secret inspector.

Yet somehow, there was a familiar atmosphere about him. The aura of that senior who had completely deceived her.

“Hey, good to see you. I have business at Mouseion.”

“T-that face. Didn’t you say it was fake?”

“Of course. This time I’ve come as an ally. Normally I should come with a face you wouldn’t recognize, but in this situation, if I showed up with a different face and said ‘I’m that person from before, but now I’m an ally,’ another disguise would be exposed. Do you know how difficult it is to create such disguises? I have to use them sparingly.”

‘Is that so?’

Niobe, meeting the secret inspector for only the second time, had no choice but to accept the explanation.

“I received special orders to move the prospective students to a temporary shelter in case they target the Mouseion admissions office. You should withdraw from the scene for now, Ms. Niobe.”

***

This is driving me crazy.

Why is that Blasphemia kid I met last time here again?